Lanao Sur police monitoring row between pols, power coop

MARAWI CITY, Philippines   â€“ Police have been closely monitoring the situation in this entire city and adjoining Lanao del Sur towns following last Thursday’s filing by 27 mayors of plunder charges against the manager of the Lanao Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco). 

The tension between the mayors and Lasureco manager Ashary Maongco worsened when the local court ordered the utility firm to immediately res-tore power supply to 32 of more than 40 towns in Lanao del Sur.

Last month, a boom truck of Lasureco was burned down in an isolated town by men brandishing M-14 and AK-47 rifles and who fled onboard sport utility vehicles.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Saturday ordered the region’s police director, Chief Superintendent Noel de los Reyes, to impose security measures to prevent the escalation of hostilities between the local politicians and Maongco, who is himself related to influential Maranaw clans.

The 27 mayors filed the plunder charges at the Office of the Ombudsman against Maongco and National Electrification Administrator chief Edita Bueno, accusing them of mishandling P190 million in barangay electrification funds, a P25-million “Pantawid Kuryente” grant, and P603 million-in payments collected from power consumers in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City.

The mayors alleged that the P603-million “missing” payments from Lasureco’s clients have never been remitted to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.