VRESCO cleanup needed

The way it looks, officials of the V-M-C Rural Electric Services Cooperative seem to consider it as a goose laying eggs, their gobbling of it non-questionable. It is time that mindset is altered and a cleanup ordered. Otherwise, VRESCO can end up with debts and no more assets later.

Now, I am not just upholding the decision of the board of directors, led by Director Ernesto Pilla, to suspend assistant general manager and finance manager, Antonio Magno Jr.

There is also the results of the National Electrification Administration's audit report which found a trove of questionable actions of the VRESCO management from 2002 to 2005.

Five of nine members of the board of directors, spearheaded by Jane Benedicto, reportedly voted for Magno's suspension.

Now, the NEA audit report allegedly discovered that the management had maliciously padded the consumption of selected consumers from two to five kilowatt hours, or an average of two days per consumer since July 1, 2002 to April 30, 2005.

In short, it's not only the cooperative that's been had but also the consumers overbilled.

The board must heed the point raised by Elinore Cabanilla of Victorias Power Consumer for Reforms Inc. that all other officials involved in the questionable acts found by the NEA audit report be imposed similar penalties as that of suspended assistant manager Magno.

VIPCOR, headed by Abelardo Gustilo, aptly pointed out that VRESCO officials should also be penalized for committing what he described as "abominable acts" against the cooperative and its members.

As I had previously mentioned, unless this is done, VRESCO could end up not only with nothing but also with a pile of debts.

Thus, the earlier this can be done, the better for all concerned.

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Did you notice the explanations from Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Philippine Army commander, about the escape of four more members of the Magdalo group from their Camp Aguinaldo detention center?

It seems that the military just can't be trusted to tightly guard mutineers. The kid glove treatment may be the reason why the four got out of their detention while their lawyer reportedly diverted the attention of their superior office whom he had engaged in a conversation.

The problem - he does not have to be the one guarding detention prisoners. Guards were supposed to be fully apprised of what they were supposed to do. In short, they were to maintain a tight watch on their wards.

I suspect something more behind that escapade.

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If one notices what has been going the past few days, there has been a sudden hike in the volume and the intensity of the call for President Gloria Arroyo to step down and give way to a replacement.

And Archbishop Oscar Cruz may not be taken lightly with his warning that an explosive situation is fast developing should GMA refuse to vacate the Palace.

Well, the only thing we can do is wait and pray that nothing happens during the next few weeks. But, as FVR had pointed out earlier - abangan ang kasunod.

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My best wishes and prayers for new Talisay Mayor Eric Saratan. He is truly destined by God to step into the shoes of his close friend, the late Talisay City Mayor Anthony Lizares.

I have known Mayor Saratan. Last year, I was impressed by his posture as a public official during the commemoration of the late General Aniceto Lacson.

He is still a young man. And like Anthony, still unmarried, although he is expected to marry soon his fiancée, Sheila Yap.

Like Anthony, he is also a member of the Lingkod ng Panginoon, an organization of Catholic single businessmen and professionals.

But he is immediately saddled with a major challenge. How to go about the investigation into the actuations of two executive assistant of the late mayor. Both had allegedly held and drinking session and a "floor show" at the late Talisay mayor's office on the evening of Jan. 7.

Still, what is important is that Talisaynons support Mayor Saratan with both their prayers and their actions. He is a young man who still retains his idealism. And his vision to serve Talisaynons and win the cooperation of all department heads and the Sangguniang Panglunsod should be boosted by the Talisay residents.

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As chair of the Lopez Jaena clan of Negros, I was elated to a great extent by the unprecedented recognition by the National Historical Institute of Graciano Lopez Jaena, the lone Ilonggo national hero.

Yesterday, Dr. Augusto de Viana, chief of the Research, Publications and Heraldy division of the NHI, arrived here to represent the national agency at today's commemoration of the 110th anniversary of Graciano Lopez Jaena's death.

It seems there is a determined effort on the part of our national historical authorities to put back in his rightful niche the only Ilonggo national hero. Of late, it was noticeable that Lopez Jaena had been shunned aside in favor of the Tagalog-based heroes such as Dr. Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar.

A welcome news was the promise by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to Antique Governor and Regional Development Council chair Sally Zaldivar-Perez to rectify this by putting up a statue of Lopez Jaena in a prominent part of Manila.

I hope that these tentative efforts will encourage Negrenses and Western Visayas residents to rally behind Lopez Jaena and what he stood for the party with their "supposed superiors" in Manila and the Tagalog region.

The books turned over to the undersigned by Dr. De Viana should serve as resource materials for an extensive education of the people in our region on who Lopez Jaena was and what he stood and fought for.*

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