BACOLOD City – The Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese of Bacolod and some member-consumers of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) will file a letter of protest at the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
They said they are against a Ceneco resolution that recommends the salary increase of the power cooperative’s general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr.
Ceneco Board Resolution No. 12218 endorses to raise Lagarde’s pay from P120,000 to P250,000 monthly. It was approved on Sept. 20.
The resolution also recommends an annual 300-percent multiplier to be applied to the number of Lagarde’s years of service at Ceneco.
Lagarde has been working at the power cooperative for 10 years.
If NEA affirms the Ceneco resolution, Lagarde would retire come Oct. 1.
SAC president Father Chris Gonzales called the proposed salary increase as “immoral” and “irregular.”
Ceneco’s member-consumers will be burdened, he stressed.
SAC legal counsel Atty. Vicente Petierre III said Lagarde’s application for a pay increase days before his planned retirement has “no legal basis” and is “illegal.”
The lawyer said Lagarde is only entitled to a salary increase of up to P125,055 per month, not P250,000.
He added that they were preparing the letter of protest and will send it to NEA “as soon as possible.”
Lagarde said NEA has yet to act on the Ceneco resolution.
“It was just a recommendation,” he said earlier, clarifying that his pay increase was not yet final.
Meanwhile, former Ceneco director Atty. Arnel Lapore called for a special meeting with the Ceneco Board of Directors.
Lapore, who now represents Ceneco member-consumers, sent the Ceneco Board a letter asking for the special meeting after he learned about the Lagarde’s proposed salary increase./PN
