Seven of the 10 Board of Directors (BOD) of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) including BOD President Atty. Esteban Somngi, and Engr. Melchor Licoben were suspended by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for 90 days after defying the appointment of Atty. Ana Maria Paz Rafael as the cooperative’s general manager last August.
The NEA Board of Administrators (BOA) ordered on September 22, 2021 the preventive suspension of Atty. Somngi, Engr. Licoben and BOD members Jeffery Acop, Mike Maspil, Peter Busaing, Jonathan Obar, Josephine Tuling, and Robert Valentin, pending investigation of the complaint against them by Atty. Rafael for indirect contempt, willful violation of NEA Rules, and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the cooperative and its member-consumers.
The NEA’s administrative committee on September 21 recommended to the BOA the suspension of the said BENECO officials after considering their replies to a “Show Cause Order” dated September 7, asking them to explain why have they been barring Rafael from performing her duties as the duly-appointed general manager.
Unconvinced of their arguments that dwelt on the still unresolved Court of Appeals petition for TRO and the non-binding House of Representatives Energy Committee’s resolution, the NEA administrative committee ruled to suspend the BENECO officials to give way for the full investigation of Atty. Rafael’s complaint and prevent the same officials from influencing the results of the probe.
“It bears to note that NEA is vested with the power to impose disciplinary and preventive measures upon erring members of the BOD of electric cooperatives, its officers and employees,” NEA said while citing jurisprudence emanating from Republic Act 10531 (NEA Reform Act of 2013, amending PD 269, specifically Section 4-A providing supervisory powers of NEA over electric cooperatives). NEA also cited that preventive suspension is a preliminary step in an administrative investigation, though explaining, “it is not a punishment. If they will be found guilty warranting removal, then they may be removed or dismissed from office.”
For this reason, it stressed, “there is nothing improper in suspending an officer before he is given an opportunity to prove his innocence. Preventive suspension may be imposed as a preliminary step in administrative investigation, aimed to prevent the respondents from using their position and the powers and prerogatives of the office to influence potential witnesses or tamper with records which may be vital in the prosecution of the case against such respondents, as well as to prevent the respondents from committing further acts of malfeasance while in office.”
NEA further noted that the presence of the said officials in BENECO has already compromised and continues to threaten the cooperative’s operations and may possibly influence probable witnesses and/or pose threats to the safety and integrity of records and other evidence.
In the meantime, it appointed Atty. Omar Mayo as Project Supervisor to address the ongoing conflict and virtual stand-off at the leadership of BENECO and also fix organizational management issues and concerns. Mayo has also been likewise ordered by NEA to supervise the management and operations of Beneco, assist the cooperative in the performance of its functions based on established policies, rules and regulations, approve or disapprove BENECO board resolutions in consultation with concerned NEA departments and perform other tasks as ordered by NEA.
A text message by this paper’s editor to the BOD president to comment on their alleged suspension was not answered. However, on the FB page of the BELU Beneco Employees Labor Union, a memorandum addressed to Member-Consumer-Owners and BENECO Employees was posted saying that they, the seven allegedly suspended directors and Melchor S. Licoben had “rejected the alleged Preventive Suspension Order (PSO) issued by the National Electrification Administration-Board of Administrators.” The memorandum appears to have been signed by the said seven directors. ** APP
