JUST THE OTHER day pictures were circulating in social media showing Panay Electric Company (PECO) president and chief executive officer Miguel Cacho feeding indigent kids in Barangay So-oc with what seemed to be ginisa na monggo with kalabasa, a typical Ilonggo dish, a usual everyday fare, particular among the working-class.
This dish is nutritious and quite tasty if done right and goes well with steamed rice. I’m not really sure if this dish is also served on Miguel’s table as obviously he does not belong to the “working-class”, but with no pun intended. I’m pretty sure that at some point in his life he had eaten ginisa na monggo with kalabasa as all Ilonggos do.
Good thing it was not lugaw, otherwise Miguel would be a “third- rate copycat” to the “Barefoot Lady of Naga” a.k.a. Leni Robredo and it would be quite awkward seeing Miguel serve lugaw with “naked feet” ala Leni Robredo.
The feeding program is a PECO project with Gawad Kalinga-Iloilo and if you check out the Facebook account of Gawad Kalinga-Iloilo you will see that lately it was swamped with pictures of PECO this and PECO that – meaning almost all their programs has PECO in tow.
I suppose that is understandable as the head of Gawad Kalinga-Iloilo is a certain Mary Rose Cacho so the connection is not uncanny, rather deliberate.
Really nothing wrong with PECO suddenly afflicted with a strong sense of compassion and overwhelming generosity from the goodness of the hearts of the Cacho family for the natives and hoi polloi of “I Am Iloilo City.”
It has been very profitable, almost a century of “serving” the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” so giving back is the proper thing to do.
There’s just this little thing that won’t go away. Has PECO always been this compassionate and generous with the “poor and downtrodden” of “I Am Iloilo City”? Or this is just a spasm, perhaps an involuntary defense mechanism, the moment they felt their existence seriously threatened?
Excerpts from the Nov. 15, 2017 issue of Panay News:
SP: DON’T RENEW PECO FRANCHISE
“The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) passed a resolution ‘vehemently opposing’ the renewal of Panay Electric Company’s (PECO) franchise and calling on the national government to take over the power distribution utility ‘until a qualified distributor comes in.’”
It’s been a year and there is no turning back. The battle lines have been drawn. It’s the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” and the Sangguniang Panlungsod versus PECO, that monolith who has held the city in bondage for over 90 years.
This is the good fight for the natives of “I Am Iloilo City – fighting for emancipation.
Since 1923 up to present times “I Am Iloilo City” has been under the “bondage’ of PECO.
The fact that for almost a century, 95 years to be exact, the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” were never given a choice, they are “bound” to purchase their electricity from PECO. The working class labored everyday just to let go of their hard-earned money to pay exorbitant electric utilities bill to PECO and that is a form of involuntary servitude.
While the rest of the country has moved forward and “democratized” their electric power utilities provider into electric cooperatives “I Am Iloilo City” remains frozen in time, chained to a monolith.
And then we have this statement from MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power):
“PECO has become a rent-seeking business run by the family who are multiplying and draining the resources and earnings of PECO through dividends for themselves.
“They are a throwback to the hacienderos of lore. They behave like the franchise is a birth right. It is a privilege, not a right.
“PECO has one of the highest generation charges in the country, and is P2.50/kwh higher than in Manila, Cebu and Davao.
“Some NGOs even claim that Iloilo City’s electricity prices are the highest among 70 countries in the world.”
Finally this:
Excerpts from the Nov. 27 2018 issue of Panay News:
Senate approves MORE Power franchise on 3rd reading
The Senate has put the final nail on the coffin of Panay Electric Company (PECO) as power distribution utility in Iloilo City. On third and final reading yesterday, senators unanimously approved the franchise of More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power).
PECO’s un-renewed franchise is set to expire on Jan. 19, 2019.
With the Senate done passing the franchise bill, a bicameral committee will be convened to settle all the issues, including the proposed two-year transition period from PECO to MORE Power.
After both the House and Senate versions of the bill are unified, it will be sent to President Rodrigo Duterte for signing.
Ahay, it’s already official. PECO by 2019 is no longer welcome in “I Am Iloilo City.” Maybe they should take their business somewhere else. Timbuktu perhaps. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
