No tension in Lanao Sur, says head of electric cooperative

MANILA, Philippines - There is no tension in Lanao del Sur.

Thus said the general manager of the Lanao Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco), Ashary Maongco, even as police have been directed to monitor the situation in Marawi City and adjoining towns.

“This is a legal issue and the parties have resorted to the courts and administrative agencies for the resolution of the problem about our policy of disconnecting delinquent member-consumers,” Maongco said in an e-mailed letter to The STAR.

Reports said security measures were put in place after the local court ordered Lasureco to immediately restore power supply to 32 of more than 40 towns in Lanao del Sur.

Last week, 27 mayors also filed plunder charges against Maongco and National Electrification Administrator chief Edita Bueno, accusing them of mishandling funds.

Maongco though said Lasureco is “now open for audit; in fact we were the ones requesting for an audit because we wanted to measure our performance.”

In 2009, the Commission on Audit, according to Maongco, cited his “good management” for Lasureco’s “360-degree transformation.”

“The complainants could not distinguish truth from fiction because they have parochial interests that could not find basis in all the laws of the Republic. Electricity is not a free commodity,” he said.

Maongco said Lasureco is “under rehabilitation” by virtue of a memorandum of agreement with the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the National Electrification Administration in 2007 when the utility firm “was on the verge of financial collapse.”

Aside from institutional and technical reforms, he said the integrated rehabilitation plan included financial reform which was the “most controversial part” as it “touched on the turf of the mayors.”

He said Lasureco carried out a strong disconnection policy “without discrimination,” and in doing so, had to disconnect 32 towns which did not pay their bills on Sept. 2, 2013 despite an agreement.

“Naturally this angered them because they had been used to almost free electricity in the past; that was why the cooperative went bankrupt,” he said.

When they assumed office, Maongco said Lasureco had an outstanding debt of over P3 billion to Napocor left by the previous managements.

“We cannot stop the bleeding overnight because until this point in time, majority of member-consumers refused to pay their power bills regularly,” he said. Lasureco has currently 57,404 member-consumers, he said.

During the 2013 elections, Maongco alleged that some mayors “approached us for their support provided we provided them with free electricity.”

“We did not succumb to those temptations because we could not compromise the rehabilitation program for the cooperative,” he said.

Maongco said the burning of the semi-crane truck of a Lasureco contractor in Ditsaan-Ramain town and the attack on their headquarters “all point to the disregard of the rule of law in the place.”