The National Electrification Administration said it is the responsibility of the the V-M-C Rural Electric Service Cooperative Inc. management to impose sanctions and penalties on its officials who were involved in anomalous misrepresentations.

Pablo Pan III, deputy administrator for electric distribution utilities services, made the statement in his recent letter to the Victorias Power Consumers for Reforms Inc. that had earlier asked NEA to make accountable the officials and employees of VRESCO who, they claimed, committed "abominable acts" as noted in the latest NEA audit report on the cooperative.

Pan added that, as result of the adverse audit findings, NEA had imposed sanctions by re-categorizing VRESCO from Category A+ to B for its performance for the year 2004, resulting in a corresponding adjustment in the financial benefits of its officials and employees.

"As to those officials who were involved in the anomalous misrepresentations, such as padding and reclassification of accounts, it is the responsibility of the management to impose on them the corresponding sanctions and penalties as provided under the existing Code of Conduct on Employees Discipline" of VRESCO," he said.

In January, the VRESCO Board of Directors suspended assistant general manager and finance manager, Antonio Magno Jr., for 30 days based on the results of the NEA audit report. Magno was suspended for window-dressing of VRESCO's financial statements, manipulation of policy of actual purchasing procedures, and the issuance of certificate of eligibility for election to board president Jose Alan Leonor despite his unsettled or outstanding obligations to the cooperative.

Last month, Leonor was ousted as president of the board and was replaced by Director Ernesto Pilla, who said Leonor was ousted based on the audit findings that he was not eligible for re-election as director because he had violated a provision of the NEA Election Code.

The NEA audit report, which covered the period July 1, 2002 to April 30, 2005, it is stated that the management had "maliciously padded" the kwh consumptions of selected consumers from two to five kwhs, or an average of two days consumption per consumer, for the last quarter of 2004 "in an attempt to attain Category A+ status." For that, NEA recommended that the management, particularly the finance manager, internal auditor and other concerned officials, be required to justify the actions and sanctions to be imposed on them.

On the Leonor case, it was recommended that sanction should be meted on the Screening Committee members for failure to disqualify Leonor, and that the internal auditor and officer-in-charge should explain why certificates of eligibility of board of directors aspirants were not audited.*NLG

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