Legal battle looms Sitio electrification sparks Boheco II-Danao VM row

CEBU, Philippines - A legal battle looms as the management of Bohol Electric Cooperative II (Boheco II) clashed with Danao town Vice Mayor Jose Cepedoza over the implementation of the Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) introduced by the late Rep. Erico Aumentado via a counterparting scheme.

The SEP was intended to provide electricity to sub-villages that have never had any access to power supply ever since, but its implementation sparked an exchange of accusations between Boheco II and Cepedoza, both recorded in the police blotter.

Boheco II’s side got to the police station first on January 22 when the vice mayor and the driver/lineman of the electric cooperative engaged in an altercation over how the project was being carried out.

The blotter stated that, at around 12:40 p.m. that day, Marvin Ampong of Boheco II, a resident of Jagna town, reported to the police that Cepedoza allegedly confronted him on why they (linemen) skipped some households in installing the power connections from the posts.

Ampong narrated that he was on the driver’s seat of the service truck of Boheco II when somebody approached him and told him that the vice mayor wanted to meet him. Then Cepedoza arrived shortly and, after about two minutes conversation about the SEP, the vice mayor allegedly flared up, asking on who instructed them to skip some households.

The vice mayor, before leaving the scene, allegedly threatened the Boheco II crew of dire consequences when they go to Barangay Cantubod for the same purpose, insisting that all households must benefit from SEP.

At 3 p.m. that same day, Cepedoza also came to the Danao Police Station to place in the blotter his side of the story. He hinted that he just explained that what the Boheco II crew did would only sow unrest from the beneficiaries.

Cepedoza’s version confirmed the other details reported by Ampong, but he never mentioned about his threats to the crew. “After a short discussion, I asked them (in the dialect): “Who instructed that only this portion would be lighted. You stop that [electrification]. You should install the power supply connection on all the beneficiaries of SEP, because if you skip some households, you would only give trouble. There had been a lot of complaints already that you skipped them.”

The vice mayor further put on the blotter that “the SEP is the program of the president and only the president can give orders who should be provided electrification, not the mayor, referring to the documents shown to him from the mayor’s office and allegedly signed by Municipal Administrator Hermogenes Ceneza with the instruction on who would be provided with electrification only.

“If you go to Cantubod and you would be doing the same thing that is skipping some households, you would only be giving problem because the implementation of the program would be unequal,” Cepedoza claimed were his words to the Boheco II crew.

The management of Boheco II however clarified on the rules that they have to attend first to those located within 35 meters from the electric post along the road. The coop said it even provided the first 35 meters of electric wire free of charge and the beneficiary will just have to spend for the remaining cost if the distance exceeds 35 meters.

The implementation of SEP, especially in remote sitios or sub-vilalges, serves as an opportunity for electric posts to be provided which already an advantage compared to the past when there was no single post in the area.  (FREEMAN)