Co-op execs vow aid for ailing DUs

ELECTRIC cooperative ( ECs) save distribution utilities (DUs)

A resolution calling for the creation of a comprehensive assistance program was approved earlier this month by the Philippine Association of Board of Directors of Rural Electric Cooperatives (PABREC).

“We should have a program helping those ailing cooperatives. We should have a concerted effort in terms of helping our ailing ECs in resolving their problems,” Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (AMRECO) President Felix Vergara Jr. said.

Vergara, who is also the board president of First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Fibeco), proposed the resolution.

PABREC also endorsed resolutions urging Congress to pass a bill expanding the supervisory powers of the National Electrification Administration ( NEA) and supporting the establishment of an EC MemberConsumer-Owners (MCO) Center at Clark Green City in Tarlac.

The resolutions were adopted during the First EC Board of Directors Summit in Boracay, where NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong reiterated the need to protect the gains of rural and interests of consumers.

“You are in the electric cooperative to promote and protect the rights and interest of your electricity consumers. But you cannot do that individually. To be relevant, you have to bond yourselves into one strong movement,” Masongsong said.

He also urged ECs to solidify their ranks to help the government realize its economic roadmap, particularly in sustaining rural development as stipulated in the AmBisyon Natin 2040 plan.