INNO DY OF ISABELA’S 6th DISTRICT CRIES RESCUE AT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Photo grabbed at Congressman Inno Dy’s FB page

SAN MATEO, Isabela- “We need someone to step in and rescue the province from the darkness of inefficiency and mismanagement”, said Faustino “Inno” Dy V, congressman of the 6th District of the Province of Isabela, in his privilege speech during the first regular session on Aug. 30, 2022, at the House of Representatives, stressing out his issues and concerns and of his constituents to the Electric Cooperatives(ECs)-Isabela Electric Cooperative (ISELCO) 1 and 2.

Quoting the statement of Pres. Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr. during his 1stState of the Nation Address regarding the actions that should be taken to improve the availability of cheap reliable energy, Dy reiterated that the concerns of the high cost of electricity and the management, in general, were pressing to the Isabeliños. He already made his efforts and of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to resolve the concerns but to no avail.

On July 12, 2021, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed a resolution requesting the National Electrification Administration to conduct immediate financial legal audited transactions from 2016 to the present. Accordingly, the resolution was prompted by the result of the inquiry which revealed details indicating that the poor management on the part of ISELCO 1 and 2 may have contributed to higher electricity rates and power outages in the province.

Dy pointed out that the three major issues that have taken no action by the ECs in spite of the complaints are: (1) the high power rates that cost15.50-16.00/kWh compared to MERALCO with 9.54/kWh; CENECO with 12.17 /kWh; DORECO with 12/kWh; (2) the lack of urgency to implement the decision of the Philippine Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) which requires the ECs to refund a net of over 178M as stated to the July 13, 2022, Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution requesting the ERC to allow ISELCO 1 and 2 to add an item reflecting the refund of over recoveries of electric bills of power consumers and; (3) legality of actions of ECs. “ISELCO 1 is violating the laws regarding the mandatory retirement of its General Manager. Despite already receiving retirement benefits, and retiring from his position; despite the availability of individuals qualified to take over the position, it has chosen to retain the same person”, Dy said adding that many current Board of Directors does not meet the continuing qualifications requirements in Sec. 15 & 16 of RA 10531 stating that an EC officer must continue to possess all the qualifications throughout his/her term of tenure of office. At the same time, those who are found unfit should be disqualified from the position.

He also bared that up to this date, no effort has been made to refund the members-consumers and that he has been rebuffed when he tried to exert an effort to secure financial documents. “As a member-consumer, we should have the access to such documents for the sake of transparency”, said he.

“We urge the NEA and the Dept. of Energy to intervene on behalf of the members-consumer of Isabela who must pay for the missteps of their EC’s who are made to suffer to the dissatisfactory service because our ECs are not protecting the interest of our member-consumer”, Dy added. # By MAE BARANGAN