Beneco prepares for CDA registration

THE BENGUET Electric Cooperative will soon launch an information campaign to rally members towards registering the consumers’ utility as a genuine cooperative and save it from being bought by enterprising private companies.

Having developed as one of the country’s most viable electric cooperatives, Beneco has become attractive to private investors out to buy and privatize the same, to the disadvantage of thousands of consumer-members.

“Conversion into a genuine cooperative is our only shield against speculators eyeing to buy Beneco which has developed into one of the country’s most viable power distribution systems,” general manager Gerardo Verzosa said.

This view was supported in three recent general membership assemblies of Beneco which voted to convert the system into a stock cooperative by registering it with the Cooperative Develoment Agency.

A total of 14,010 members voted for CDA registration, whittled down to 2,476 in Tublay; 3,234 in Bokod; and 8,300 during the membership assembly meeting lastJune 15 at the Burnham Park athletic bowl.

The Beneco board headed by director Rocky Aliping is awaiting approval by the National Electrification Administration of the resolutions to convert before launching the information dissemination campaign towards conversion into a genuine cooperative.

The conversion of electric systems in the country as quasi-cooperatives was ordered by the late President Ferdinand Marcos who privatized the country’s telephone systems and converted water districts s government corporations.

Beneco’s viability and attractiveness to private power distributors