The postponement of the February 17 district elections for the director of the Negros Oriental 2 Electric Cooperative representing the towns of Bacong, Valencia and Dauin has averted what could have been a preview of the May 14 elections in Bacong, eight kilometers south of Dumaguete City.

The NORECO 2 board elections would have pitted the children of the future mayoralty aspirants of Bacong town. Incumbent Lenin Joy Alviola is the daughter of Bacong Vice Mayor Lenin Alviola, and challenger Ruvic Jade Yee is the son of Bacong Mayor Rodolfo Yee.

While elections for the directorship of electric cooperatives are supposedly non-partisan activities, politicians have been known to field and support their own candidates.

"It has always been like this," Valencia Mayor Rodolfo Gonzalez said. Gonzalez, along with Dauin Mayor Rodrigo Alanano and Bacong Mayor Rodolfo Yee, are throwing their full support behind the younger Yee's candidacy for the Noreco 2 elections. Gonzalez and Alanano decided to support the candidacy of Yee's son after their unfavorable experience with the NORECO 2 with Alviola as director of their district.

Gonzalez cited what he called the unreasonable delay in energizing a street-lighting project in one of their barangays, while Alanano said that the voters of his town, are threatened with electrical disconnections if they do not support Alviola's candidacy.

The mayors of Valencia, Bacong and Dauin had predicted a victory for the younger Yee in the NORECO 2 election because they had campaigned hard to ensure his victory.

But in a strange twist of events sometime last month, the NORECO 2 postponed the holding of the election.

This was because of a Resolution promulgated en banc by the Commission on Elections deferring the election of the board of directors of all electric cooperatives within the election period.

This was followed by another Resolution on January 15 addressed to the National Electrification Administration to defer elections for the board of electric cooperatives until after June 13.

The Resolution said the election of board members of electric cooperatives may become politicized and generate controversies that may carry over to the general elections and may disrupt the delivery of electrical services during the critical period of the May 14, 2007 elections.

The NEA, in turn, directed all cooperatives to defer the election of all members of their board to August. The NORECO 2, however, has maintained that it is no longer under the NEA as it has registered as a cooperative under the Cooperatives Development Authority.

Gonzalez branded the postponement of the election as plain and simple deceit. "This is violative of the constitution of the NORECO 2. Do we need the COMELEC to decide on the affairs of private organizations? What about organizations like the PTA?"

Provincial Election Supervisor Manuel Advincula said that while the COMELEC may not have anything to do with electric cooperatives, the fact is that there is a COMELEC resolution calling for the postponement of the elections of electric cooperatives.

"We could not do otherwise but we will just follow it," Advincula said. He said he had also issued the same opinion to NORECO 2 when they asked him for an opinion on the Comelec Resolution.

Advincula said that while electric cooperatives may not be government agencies, what they do is of public concern.

Gonzalez said that, contrary to the Comelec opinion, it is the local election-and not the NORECO 2 elections-that is divisive.

Alanano, on the other hand, asked what the NORECO 2 would then do with the post occupied by director Alviola. He said the NORECO 2 cannot just extend Alviola's post without the consent of the general assembly. "Because Alviola's term as director expires after February, there will be a vacuum for several months unless the general assembly decides to extend her term," the mayor said.*AP

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