The Provincial Board of Palawan expressed dismay that the Board of Directors of Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) failed to appear before the provincial legislators’ regular session Tuesday, June 2 to shed light on the controversial electric bill payments for the months of March and April, the period where Palawan was under enhanced community quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Board Member Ryan Maminta, Chairman of the Committee on Energy, told Palawan Daily in an interview that they have no idea why these invited PALECO officials failed to attend the session.
The legislator said that their invitation was directly for the Board of Directors of the cooperative who has the knowledge and authority to answer questions related to the arising issues on electric bill payments during ECQ.
“Hindi lang naman ako ang may damdaming ganyan sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan bagkus lahat ng mga miyembro ng Sangguniang Panlalawigan ay nagpahatid ng pagka-dismaya sa tugon ng Board ng PALECO dahil hindi nga sila nakapunta. Kahit isang miyembro nila or representnte mula sa “Junta Direktiba” ay hindi nakapunta sa aming magalang na imbitasyon,” Maminta told Palawan Daily.
He added that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Secratariat did not also receive any communication letter from the PALECO Board of Directors.
“Wala rin kaming natanggap na liham kung bakit at anong dahilan at ang naroon lamang ay ang management sa pangunguna ni OIC General Manager at ang kanyang mga kasama sa mga opisina ng PALECO. At hindi rin nila alam at hindi rin sila maaaring makatugon doon sa mga katanungan namin may kinalaman sa mga istratehikong plano ng Board of Directors ng PALECO,” the committee chairman added.
But then, Maminta said that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan will once again invite PALECO Board of Directors hoping that they will make it for the fourth time.
“Inaasahan namin na sana dadalo ang Board of Directors natin kasama ang kanilang chairman sa susunod na pagpupulong kasi kami naman sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan, we exercise utmost tolerance and utmost due diligence sa mga bagay-bagay na ginagawa naming. Kaya nga mayroon tayong second chance, third chance at ito, fourth chance na ito,” Board Member Maminta ended.
Meanwhile, PALECO management earlier said that for the months of March and April, the cooperative used averaging or estimation for the electric consumption of its consumers, the period where the whole nation is under enhanced community quarantine.