The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has reiterated its call on the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to formally grant its petition to cancel the certificate of registration that was unlawfully issued to the splinter group of Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Daneco) to aid efforts to resolve and end the ongoing intramurals between the legally-recognized Daneco group working with the NEA and the illegitimate Daneco splinter group using its CDA registration as a shield against legal action.
According to NEA Deputy Administrator for Special Concerns Rossan Rosero-Lee, “this appears to be the only productive way forward at this point to avoid derailing the progress made by the legitimate stakeholders of Daneco amid the ongoing rehabilitation of their electric cooperative (EC) under the reconstituted management of the NEA-backed Task Force Duterte Northern Davao Power (TFD-NDP).”
“The more the illegitimate faction of Daneco drags this out, the worse it will be for the electricity consumers of Davao del Norte. They have been at this since 2012, and have no excuse to continue this senseless exercise because the courts have spoken,” explained Rosero-Lee.
“The more the illegitimate faction of Daneco drags this out, the worse it will be for the electricity consumers of Davao del Norte.”
The NEA official issued this statement in response to recent protests organized by desperate member-consumer-owners (MCOs) of the illegitimate Daneco faction who are in Manila in a bid to keep the illegal nature of their registration from officials of the CDA. The sacked Daneco officials had earlier made efforts to circumvent rulings by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, that have held that the breakaway group’s signing up with CDA after hastily conducting a referendum and subsequent board elections were “null and void.”
The Daneco splinter group is composed of officials that had been dismissed––as a result of a NEA Board of Administrators ruling in 2012––on charges of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty after entering into highly questionable and anomalous contracts.
“The Daneco splinter group is composed of officials that had been dismissed––as a result of a NEA Board of Administrators ruling in 2012––on charges of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty.”
Rosero-Lee emphasized that “the NEA has nothing against ECs that choose to enlist as a stock cooperative under CDA or stock corporation under the Securities and Exchange Commission as long as they went through legitimate and proper procedures.”
“Regardless of their affiliation, all power co-ops now fall under the supervision of the electrification agency by virtue of Republic Act 10531 or the NEA Reform Act of 2013,” added Rosero-Lee.
She said, however, that the breakway unit of Daneco continues to refuse to obey this law by continuing its illegal operations, which includes the collection of payments from its uninformed MCOs despite its absence of business permits from local authorities and recognition from power suppliers.
According to Atty. Jeorge Rapista, legal counsel of Daneco, Inc., the illegal collection of the illegitimate Daneco faction is estimated 700 million pesos and this remains largely unaudited and unaccounted for, prompting the NEA to exert more efforts to address this issue.
Both Rosero-Lee and Rapista stressed that it is incumbent upon the CDA to do its part and refrain from further exacerbating the conflict by revoking outright the certificate of registration of the illegitimate Daneco group.
Meanwhile, the TFD-NDP has intensified its operations against people who are unduly capitalizing on the situation by putting up stringent measures that would bring electricity consumers back to the fold of Daneco, Inc.
On May 30, NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong through Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi wrote a six-page letter to President Rodrigo Duterte to shed light on the Daneco controversy.
“It is the arduous desire of the NEA in compliance to its mandate of ensuring the operational viability of electric cooperatives, including Daneco, that the Supreme Court decision affirming the ruling of the Court of Appeals be implemented and put an end to the confusion sowed by the Daneco-CDA group,” said Masongsong.
“It is only then that the full rehabilitation of Daneco will be achieved and its MCOs enjoy the benefits of a stable and reliable supply distribution utility service, which they deserve and which this administration aspires for,” the administrator added.