The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has approved the appointment of new members of the Task Force Duterte Zamboanga City Power acting as the Board of Directors (BOD) for Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ZAMCELCO).
This after the NEA Board of Administrators passed Resolution No. 113 on September 26 approving the deactivation of the ZAMCELCO Board of Directors due to the deteriorating financial condition and operational performance of the electric cooperative (EC) and pursuant to the agency’s supervisory power under Section 4-A of Republic Act No. 10531.
NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong reconstituted Task Force Duterte Zamboanga City Power
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.
“As a remedial measure, due to ZAMCELCO’s extraordinary case/state, the NEA constituted the TFD-ZCP,” NEA Deputy Administrator for Legal Services Atty. Rossan Rosero-Lee said.
“The same law provides that the NEA may appoint or assign third persons to the Board of the EC until the NEA decides that the election of the new Board of Directors to manage the EC is necessary and it can create a management team for the purpose,” Atty. Rosero-Lee said, citing Rule IV, Sections 19 (f) and 21 (a) of the IRR of the law.
To recall, NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong reconstituted Task Force Duterte Zamboanga City Power through an office order dated July 25, 2019.
“In the exigency of service, and pursuant to Section 5 (a) Chapter II and Sections 4-A and B of Presidential Decree No. 269, as amended by Republic Act. No. 10531, Task Force Duterte Zamboanga City Power is hereby reconstituted,” the order read.
The task force will be chaired by the president of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (AMRECO) and co-chaired by the National Center of Electric Cooperative Consumers, Inc. (NCECCO).
Members of the task force are general manager of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA), and representatives from residential, institutional, commercial/industrial or business and professional sectors.
ZAMCELCO is currently being managed and operated by the Crown Investments Holdings, Inc. and Desco, Inc. under an investment management contract (IMC), and is now in the process of rehabilitating the power co-op.