BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Power Watch-Negros will request the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to investigate why is it taking Central Negros Electric Cooperative so long to liquidate the P437,000 meal allowance spent during the 43rd Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA).
Power Watch secretary general Wennie Sancho yesterday said if Ceneco has liquidated the funds, well and good. If not, they will file a complaint for malversation of corporate funds against all those involved.
Ceneco president Jojit Yap said they are in the process of liquidating the funds. But there are still documents that have to be completed especially in the barangay level.
Yap said there were thousands in the barangay who attended the AGMA and were mostly online. The Finance Department is working on the liquidation of the funds.
Sancho said Ceneco has to liquidate the funds spent during the 2021 AGMA especially the P370,000 spent for meal allowance in the different puroks of the 61 barangays in Bacolod City. If the AGMA was attended by 8,598 member consumers in the 61 barangays, this would mean that each purok would have 140 participants.
The problem is that the receiving documents have no attachments, he said.
Teddy Macainan, Alliance of Concerned Transport in Occidental Negros (ACTION) chairperson, said they have no political agenda. This is a cause that needs the cooperation of everyone.
Why would Ceneco spend for meal allowance when the AGMA was virtual? he asked.
Sancho said the liquidation should be made within seven to 15 days after the September 26, 2021 AGMA. It has been five months already and the Ceneco Board has not yet liquidated the funds.
He is also questioning if the barangay captains in the 61 barangays were able to avail of their P1,000 internet access rental during the AGMA.
Sancho said the P437,000 covered P61,000 for the 61 barangay halls who lent their internet access or cellphone load to the attendees. The lion’s share of the budget amounting to P370,000 were spent for the meal allowance of 740 puroks in the 61 barangays of Bacolod, or approximately at P500 per purok and P6,000 for service fee for coordinators.
“Collectively, we are the owners of Ceneco in principle. So, as member consumers, we have the right to investigate or know where the money is spent,” he added.*
