The Board passed a resolution to terminate Lagarde, and designated Ceneco finance manager Chuchie Destriza as acting general manager for 60 days until they can find a replacement.

Except for director Edward Gasambelo, who abstained during the voting due to personal reasons, those who voted to terminate Lagarde were Board president Arnel Lapore, vice president Mike Maravilla, secretary Paul Lizares, Robert Javellana, Zenaida Lacson, and Joyce Cuenca.

Lagarde said he expected this but he still has legal remedies. He plans to appeal the matter.

However, he was surprised because the agenda of the Board meeting only included the letter of the National Electrification Administration asking for their comment on how to improve the operational efficiency of Ceneco, Lagarde said.

Lapore said the Board evaluated the performance of Lagarde and gave him a rating of 5.2 out of 10 points. He should at least get seven points.

He said Lagarde failed in the competence aspect of management. They asked Lagarde to answer the findings of NEA because they were alarmed by the condition of Ceneco.

NEA recently categorized Ceneco as “Yellow B”, which shows that it is an ailing cooperative. Ceneco failed in six out of the seven parameters, Lapore said.

Lapore said the accumulated systems loss of Ceneco has reached P97 million as of October 14. This is not being passed on to the consumers. So it is Ceneco which absorbs the losses, he said.

“This is worst for Ceneco and we cannot continue suffering from more losses under his (Lagarde’s) management,” he said.

Lapore said they had also reprimanded Lagarde earlier for not following their Board resolution. They gave him a chance, hoping he will reform.

Meanwhile, Lagarde said there is a due process to be observed.

“There is moral, ethical and legal issues involved and numbers should not be used as basis. There is a deep-seated reason for this because of some disagreements,” he said.

“I cannot just allow the Board to lord over us. Meaning, I have to protect our department heads and employees,” Lagarde said.

“If you are taking a stand, be prepared to take a pull,” he said.

Lagarde recalled that he was also terminated in 2008 by the Board, led by its former president Vicente Sabornay also for lack of trust and confidence.

And yesterday, he was again terminated for loss of trust and confidence because he is not willing to cooperate with the plans of other directors, he said. He also alleged that he has documentary evidences of the things the Board president wanted him to do, he added.

But Lagarde said he is not worried about this second termination. “I can survive this. I am standing pat on what I think is right and I have no regrets. But I will not take this sitting down” , he said.

The issue is about the systems loss which is composed of many things, he added.

Lagarde said they have done their best to arrest the increase in the systems loss. Pilferage forms part of it. The capacity of Ceneco to provide good service to its consumers depends on the repair, rehabilitation and maintenance of its system and facilities, he said.*CGS

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