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CAGAYAN DE ORO–The NEA Administrator Emmanuel Juaneza met with the members of the Northern Mindanao Electric Cooperatives Association, Inc. (NORMECA) to discuss current issues and concerns with the EC Board of Directors and General Managers.

As the national and local elections are barely about two months from now, the Administrator clarified that the EC Board of Directors, officials and employees may freely support the political personalities and/or partylists of their choice without compromising the EC resources. The Administrator assured that the actions taken by the NEA is always for the best interest of the ECs and its consumers.###

The National Electrification Administration respects the views of Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on the issuance of NEA Memo on Appointment of Electric Coop Managers.  NEA, however, reiterates the rationale on the agency’s issuance of the said memorandum that it is an exercise of NEA’s quasi-legislative function under Sec. 4-A of PD 269 as amended by RA 10531 which provides, as follows:

“Sec-4-A, Supervisory Powers of the NEA Over Electric Cooperatives, – In the exercise of its power of supervision over electric cooperatives, the NEA shall have the following powers:

 "(a) issue orders, rules and regulations, motu proprio or upon petition of third parties, to conduct investigations, referenda and other similar actions on all matters affecting the electric cooperatives; xxx.”

The NEA cites that in the context of state regulation, the “Interference” in ECs’ affairs comes as a matter of course in the exercise of NEA’s mandate of supervision over their operations and management under the provisions of Presidential Decree (PD) 269 as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 10531. Supervisory actions such as the selection and hiring of EC general managers (GM) as in the case of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) GM are therefore lawful and were executed with due diligence. The procedure adheres to NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 issued on 24 October 2017.

Such policy guidelines were judiciously crafted, reviewed and approved by the NEA Board of Administrators. Furthermore, NEA is mandated to continuously and efficiently implement all approved policies including the said Memorandum.###