The management of the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative-CDA (Cooperative Development Authority) faction has called on the office of President Duterte to help bring about a closure to the conflict as to who should really manage the Tagum City-based facility that provides power to Davao Del Norte and Compostela Valley, their CDA-registered or the DANECO under the National Eelectrification Administration or DANECO-NEA.
Lawyer Baltazar Satur said the request for Duterte’s intervention was channeled to Secretary to the Cabinet Leoncio L. Evasco in Malacanang.
“Of course, the problem could have been solved right off if the National Electrification Administration would concede that it does not have the general assembly’s mandate,” Sator, a former congressman representing Davao del Norte’s First District, said.
Engr. Albert M. Omega, DANECO-CDA chaiman of the board also told the Kapehan sa Dabaw, that Atty. Melchor Quitain on March 2016 had assured member-consumers that the conflict will be resolved once Duterte, then a candidate, would become president.
He said DANECO-CDA’s mandate stemmed from the 2012 referendum whereby 49,056 member consumers voted for registration of DANECO with the Cooperative Development Authority as against only 1,773 who voted to remain under NEA control and 330 votes that opted for Securities and Exchange Commission registration.
Also appearing at the Kapehan are DANECO-CDA general manager Engr. Jerod Osorio and director Inday Sistoza.
Osorio said member-consumers have the advantage of tax exemption and patronage refund under CDA.
“In addition, they are the owners of the facility,” he said.
Omega attributed to the current management of DANECO its economic turn-around “from being saddled with net loss from 2001 to 2007 to net surplus from 2008 to 2012.
“In addition, the company has been able to settle a P280 loan to PSALM and paid P60Million of its debt to NEA,” he said. He attributed the upgrading of equipment to DANECO.
“Despite these, the NEA-backed people put up a parallel organization which is definitely not in good faith,” he said.
The ‘other’ organization is named DANECO,Inc. or DANECO NEA.
Omega said this has no juridical personality because it is not registered with the SEC or the NEA and “therefore, does not have the mandate to register electric cooperatives.”
“However, until this time NEA is doing everything to subvert the will of the member-consumers of DANECO and in effect depriving its 150,000 member-consumers of the more than P1-billion paid share capital that will entitle them to patronage refund and dividend,” he said.
Sator said that their group has already won 16 of the 26 various court cases filed against them by the other group.
In return, he said, they (DANECO-CDA) have also filed cases against their adversary group, with more to come.
DANECO-CDA chair Omega said that they are hoping the conflict between the two groups will be settled according to law.
