On 06 January 2025, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) served a Deactivation Order on the Board of Directors of the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO). The NEA Board of Administrators ordered the deactivation on account of the active refusal and prevention by PALECO’s Board of Directors to conduct elections for its Districts VI, VII, and VIII.

PALECO’s Institutional Services Department (ISD) in 2024 determined that PALECO was due to conduct elections for its Districts VI, VII, and VIII in that year, which was likewise verified and confirmed by the NEA. This was questioned and sought to be prevented by some members of PALECO’s Board of Directors through a Petition filed with the Regional Trial Court of Puerto Princesa City, which was dismissed by the latter.

The NEA was then informed that PALECO’s Board of Directors still refused to hold the elections for the said Districts despite the absence of any legal impediment, going as far as to summarily remove the matter from its agenda in the board meeting where it was scheduled to approve the same. PALECO’s directors were directed to show cause why they should not be held administratively liable for doing so. The NEA ultimately held that the undue refusal of PALECO’s Board of Directors to conduct its district elections leads to the disenfranchisement of PALECO’s consumers’ right to properly determine their representatives in the Electric Cooperative.

The NEA likewise established and installed a task force comprised of several General Managers from other Electric Cooperatives to act as PALECO’s Board of Directors in the interim.

The NEA is the National Agency having primary regulatory jurisdiction over all ECs, regardless of registration, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 269, as Amended by Republic Act No. 10531, among others.###