OPINION: Daneco-NEA alarmist

june 17, 2014

HASHTAGS BREW
By Cha Monforte

It seems that the amount used as the reason (or alibi) of Daneco-NEA to cause for a franchise-wide blackout is just small. It is only P8.14 million monthly, and it’s peanuts to Daneco-NEA or even Daneco-CDA. Any of the two factions can easily pay that amortization of the restructured P275 million (of the total P576 million power obligations of Daneco as one entity). The website of NEA now says that the Daneco-NEA has been diligently paying its power obligations, while the Daneco-CDA is not paying its share. Daneco-NEA and NEA project supervisor Godofredo Guya have not been frank into saying that Daneco-CDA is not paying its share of the power supply burden. For when they ask Daneco-CDA to pay its share, they are recognizing the protagonist they want to be annihilated in the first place. It’s NEA Manila which does the talking. Daneco-NEA has been sending letters to officials about Daneco’s PSALM obligations per encoded data of its finance officer as noted by its OIC GM Benedicto Ongking. The problem here is they did not attach or juxtapose a photocopy of PSALM demand letter indicating the impending action of disconnection in case of delinquency. It’s all Daneco-NEA’s claim. That’s why I tend to believe on the charge of Daneco-CDA that Guya and the appointed Daneco-NEA board officials are “bluffing” based on “bloated financial obligations” which they accordingly did last year for the DOE to forge an agreement that had only made Daneco-CDA stopped its collection activities. Last Monday, in aphone interview, Ongking confirmed they did not yet receive any document from PSALM about the disconnection. He claimed that last Feb. 25, 2014 they receive PSALM demand letter that already lapsed 10 days after they failed to pay what had been demanded to be paid. It was February and Daneco-NEA had already secured a restructuring of the power obligations due for March 2013 to April 2014. It appears now that it is only P301 million that has not been sought for restructured, or Daneco-NEA had been paying parts of this? Daneco-NEA now appear to be panicky already that by bloating obligations and not showing PSALM’s demand letter it becomes alarmist. It’s napangka or bokya in Filipino. Some critical sectors including a board member said that the latest blackout announcement of Daneco-NEA is but a “palupok”. Particularly, the appointed and rubberstamp Daneco-NEA board are a bunch of alarmists. It’s Daneco-NEA’s accountability when its own panic is shared to the public, creating larger instability and unpeace.
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There’s no blackout, folks, as it would become a mortal sin of Daneco-NEA being the leading faction in this long-running Daneco war. But reports said that the Daneco-CDA has been expanding its loyal membership base through reconnection of electric meters from what Daneco-NEA has disconnected. How true is the report that Daneco-NEA is surrendering and would not be contesting PSALM or DOE in making power disconnection so that an emergency situation comes in out from the blackout and hence annihilate Daneco-CDA for it has no more power to reconnect? But what about if the Daneco-CDA would reconnect what the PSALM would disconnect?
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But I would say now that the two Daneco factions have loudmouths. It comes no surprise that they are noisy these days. But maybe a total blackout may come and Daneco-CDA is brought for judgment. When blackout moment comes amid a continuing rotational brownouts, that would be the time that the loud mouths of the two factions have to eat crows.
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Davao del Norte Board Member Dr. Fred De Veyra spewed out fire and brimstone over Daneco’s continuing war between Daneco-NEA and Daneco- CDA in my interview with him last Thursday. I strongly sensed his disgust was directed to both the sets of the officials of the two factions. The board member, chairman of the SP’s human rights committee, obviously could no longer take much further what he has been seeing to Daneco he served very well when it was yet one entity during the 80s and 90s. He slammed for the so wasteful, so costly, so foolish infighting who’s legitimate or not between the two factions.
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There is now a need for member-consumers to rise up to the present disarray of the erstwhile one Daneco. Rising up would mean they can move and stand like petitioning electorate for people’s initiative or recall. That can be if there’s a devil advocate movement or group to initiate. I heard one which is driving a petition to convert Daneco into power corporation registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission. May they lead this time when there’s already fatigue over this so costly, so wasteful, so foolish Daneco war that seeks only to destroy Daneco as an institution.
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BM Dr. De Veyra is right when he slammed that Daneco has been on losing streak of its finances due to this costly infighting. Both factions maintain their own set of employees and management and board officials. There are two sets of expenditures instead of one. With it, naturally Daneco would lose financially. Because officials of both factions whet the appetite for continuing Daneco’s war as it’s them who mutually benefit out from it, Daneco has to lose as a result. If ever the blackout comes true with the claim of the Daneco-NEA that PSALM will disconnect its power supply to Daneco anytime this month, then Dr. De Veyra is right to say that the member-consumers have no sin and could not be blamed for this mess, not their low payments to their electric bills, but due to the continuing war that was started and sustained by both of the officials of the factions. When that darkness comes, Daneco’s 150,000 member-consumers should rise up and protest against the foolish officials of both the Daneco-NEA and Daneco-CDA including NEA project supervisor Godofredo Guya. Don’t blame us but you all Daneco officials! Dr. De Veyra said.
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The Tagum City Council’s committee of the whole made its committee hearing on the Bird Park controversy closed door at Molave Hotel last Thursday. May there’s already a result of it after the hearing. The tagged fall guy was there. Will heads or a head only will roll in the committee’s recommendation?
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Davao del Norte SP Floorleader, Board Member Hernanie Duco wants that all the official matters and measures in his office would be acted and referred speedily to committees. I sense BM Duco of Carmen is efficiently doing his function for board members to avoid getting caught delayed with the 30-day reglamentary period for the SP to act on measures of lower sanggunians.

Fears, anxieties spread in Davao del Norte over DANECO blackout

june 10, 2014

Fears and anxieties from among officials and other sectors in Davao del Norte were heard yesterday over the disconnection of power to Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative putting its entire franchise area into long power blackout which was reported to start today.

Tagum City Councilor Tristan Royce Aala during Monday’s session of the City Council told his colleagues they ought to know whether the Power Sector and Assets Liabilities Management (PSALM) would have to disconnect their power supply to Daneco on June 10, 2014.

As of morning Monday, Tagum city officials are still clueless on when would the PSALM-imposed blackout would hit Daneco’s franchise area.

Councilor Fernand Bordios said that from what he heard Daneco had been given a two weeks’ time yet.

Councilor Aala slammed congressmen and other top public officials in the province for allegedly not giving concern to the Daneco problem.

He and other councilors supported Bordios’ call for the convening of a power summit to be attended by governors, congressmen and mayors in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley.

In Sangguniang Panlalawigan session Monday afternoon, the call to clarify the reported blackout and for congressmen to act on the problem was sounded by Board Member Shirley Belen Aala.

Board Member Raymond Joey Millan also wanted to invite Daneco’s power suppliers to come to the SP to shed light on Daneco’s obligations.

Daneco-NEA OIC general manager Benedicto Ongking, in an phone interview, said that PSALM’s notice of disconnection was received last Feb. 25, 2014, which “lapsed already”.

As to the final disconnection notice, he said, “we still have no information yet, and we still have not yet received a document for that.”

He said though that “PSALM would anytime disconnect considering that it had already its notice of disconnection that lapsed already.”

The Daneco group under the supervision of the National Electrification Administration or the Daneco-NEA had announced in a press conference last week its heavy indebtedness of power obligations to PSALM amounting to P601.37 million.

Besides, Daneco has also power obligations of P50.94 million from the Aboitiz-owned Therma Marine, Inc. (TMI) and P12.76 million from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

NEA project supervisor to Daneco-NEA Godofredo Guya warned that an impending blackout would come anytime in the month of June to the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley claiming that the Department of Energy has apparently issued a go signal to the earlier request of PSALM to disconnect Daneco of its power supply.

Guya said that Daneco-NEA has been saddled with only 70 percent collection efficiency rating and has still to collect an accumulated P1.1-billion payables from member-consumers.

But the opposing Daneco faction under the Cooperative Development Authority or Daneco-CDA group immediately tagged Daneco-NEA’s report of heavy indebtedness as “a bluff, a lie.”

Daneco-CDA spokesperson Oliver Autor said that Daneco-NEA officials made “a new bluff threatening consumers of total blackout like what they did last year.”

He charged that Daneco-NEA has resorted to anew to threats based on bloated obligations so that member-consumers would have to pay their electric bills to Daneco-NEA.

He said that last year Daneco-NEA officials threatened member-consumers that the power obligations had already reached more than P700 million when “in truth it was only more than P300 million.”

Also, Daneco-CDA media consultant Nilo Lariosa rebuffed Daneco-NEA saying, “There is such thing as an order from PSALM or from DOE to disconnect. They are bluffing because they could not show any document. It’s part of their continuing pangilad sa katawhan (cheating the people).”

He said that the Daneco-CDA had earlier “secured a status quo ante order from Regional Trial Court Branch 95 in Tagum City directing Daneco-NEA including PSALM, NGCP not to do inimical actions against the interests of Daneco-CDA and its member-consumers.”

“If ever they have that order to disconnect they should show that to the people,” Lariosa added.

Daneco-NEA group claimed that they have been dutifully paying the P8.15-million monthly amortization of the restructured P275-million of the P576 million outstanding debt to PSALM from March 2013 to April 2014, and that the Daneco-CDA failed to settle its power bills, the latest of which was given in Dec. 2013. (Rural Urban News/Cha Monforte)