Benhur tells Cebeco: Say "no" to transfer

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Fourth District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon is calling the member-consumers of the Cebu Electric Cooperative (Cebeco) I, II and III to stand firm against proposal to register with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).

Salimbangon, who was once general manager of Cebeco II which was organized, registered and supervised by the National Electrification Administration, said he knows the effect to consumers if Cebeco registers with CDA.

“I hope ang mga consumers nato will stand firm. They should not agree that we will transfer to CDA or form this into a private utility to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Salimbangon said during the 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza yesterday.

Partylist Representatives Potenciano Payoyo of the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (Apec), Cresente Paez of Coop-NATCCO and Rep. Isido Ligo have urged Cebeco and other electric cooperatives to register with CDA to avoid paying taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that might be passed on to the power consumers.

“It appears nga mas maayo ang CDA because of privileges attached to it like tax benefits but if we look at the entire concept makadaut ni sa very purpose the electric cooperatives were organized,” Salimbangon said.

Salimbangon explained that cooperatives registered with CDA are profit- motivated so in the case of Cebeco, it will increase power rates.

He said that electric cooperatives registered with NEA is supervised by the same which is a government entity organized for the purpose of seeing to it that the operations of the electric cooperatives will be within the prescribed form and standard - which is cheaper power and dependable and reliable service.

With only P5-membership fee, Cebeco members can already participate in the governance of cooperative like voting for the members of the board of directors.

Salimbangon said that if Cebeco becomes a stock cooperative, member category will be based on number of shares being put up and only those with more shares are entitled to more benefits.

At present, there are 221 electric cooperatives in the country but only 12 are registered with CDA.

Salimbangon said that this only shows that a lot of electric cooperatives are afraid that if they became stock and profit cooperatives, they will be governed by board of directors and will no longer be supervised by government entity like NEA.

“Ug imo ni ibalhin into a stock cooperative, sigurado gyud motaas ang rates kay profit na ang motivation,” he said.

If Cebeco gets profit, Salimbangon said it is used to bring down the rate.

“I am against the idea of forcing the electric cooperatives to register with CDA or make it into a private corporation kay sigurado ta nga og ma private ni, daghan na kaayo mopalit,” Salimbangon said.

When they started Cebeco, it only had P120,000 as monthly revenue but now, Salimbangon said, it already has P100 million per month. — (FREEMAN)