CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON FRANCHISE PASSES BENECO FRANCHISE RENEWAL; COMMITTEE MEMBERS AGREE TO CO-AUTHOR CONSOLIDATED BILL
BAGUIO CITY – (November 21, 2023) With only very minor amendments, Congress Committee on Legislative Franchise passed a consolidated version of Benguet Electric Cooperative’s franchise renewal by Baguio City Rep. Mark Go’s House Bill (HB) 6145 and Benguet Rep. Eric Go-Yap’s HB 9402.
“We are very grateful to the Committee members of the Legislative Franchise Committee for finally approving the proposed HB of Cong. Go together with the HB of Cong. Yap. The committee members present during the committee hearing even agreed to co-author the consolidated HB. Their co-authorship is very important because the committee approval is only the first step, our journey in getting our franchise renewal still has a long way to go. After this, we still have to hurdle the Plenary and eventually the Senate approval,” newly appointed General Manager Melchor Licoben shared.
Licoben led the contingent of top BENECO Management with Task Force BENECO Interim Board, supported by the officers of the Electric Cooperative- Member Consumer Owners United (EC-MCOU) group led by its president Dane Ducayag. They attended the Committee hearing last Monday at the Lower House.
BENECO’s 50-year franchise ends by March 2028. In anticipation of the difficult and long process, Licoben’s management team started working on the franchise renewal as early as three years ago.
“We also need to find a champion in the Senate. Hopefully, after the plenary, we will be able to find a champion in the Senate to sponsor or author our franchise renewal. We are looking forward to requesting Sen. Tulfo and Senator Win Gatchalian to be the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Senate’s Committee on Energy. We are also hoping to get the support of Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Robinhood Padilla, and hopefully all the other members of the Senate,” Licoben said.
Gatchalian has been consistent in his support for BENECO’s survival when the management impasse happened in 2021 during his chairmanship of the Senate’s committee on energy. The crisis that escalated resulting in committee hearings in Congress and the Senate prompted Gatchalian to visit and look at how the co-op operates and establish that BENECO is not an ailing electric cooperative to justify a takeover.
Sen. Padilla and Hontiveros have also expressed their hearts’ deep connection with the Cordillera region. Padilla reportedly spent some of his school years in Baguio City.
Licoben also expressed BENECO’s gratitude to the Power-bloc Congressmen Presley De Jesus (PHILRECA Party-list) and Sergio Dagooc (APEC Party-list) for closely working with the co-op on crucial matters like the franchise renewal.
The power bloc in Congress was vital in bringing BENECO’s struggles to the national leader’s attention.
“We still appeal to our MCOs to continue their support. Your resolutions of support are very crucial in the Plenary, more so when it reaches the Senate. All sectors of society rallying behind BENECO through resolutions of support will be an undeniable testament that BENECO has served Baguio city and Benguet province well in the past 50 years, and it deserves to have its franchise renewed to continue serving its MCOs,” Licoben appealed.
BENECO MCOs have enjoyed one of the lowest costs of power in the country for the past 20 years, and the co-op has been given consistent awards by regulating government bodies in recent years for this. It has also been among the electric cooperatives that were given the highest category awards in performance being a triple-A co-op.
The BENECO Labor union has also written Cong. Gus Tambunting, the chairperson of the Legislative Franchise Committee expressed their gratitude saying “it was answered prayers the joy we collectively felt was 50 years of Christmases worth combined, this year being our co-op’s 50th Founding Anniversary that we have celebrated last month.**LSI
