WELL…WELL, it seems PECO’s Marcelo Ugarte Cacho (you know, the guy with the almost impressive title) got caught with his trousers down and what was exposed was not a pretty sight.
Before you get any kinky visions of Cacho doing a “Full Monty”, simmer down. It’s just a figure of speech. Maybe the more appropriate line would be “Panay Electric Co.’s head of Public Engagement and Government Affairs just shot himself in the foot once more.”
So what happened? How did PECO’s Cacho got caught with his trousers down?
Let’s start with excerpts from the Nov. 18, 2019 issue of Panay News:
‘PRODUCT OF SPECULATION’
PECO presscon aims to confuse public – ERC
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) slammed Panay Electric Co. (PECO) for making it appear that the agency was part of a recent press conference that the franchise-less power distributor held in Metro Manila.
ERC remains independent in the discharge of its functions, including the conduct of investigations, stressed Chairperson Agnes Devanadera.
“The ERC has no participation, in any manner, in the said (Nov. 14) press conference,” stressed Devanadera.
ERC has completed its field inspection and data gathering on the series of pole fire incidents in this city.
“The findings of the technical team will be presented to the Commission on Monday (today, Nov. 18) and released to the public accordingly,” said Devanadera.
Days before the press conference, PECO, through its legal team Divina Law, invited members of the Metro Manila media stating, “The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has conducted an investigation on the maintenance of the distribution lines of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) to shed light on the situation. They recently completed the investigation and we are pleased to invite you to a press briefing of PECO and its counsel, the Divina Law, on Nov. 14, Thursday, 10 a.m. so that we would be able to share the results of the findings and the outcome of the ERC hearing.”
During the press conference, PECO had a projector screen that flashed “PECO ERC PRESSCON, an enlightened past, a bright future.”
Criticizing the press conference, Devanadera stressed, “Premature reporting of the outcome of our investigation is but a product of speculation that serves no purpose, except to confuse the public.”
Really, making it appear that ERC is in partnership with PECO is your classic example of namedropping, a poorly thought of act of desperation resulting from a panic attack.
What is worst is that it puts the ERC in a bad light, implying that they are in cahoots with PECO for a favorable investigation report. We are not surprised that ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera slammed them.
And if you think that’s bad enough, there’s more. Excerpts from the Nov. 19, 2019 issue of Panay News:
PLDT: ‘IT’S A LIE!’
Aside from courting the ire of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Panay Electric Co. (PECO) has also angered telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) for attributing incidents of pole fires in this city to telephone companies.
PLDT vice president for Visayas Rene Lescano clarified that they only have 2,000 poles in Iloilo City and of these, only 800 are wooden compared to PECO’s 30,000 poles.
As defense to the complaint of Mayor Jerry Treñas to the ERC about the pole fires, PECO claimed that between 2017 to 2019 the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) recorded 709 post fires and that only 138 of these involved its own poles while 571 involved those of telco’s.
“It’s a lie. It is not correct to say that the more than 500 posts are ours. We have very few wooden poles compared to theirs,” said Lescano who previously served as PLDT Iloilo manager.
He also insisted that it was not the poles that started the fires but the electrical wires of PECO.
PLDT’s messenger wires are without voltage, made of steel and serve as tension to their copper and fiber cables and connected to the ground for lightning protection, Lescano stressed.
In recent media interviews, Marcelo Cacho, head of PECO’s Public Engagement and Government Affairs, said PLDT’s messenger wires also have high voltage.
But Lescano said only PLDT’s copper cable has voltage but very minimal – 24 volts if idle and peaks at 49 volts only if in use.
“It’s just like a volt of a battery which can never cause fire of the magnitude responded to by the BFP when they were called to address pole fires incidents,” said Lescano.
According to the PLDT executive, “It is clear among engineers and utility companies that the said fires originated from PECO’s electrical wires, but since our lines and cables are closely attached to their secondary lines, they get burned in the process.”
“Maybe Cacho, who is not an engineer, has no knowledge at all. Or is he just using us as scapegoat?” asked Lescano.
Of course, PECO did not take these broadsides from PLDT lying down and they came up with their own return fire (pun intended) and we will discuss that come next column. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
