NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda rallied behind electric cooperative (EC) member-consumer-owners (MCOs) on Friday, 21 February 2025, at the Misamis Oriental Power Consumers’ Forum in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental.

Administrator Almeda reiterated his commitment to help provide solutions with respect to the ongoing problems affecting the distribution network of the Misamis Oriental II Rural Electric Service Cooperative, Inc. (MORESCO-2), resulting in frequent outages.

In his previous dialogues with concerned rural electrification officials, the Administrator said it was explained that the root cause of the problem is the aging powerline backbone. He noted that the NEA and MORESCO 2 are already in the process of rehabilitating this system.

The NEA Chief also announced some of his plans and ongoing programs of the state-owned corporation aimed at improving the services of the Medina-based power utility. He pointed out his directive to all concerned ECs not to allow themselves fall behind in the industry.

Administrator Almeda mentioned projects such as the solar photovoltaic mainstreaming (PVM) system, which aims to connect distant households and schools that remain isolated from the power grid.

Meanwhile, the NEA chief also made a personal appeal to local government officials regarding tax exemptions granted to ECs based on the recently signed joint memorandum circular (JMC) between the Departments of Energy and Finance.

“𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘮 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦,” he said.

Also present at the gathering were Gingoog City Mayor Erick Cañosa, APEC party-list Rep. Sergio Dagooc, MORESCO 2 General Manager Edna Putian-Diango, Department of Energy Director Irma Exconde, NEDA OIC Regional Director Richardson Cua, and other NEA and EC officials. ###