The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has crossed several milestones on its 50-year journey towards electrifying the countryside, but it still has a long way to go in achieving rural development.
NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong emphasized this Monday (July 29) as the agency marked its 50th founding anniversary with theme “NEA@50: One with ECs and MCOs for Sustainable Rural Development.”
“We still have a long way to go in helping the government achieve the dream of every Filipino, the Ambisyon Natin 2040, whereby all Filipinos enjoy a strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life by 2040,” Masongsong said.
AmBisyon Natin 2040 is the national government’s 25-year roadmap to end poverty in the country.
“Beyond electrifying the countryside, we need to go further into achieving rural development.”
The NEA chief pointed out that the mandate of the electric cooperatives (ECs) goes beyond lighting up the farthest and remotest area in the country. The power coops must also exert more efforts to foster social and economic growth in the countryside, he added.
“Beyond electrifying the countryside, we need to go further into achieving rural development: to free our kababayans from the chains of poverty,” Masongsong said during the leadership dialogue with the ECs as part of the golden anniversary celebration.
“We can do this by empowering our communities, our member-consumer-owners within the franchise areas of the ECs, with the introduction of livelihood programs and economic activities within the sector using the electricity connection that we commit to bring to the farthest sitio, to the households in the last mile, whether of the main grid or off-grid,” he said.
“We can do this by empowering our communities, with the introduction of livelihood programs.”
It will be recalled that the NEA was established as an institution on July 28,1969 through Republic Act No. 6038, with a mandate to carry out the total electrification of the country on an area coverage basis.
“Through its partner electric cooperatives, the Rural Electrification Program has benefited nearly 61 million Filipinos in more than 13 million consumer connections in the countryside,” Masongsong said.
This year’s anniversary theme underscores the NEA’s commitment to continue pursuing the total electrification of the country and help improve the living conditions of the Filipinos, particularly those in rural and remote areas.
As part of the kick-off program, NEA officials and employees gathered on Monday morning for a thanksgiving mass dubbed as “Gratitude for the Gold,” followed by the simultaneous nationwide launching of the “Solidarity Shirt” with the ECs.
Other activities slated for this year’s anniversary celebration are the formal celebration and the NEA-EC-MCOs Convention on Rural Electrification on August 6 and 7 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
On August 8, there will be a “Golden Dagitab” awarding ceremony in honor of the ECs and other partners that have contributed a lot to the success of the rural electrification program.
A nationwide line clearing and tree-planting activities will also be conducted simultaneously by all ECs in the country in observance of the 10th National Electrification Awareness Month (NEAM) on August 30.