Electrocution - 6

The conflict in Central Negros Electric Cooperative appears to be caused by differences in the contract for power supply to the cooperative. Terminated General Manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. claimed that the Board headed by its president Arnel Lapore has entered into a supplemental contract for 24MW with Kepco. It was made to appear to be an intermediate contract but Lagarde said that because it was presented as an intermediate contract, it was approved.

However, Lagarde said he found out later after studying the fine prints that the contract was not intermediate but a base “load factored” amendment to the existing 40MW contract. The result is that Ceneco over-contracted and had more power than it needed. According to Lagarde the base load requirement of Ceneco is only 62MW but its total contract was 64MW.

The problem with this over-contracting, a friend who had studied electric cooperatives for a long time said, is that we are paying for electricity that we don't use or need. This results in higher electric bills. Lapore threw back to Lagarde the responsibility for this over-contracting and must explain to the members.

Lagarde however blamed the directors because “they did not consult nor allowed complainant to review the contract” before it was signed. This explains, he said why his signature and the initials of the Assistant General Manager are not affixed in the original contract.

Lagarde, however admitted that when he pointed out to Lapore the fact that what was signed was a base load 24-hours supplemental agreement, he helped Lapore draft corrective amendments which were later filed for approval with the Energy Regulatory Board.

The complaint and the responses of the board as a collegial body and Lapore as an individual are interesting for the education of members of any electric cooperative. An addendum to the original complaint involved the appointment of Lapore as executive assistant of La Carlota City.

I discussed parts of this issue in two earlier columns but there are other components in this exchange of views that need to be presented further. The reason is that there is a similar situation in other cooperatives. In fact, one text message asked about the cooperative of the Councilors League of the Philippines. However, let us just keep this matter aside in the meantime.

In the case of Lagarde's charge against Lapore, the latter explained that the law took effect after he had served his term in 2015. He also said that the law prohibits only those whose salary grade is not more than 16. Lagarde claimed the salary grade of Lapore was 29 but Lapore corrected this to 20.

Lagarde insisted that Lapore is disqualified. He claimed that Lapore did not divulge this appointment and that when he was found out, Lapore had his salary grade downgraded to 14. Lagarde insists as well that Lapore is guilty of bad faith for non-disclosure of his appointment in July 2013.

Lagarde also charged that Lapore “as a government official” failed to declare in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth his involvement in Ceneco. Surely Lapore receives some monetary compensation.

Lapore explained that he “is never required much less mandated to make known his connection with CENECO as the latter is not a government agency or instrumentality.” Moreover, Lapore insists that his being a member of the board does not make him an employee of the cooperative and “that he has not invested any shares on the electric cooperative to gain financial interest over the assets of the cooperative, the condition that the SALN wanted to address.”

Anyway this matter is already with the Ombudsman. Lagarde said he had filed a complaint there where their theory and belief will be tested. The decision will have implications in the qualification of candidates for the board.

The main issues in this conflict have been discussed here. I was informed that electric cooperatives in other places are following up this column with interest. That is understandable because most members of electric cooperatives are unaware of what is happening within the coop walls. They are concerned mainly with their monthly bills. Their conflict shows that the decisions of management and the board affect how much that bill will be.

The sheer size of the membership obviates against members being well-informed, worsened by lack of continuing membership education that real cooperatives observe. Ceneco conducts a perfunctory pre-membership seminar which is insufficient to make a well-informed member.
NEA says Lagarde is still the GM. Let's see what happens.*

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