Officials admit: BOHECOs not cooperatives

TUBIGON, BOHOL -– Officials of the Bohol Electric Cooperatives (BOHECOs) admitted that these are not cooperatives, but operate via a special law that make them “unique.”

BOHECO I General Manager Dino Roxas and President Marcial Degamo said the BOHECOs operate under then president Ferdinand Marcos’ Presidential Decree No. 269 and umbrella of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), which Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) chairman, Undersecretary Orlando Ravanera earlier hinted of abolishing.

The BOHECO officials said they have the options whether to put the electric coop under the CDA or the NEA, but majority of the members choose the latter.

BOHECO’s reaction came after Ravanera and CDA Administrator Benje Oliva — during the 3rd Biennial Cooperative Congress in Central Visayas held in Tagbilaran City — declared that some “electric cooperatives (including BOHECOs) are not cooperatives.”

Ravanera and Oliva issued the statements in reaction to reports that members of the BOHECOs have been clamoring for benefits, as is the usual practice among “real” cooperatives.

One member voiced out, during the congress, that he has been affiliated with electric coop here as a “memberconsumer” but he never heard nor received benefits—like dividends or patronage refund and others—usually granted to members.

Ravanera had commented then that every coop member must be recognized as member-consumer-owner to give social justice to everyone. The prevailing situation in which electric coop members are not benefited is a form of “social wrong” that must be rectified, he said.

But for Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., in separate interview with The FREEMAN, the law governing the NEA— which many electric coops in the country are registered as members—should be amended.