City Hall has P32M "idle funds"

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Government has recently discovered an idle fund with the Department of Energy (DOE) that has already accumulated to P32 million since 2000 and which could have been used to fund electrification, environmental and livelihood projects of the City Government.

The P32-million Electrification Fund represents the one centavo per kilowatt-hour, which the power plant operating in Ermita has generated since Energy Regulations 1-94 was issued.

ER 1-94 mandates power generators to set aside one centavo per kilowatt-hour of the electricity sales as benefits to host communities. ER 1-94 applies to generation facilities or energy resource development projects located in all barangays, municipalities, cities, provinces and regions.

Cebu City Councilor Jose Daluz III said that they just discovered about ER 1-94 when his consultant discussed it one time with him.

To verify it, he called the officials of the DOE in a meeting more than two weeks ago and learned that the fund exists and it has already accumulated to P32 million over the years.

The Cebu Private Power Corporation in barangay Ermita started operating in 1998 and started allocating one-centavo per kilowatt-hour as the share of the local government unit since the ER 1-94 was issued in 2000.

The money is deposited in the trust fund of DOE which can be availed of as long as the local government unit submits the application and necessary requirements. The application for a project eligible for funding using this fund is subject for approval of the officials of DOE.

Daluz said he asked the DOE why the city government was not informed of this benefit because they could have used it to fund the electrification of mountain barangays.

“It has been there for a long time but the DOE did not inform us. They said that we were informed but I can’t remember that they mention it. P32 million or P3 million a year is already a big help to the city,” Daluz said.

The Electrification Fund may be utilized for electrification projects and non-electrification projects such as livelihood, reforestation, watershed management, health and environmental enhancement.

Of the one-centavo per kilowatt hour-share of the LGU, 75 percent may be used for electrification while the rest or 25 percent may be used for non-electrification initiatives.

Daluz said he will start retrieving the requests for electrification of mountain barangays and facilitate the application for the use of the Electrification Fund to finance it.

ER 1-94 was issued to recognize and provide recompense for the contribution made by the host local government units. It also aimed to promote harmony and cooperation among host LGUs, the energy resource developer or power producers and the appropriate agencies of the national government. – (FREEMAN)