BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
“We welcome the charges,” Central Negros Electric Cooperative acting general manager Danny Pondevilla said yesterday on the administrative complaint filed against him and the members of the board of directors of Ceneco before the National Electrification Administration.
The charges filed by consumers’ group Power Watch Negros, led by Wennie Sancho, named the respondents as Ceneco Board President Jojit Yap and board members Robert Javellanq, Martha Joyce Cuenca, Antonio Panique, Eugene Velasco, and Fr. Ernie Larida.
The complaints were for grave misconduct, gross neglect, dishonesty, gross insubordination, conduct prejudicial to the interest of the electric cooperative and its consumers, and willful violation/non-compliance with NEA issuance, memoranda and other rules and regulations.
Pondevilla said they take these charges as an opportunity for them to answer in a proper forum.
In the complaint, Power Watch claimed that the Ceneco officials committed grave misconduct when they shelved the third-party bids and awards committee Resolution 21-03 that recommends choosing the lowest bidder for the procurement of the 20MW supply base load power won by Kepco-SPC.
Instead, Ceneco officials opted to extend the current 10-year agreement of Kepco with them for a 40MW base load power supply for a year for P5.42 per kWh.
The complaint stated that the Ceneco officials blatantly committed gross negligence due to lack of foresight when they failed to protect the interest of the member consumers when they made the decision.
It alleged that the respondents were dishonest when they feigned ignorance of a circular issued of by the Department of Energy and the pronouncements of NEA declaring that the TPBAC is immune from incursion of their affairs.
“By clearly showing defiance of the above agencies’ opinions and intentions to conceal material information during the approval of the power supply extension, respondents committed gross insubordination and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the consumers,” the complaint stated.
Power Watch also stressed that there was willful violation and non-compliance with NEA issuance, memoranda and other rules and regulations because of these circumstances.*
