Improving
Ceneco's services

Yesterday afternoon we attended the Central Negros Electric Cooperative's board meeting. We were there to bring up something with the Ceneco board as chairman of Ceneco's electrification committee for District 3, now represented by president Ed Guillem in the Ceneco board.

We used to be director of this District and later also Ceneco president.

We have noted too, and I told them, the board is truly untied. And we were impressed by the report of a young internal auditor who showed mastery in his work.

***

Our coming to the board was a result of the meeting a day earlier of the electrification committee to help in the membership campaign and encouraging consumers to pay their dues on time.

Our electrification committee is composed of different sectoral representatives. Mrs. Zenaida D. Lacson represents education, religious group is represented by Mrs. Natividad Malunes, business by Rostalin Lalisan, civic groups by Joel Jaranilla, employment by Paterno Virtudazo, barangay by Mrs. Rebecca Deslate, agro-fisheries by Elias Hermosura, and media by myself.

I was unanimously elected chairman.

***

The work of the electrification committee is to help the electric cooperative directors in their job.

In the case of District 3, we campaign for membership. There are consumers who are not yet members. They should be made to register as members. When soon there will be benefits to be given, they will be given only to members.

The electrification committee members can also be a big help in eradicating power pilferage. Because of their access to the area, they know more easily who are using jumpers.

When there are complaints, they can better handle these complaints because of their access to Ceneco.

***

Ceneco is the biggest business entity in Negros island. It operates on a budget of P2.4 billion. This budget is bigger than the budget of the four cities and two municipalities that it services.

Ceneco services the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Silay, and Talisay, and the municipalities of Murcia, and Salvador Benedicto.

Ceneco has 110,000 electric consumers.

Noceco also services four cities, La Carlota, Himamaylan, Kabankalan, and Sipalay and more towns than Ceneco services, but, in terms of budget, Ceneco is bigger.

Noceco, under general manager Bert Canlas, is also very well run.

***

We commend the Sugar Regulatory Administration through its Administrator James Ledesma to ensure sugar supply for our poor people.

In this connection he allocated sugar for the National Food Authority to be sold in rolling stores of NFA.

This way sugar can be made available to our poorer brothers at a cheaper price if bought through NFA. Sugar will be sold to NFA at P950 per 50-kilo bag. Our people must be made to accept the reality of high prices.

We must accept the reality of high cost of inputs. If government does not help sugar producers like it neglects rice producers, there will come soon a time that the country will be dependent on sugar imports.

***

But sugar planters are better. Like hog raisers, they are a strong group that can stand up to government to stop it from its importing spree.

The rice producers are not organized. There is Jaime Tadeo supposedly representing the palay farmers. But Tadeo, it seems, has forgotten the people he is supposed to represent and just closes his eyes as the government imports and imports rice to the detriment of the rice industry.

While sugar now sells at around a thousand pesos to an 1kg, rice prices just hover around 700 to 800 pesos a bag. When you consider that it costs more to produce a bag of rice to producing an 1kg of sugar, you can see how the rice farmers are victimized by the crooks in government who are raking in money in their heavy importation.

My friend, NFA local manager Gil Ibarra, told me he would give me a reaction from NFA in Manila. I haven't received that reaction. NFA cannot find a justification of its heavy importation of rice that destroys the local prices to the detriment of the local rice farmers.

***

In 2005, if memory serves me right, NFA lost plenty of money, some P32 billion? If this money were used to build irrigation systems, you can just imagine how many irrigation systems this could have built.

But, no, some crooks cannot make money in irrigation. But they can make fast bucks in importation.

A big tragedy is we keep on quarreling about Charter Change, about next year's election or no election. The bigger problem is our people have no food to eat because government does not work to encourage food production.

It can even be said, it is discouraging food production so that they can import and import. A top official, a friend, told me on condition that he is not to be identified that "In every importation, there is always scam."

And this is institutionalized.*

back to top