The plan to energize the southern sector of Davao, long before the split of the province into three in 1967, predates the passage of Republic Act (RA) 2717, also known as the Electrification Administration Act, which lapsed into law without executive approval on June 19, 1960.
Nine years later, Congress passed RA 6038 declaring it a national policy to energize the entire archipelago ‘on an area coverage service basis,’ established the National Electrification Administration (NEA), and organized, promoted, and developed electric coops. The law, repealed by RA 2717, was approved on July 28, 1969. Consequently, NEA was created on August 4, 1969. Two years later, thirty-six electric cooperatives around the country were set up.
Following the establishment of Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (DANECO, now NORDECO) on September 24, 1971, interest in replicating the same project in Davao del Sur snowballed. In 1974, the provincial officials led by governor Non¬ito D. Llanos, Sr., dubbed as ‘the father of rural elec¬tri¬fi¬ca¬tion’ in Davao del Sur, started floating the idea. With the help of Jose T. Amacio, former mayor of Monkayo, Davao de Oro, and incumbent DANECO general manager at the time, an audience with then NEA admin¬is¬tra¬tor Pedro G. Dumol was held.
The initial discussion led to the convening of the provin¬cial elec¬tric coop¬er¬a¬tive team (PECT) with the central aim of preparing loan fea¬si¬bil¬ity and engi¬neer¬ing stud¬ies under NEA guidance. The dis¬trict elec¬tri¬fi¬ca¬tion com¬mit¬tee (DEC) was also formed in towns. On June 1, 1975, the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (DASURECO) was orga¬nized as the country’s 63rd elec¬tric coop.
Not long after that, the first loan amounting to P16.554 million was signed at the Ramon Magsaysay Audi¬to¬rium in Digos City on July 13 of that year. It was used to fund the con-struc¬tion of the Phase I elec¬tri¬fi¬ca¬tion project in eleven munic¬i¬pal¬i¬ties under the coop’s coverage.
On November 12, 1975, DASURECO took over the nine generating sets of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) as an interim source of power with a representative from the NEA acting as general manager. Months later, the coop installed its first electric poles under contract on May 21, 1976, by Leitz-Zulueta Cap¬i¬tal, Inc., costing P711,206.40 to cover labor only. That same month, Adrian Wil¬son Inter¬na¬tional Asso¬ciates, Inc. (AWIA) sealed a deal with DASURECO as a consultant to han¬dle the coop’s archi¬tec¬tural and engi¬neer¬ing works.
In January 1977, DASURECO took over the Matanao munic¬i¬pal system. The following month, it conducted a groundbreaking rite for its future headquarters costing P1.555 million. This later led to the transfer of the coop’s office from leased space at Digos Munic¬i¬pal Build-ing. The initial workforce was comprised of former REC employees.
In September of that year, DASURECO contracted Davao Light and Power Co., Inc. (DLPC) for the pur¬chase of power using the 69KV trans¬mis¬sion lines of National Power Corporation (NPC). The accord was signed to back up the gensets it initially acquired from the REC.
That same month, the coop managed to ener¬gize seven of the 11 towns in its coverage, namely Digos, Bansalan, Matanao, Magsaysay, Padada, Sulop, and Malalag. A year later, Hagonoy, Santa Cruz, Kiblawan, and Santa Maria towns followed. Later, the coop’s coverage would expand to include the southwest municipalities of Malita and Jose Abad Santos.
Responding to the growing demand for a stable power supply, DASURECO constructed Phase 1 of the back¬bone sys¬tem in the next two years. Notably, on September 13, 1978, the NEA granted DASURECO with Cer¬tifi¬cate No. 016 as the sole elec¬tric fran¬chisee to oper¬ate light and power ser¬vice in Davao del Sur for the period of fifty (50) years.
To its credit, the coop, one of the well-managed throughout the archipelago, is a class ‘A’ coop, named the country’s best electric coop, and was elevated to the NEA Hall of Fame.
