Various electric cooperatives (ECs) on Thursday reiterated their support for National Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Edgardo Masongsong, calling the allegations against the NEA chief baseless, erroneous, and outright malicious.
In separate statements, the National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (NAGMEC), the National Center of Electric Cooperative Consumers, Inc. (NCECCO), and the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association. Inc. (PHILRECA) all stood by Masongsong, who was accused by the National Association of Electric Consumers for Reforms, Inc. (NASECORE) of releasing and implementing NEA issuances without the approval of NEA’s Board of Administrators.
PHILRECA said it “stands by the integrity and competence of NEA Administrator Edgardo Rama Masongsong”
PHILRECA––an organization composed of 121 electric cooperatives responsible for 13 million consumer connections nationwide––said it “stands by the integrity and competence of NEA Administrator Edgardo Rama Masongsong” and scored the “malicious” allegations of NASECORE, stressing that a simple inquiry with the agency would confirm that the memoranda it questioned were approved by the NEA BOA via earlier resolutions (Resolutions No. 08, Series of 2018 & No. 12, Series of 2019) issued over a year ago.
NAGMEC, the national organization of general managers of all electric cooperatives in the country, likewise refuted the allegations of NASECORE, saying that its letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi “does not only carry with it unfounded allegations, but proof that the organization has no knowledge on the intricacy of how electricity distribution is operated.”
“NAGMEC expresses its unconditional support to the leadership of Administrator Edgardo Rama Masongsong.”
NCECCO, on the other hand, said the accusation that the NEA chief had usurped authority “is purely baseless.”
According to the organization representing thousands of electric consumers all over the country, the allegations are “only an attempt to discredit a genuine advocate who has done a lot for the electric cooperatives for the benefit of the member-consumer-owners that they serve.”
Masongsong was appointed NEA Administrator by President Rodrigo Duterte in November 2017.
Prior to his appointment, he was a member of the House of Representatives as the party-list representative of the 1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy (1-CARE).
The NEA head has close to two decades’ worth of experience in the EC sector.
Masongsong earned a reputation for turning around ailing ECs after former NEA Administrator Fr. Francisco G. Silva tapped him to be part of the team that addressed the Boracay power crisis in 2002. He was later appointed BUSECO (Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative) General Manager in 2007, a post he held until he became a party-list representative in 2013.