By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Power disconnection continues to loom over Benguet and Baguio City as the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) continues to incur debts from its power supplier as a result of the leadership row that has dragged on for more than a year.

In a press conference on Oct. 20, Beneco board of directors’ appointed general manager Engineer Melchor Licoben disclosed that Team Energy already threatened to cut off the cooperative’s supply and impose penalties should they fail to pay their obligations.

Despite an agreement between the two contending parties through the mediation of the Baguio City council in August, Licoben said no funds have been released to the power suppliers.

He reiterated that payment to Team Energy has been delayed since April due to frozen bank accounts. He said that P499 million in the banks could have been used to pay its power supplier and other obligations.

During the Aug. 8 Baguio City Council session, Licoben disclosed that Beneco incurred a P30 million deficit in April, P67 million in May and failed to settle the P245 million billing for June with its power supplier.

Beneco’s accounts were frozen due the continuing tiff for the general manager’s seat between Licoben and the camp of National Electrification Administration (NEA) appointed general manager lawyer Ana Maria Rafael.

The Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the petitions filed by both camps regarding the matter.

Deadlock

After the council session, the Licoben and Rafael camps came up with an agreement to give the banks consent to release funds direct to the power supplier.

Licoben said they immediately wrote the bank to inform them of the agreement reached during the council session, however, no funds have been released yet.

“Until today we do not know what the other party did, if they also issued a statement because they were looking for documents, what we are saying is simple, we write the banks and agree that the banks release the money directly to the power supplier, thats it. We did out part, unfortunately, they did not do theirs,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.

In a text message on Oct. 21, lawyer Maita Cascolan-Andres, spokesperson of the Rafael camp said the non-disclosure of how much money was withdrawn from Beneco’s China Bank account caused the delay. She added that the city council also asked for an audit.

Councilor Jose Molintas, who is leading the mediating team from the city council, confirmed that Rafael’s camp made the disclosure of the statement of accounts a prerequisite before agreeing to any fund release. However, he said that the city council did not ask for an audit of the bank accounts.

He recalled that negotiations hit a deadlock when both camps insisted that “they separately ask the banks to pay based on one request.”

“The agreement was that both parties will ask for the release of funds from banks, or that no party will object. I have given them (both camps) time to talk with their group, they asked for 30 days. They have three more weeks,” Molintas added.

Suspended assistance

Licoben said that while they are able to pay other suppliers and the regular salaries of employees on time, the additional benefits of employees are delayed and financial assistance have been suspended.

In July, the Licoben camp announced the suspension of burial, educational and other financial assistance to member-consumers covered by Beneco’s Corporate Social Responsibility fund because the budget allocated for these were affected by the withdrawals of the Rafael camp.

Licoben has accused Rafael of “unauthorized” withdrawal of P8.5 million from the Bank of Philippine Island account and P2.6 million from the Philippine National Bank. He also assailed the Land Bank of the Philippines for giving Rafael control over the P58.6 million Sitio Electrification Fund (SEF).

According to Licoben, the contractors of sitio electrification projects are the ones suffering from what happened to the SEF. He said that the SEF is actually government money given to Beneco through NEA for electrification purposes. He explained that sitio electrification projects were bidded out to contractors and part of the agreement was for the contractors to finish the project before getting paid.

He assured contractors, however, that they help them get what is due them.

“The SEF is transferred to another account that is beyond our control… Our problem now is we do not know if the money is still there. If the money is not there, we will run after NEA because in the first place NEA allowed the fund transfer,” he said.

Rafael earlier assured the public that the SEF is intact.# nordis.net