Electric cooperatives have expressed concern over the move of the Energy Department to allow private investors to go into rural electrification.
Leaders of several electric cooperative organizations made a collective stand on Friday to remain as solid partners of the national government in its pursuit to energize every single household in the country no matter how far.
“Forty eight years of rural electrification program is a testament to our resilience and steadfast dedication to its goal,” said Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. president Presley de Jesus.
“Thus, and with all due respect, the policy on private sector participation in rural electrification program is based on a wrong predicate: that there are non-performing ECs who are considered barriers to total electrification,” de Jesus said.
Philreca, in a joint statement with the Philippine Federation of Electric Cooperatives represented by its chairperson Dave Siquian, appealed against widespread misconception that power co-ops were generally ineffective.
The groups said only eight percent out of the total 121 ECs in the Philippines were considered problematic.
“And these are likewise not caused by our perceived operational inefficiency, but due to events and situations beyond our control like natural calamities, political strife, insurgency and more often than not topographic challenges,” De Jesus said.
He said most ECs had delivered on their mandate to help the government promote sustainable rural development through electricity.
“We in the electric cooperative industry stand firm in our dogged resolve to fulfill the mission of providing quality service to the country’s rural communities and meet the original objective of total electrification. Because we can, we will stay the course and finish it,” De Jesus said.
While they welcome competition, the EC leaders feared a state policy on the entry of private firms in rural electrification might affect the welfare of their stakeholders.
Philippine Association of Board of Directors of Rural Electric Cooperatives president Reynaldo Lazo called on the government to protect the ECs against private companies with vested interests on communities.