NEA appoints new board for ZAMCELCO
By Myrna M. Velasco – October 4, 2019, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Government-run National Electrification Administration (NEA) has appointed new set of board of directors for embattled Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO), citing the power utility’s “deteriorating financial condition” as the major ground for such action.
The agency said the decision to disband the previous ZAMCELCO board was decided through Resolution No. 113 that was approved by NEA’s own board last month, invoking its supervisory powers over the electric cooperative (EC) as prescribed under Section 4-A of Republic Act 10531 or the NEA Charter.
NEA Deputy Administrator for Legal Services Rossan Rosero-Lee indicated that as a remedial measure due to ZAMCELCO’s “extraordinary state,” the agency resorted to the formation of the Task Force Duterte-Zamboanga City Power (TFD-ZCP) to also act as the board for the electric cooperative.
The electrification agency explained that “an election for the regular members of the ZAMCELCO board cannot be conducted as the administrative cases are still pending with the NEA administrative committee.”
Lee expounded that the NEA had been vested with the authority to “appoint or assign third persons to the Board of the EC until the NEA decides that the election of the board of directors to manage the EC is necessary and it can create a management team for the purpose.”
Early part of the year, ZAMCELCO had been thrown into the spotlight following electricity service disruptions pestering Zamboanga City residents – triggered mainly by the dispute between power supplier Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC) to the electric cooperative and its investor-management contractor (IMC), which is the joint venture of Crowninvestment Holdings, Inc. and Desco, Inc.
With an intervention from the Energy Regulatory Commission, the parties had since then entered into “interim compromise agreements” so the people of Zamboanga City could be continually served with their power needs.
