BY Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The power advocacy group, Power Watch Negros (PWN), “declared war” against alleged overcontracting by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO).
Wennie Sancho, lead convenor of PWN, said the skyrocketing price of electricity is rooted in the power supply contracting process.
In its advocacy to “wage a non-violent and bloodless war” to defend consumers against the evils of overcontracting, Sancho challenged the public to access copies of power supply contracts submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for review and approval. “
They can also request directly from government regulatory agencies for documents relevant to the power supply agreements as it is considered a public document,” Sancho pointed out. Sancho added that the sovereign people have the right to access government records. He said the PWN is invoking Article 111 of the Bill of Rights, Section 7 of the 1987 Phil. Constitution, which states that “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions…xxx shall be afforded to the citizen, subject to such limitations as maybe provided by law.” CENECO was issued a Certificate of Permanent Franchise by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) pursuant to P.D. 269.
CENECO is under the supervision of NEA, Sancho pointed out, and that all its records on power contracting and related documents, including the minutes of the Board meeting, should be made available to the public.
“CENECO is not a private company, it is a cooperative imbued with public interests.”
The PWN vowed to defend the people at the receiving end – the MCO’s already burdened by generation and distribution tariffs, and having to bear the additional burden of pass-on charges.
He further added the problem of overcontracting and market power abuses cannot be resolved without fully transforming the ECs to become more responsive and accountable to the people./PN
