Cusi urged to fire NEA chief

MANILA, Philippines — Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has been urged to recommend to President Duterte the immediate removal of National Electrification Administration (NEA) administrator Edgardo Masongsong for grave abuse of authority.

In a statement, National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore) wrote the energy secretary, assailing Masongsong’s issuance of Memorandum No. 2018-003 dated Jan. 17, 2018 and NEA Memorandum No. 2019-008 dated Jan. 24, 2019 without prior authorization from the NEA Board of Administrators as required by law.

The consumer group alleged that the NEA memoranda that increased the salaries and retirement benefits of general managers (GMs) of electric cooperatives (ECs) throughout the country were issued in excess of Masongsong’s authority as NEA administrator and grossly disadvantageous to the member-consumer-owners (MCOs) of the 121 electric cooperatives in the country.

Nasecore executive director Raffy Acebedo said the timing of the issuance of the second memo on Jan. 19, 2019 – or four months before the May 2019 elections – is highly suspicious as it was clearly beneficial to the general managers and could have been an inducement for the management of the ECs to obtain their support for the electoral campaign of four party-lists where all the nominees-turned-congressmen are former, if not still the current, president and general managers of electric cooperatives.

“The memorandum that increased the salaries of EC GMs is also prejudicial and inequitable to the EC member-consumer-owners as the salary scales are grossly out of proportion to the market share of the electric cooperatives in the power industry in terms of its combined revenues,” Acebedo said.

In the letter, Nasecore said the NEA memo raised the salaries of the general managers to an average of P194,125.00 per month.

If multiplied by 121 electric cooperatives the said average monthly salary, this will result in the total average salary of P23.49 million per month.

When compared with the salary of the president of the largest distribution utility, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which is approximately P2 million per month, the combined salary of the 121 general managers is grossly and unconscionably high in proportion to their monthly consolidated revenues.

Nasecore said this is clearly prejudicial to the EC-member-consumer-owners.

The Nasecore letter also cited Masongsong for grave abuse of authority because he has no