Tension high in Marawi, Lanao Sur towns over cut power supply

MARAWI CITY, Philippines --- The police are closely monitoring the entire city and nearby Lanao del Sur towns following Thursday’s filing by 27 Maranaw mayors of plunder charges against the manager of a local power utility who is related to influential Moro clans.

The tension between the local executives and the manager of the Lanao Sur Electric Cooperative, Ashary Maongco, worsened when the Regional Trial Court here ordered the Lasureco to immediately restore power supply to 32 of more than 40 towns in Lanao del Sur.

The supply of electricity to the 32 towns was reportedly cut after close relatives of Maongco lost in their bids for local elective positions, defeated by re-electionist candidates, during the May 13, 2013 electoral exercise. Maongco reportedly financed the candidacy of his relatives.

Suspected partisans burned down last month a boom truck of  Lasureco in an isolated Lanao del Sur town.

The suspects, brandishing M-14 and AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, left the scene riding suburban utility vehicles parked nearby.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, chairman of the ARMM‘s inter-agency peace and order council, on Saturday ordered the region’s police director, Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, to impose security measures to avoid hostilities between  politicians in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur, and Maongco.

The 27 mayors filed plunder charges at the Ombudsman against Maongco and National Electrification Administrator Edita Bueno,  accusing the respondents of mishandling P190 million-worth of barangay electrification funds, a P25 million-worth “Pantawid Kuryente” grant, and P603 million-worth of payments collected from power consumers in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City.

The mayors had alleged that the P603 million “missing” payments from Lasureco clients have never been remitted to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Judge Wenida Papandayan of the Regional Trial Court here here has ordered  Lasureco  to restore power supply to 32 towns in Lanao del Sur.