By Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan – If full
payment of the current bill of the Basilan Electric Cooperative in Basilan will
not be settled, the province may be cut off from the services of the National
Power Corporation (NAPOCOR).
This was revealed by BASELCO General manager
Engr. Filomeno E. Bate recently during a meeting with the Basilan Peace and
Development Coordinating Council, also known as the Team Basilan last Aug. 21
at the Provincial Capitol here.
GM Bate revealed that the cooperative’s
indebtedness to NAPOCOR has ballooned to a whopping P1.3 billion. He explained,
however, that a big chunk of the amount was inherited from the previous
administration.
Bate also revealed that they have issues also
on the debt-servicing structure of NPC. He said that from 1999 to 2013 BASELCO
has paid NPC some P1.4-Billion pesos but surprised to see that the
cooperative’s debt has ballooned instead of decreasing. He revealed that based
on NPC’s structure, 47 percent of the pie goes to payment of interest alone and
only 18 percent goes to the principal amount, and the rest goes to VAT and
other obligations.
With this, BASELCOM had sought the help of
the LGU and ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman to lobby for condonation of debt to
ease the burden on debt payment.
Moreover, the BASELCO chief said that “the
cooperative is suffering from poor collection, problems on pilferages that
resulted to system loss, and admitted that they have internal problems and that
they are slowly addressing the problem.” But in the case of running after
delinquent consumers they sought the help of the local government units and the
police.
“Our heads are at stake here because of the
current security concerns that the province is facing with,” he said, adding
that their collectors are concerned about their safety. Thus, the cooperative
is relying on consumers to pay at sub-stations/sub-offices.
Bate said Baselco is distributing electricity
bought from NPC through a power barge.
“We have power barge problems as there is not
enough power to supply the demand of the province,” he complained.
“How can we demand payment from consumers if
we have poor services,” Bate said. He revealed that he told NPC that Baselco
needs rehabilitation and that it means big funding requirement which BASELCO does
not have.”
BASELCO has also released the list of top 100
delinquent consumers who have not settled their accounts ranging from 10 to 94
months. The top five delinquent payers include 1) U.P. Land Grant
(SCARBIDCI)—P5.3-million, 2) Isabela City Hall building—P3.7-million, 3)
Provincial Capitol—P997,643.93, 4) Basilan OFW & Dependent MPC—P757,281.67,
and 5) Lamitan City Hall—P735,751.95.
Bate said that they have also issues with the
City Government of Isabela concerning the cooperative’s alleged debt to the
city on real estate taxes. Isabela City Mayor Cherrylyn Santos-Akbar said that this
is another issue that needs to be addressed and that the city government plans
to have a dialogue with BASELCO.
“In the meantime, what is urgent now, is to
help BASELCO raise the needed amount to pay NPC its current debt of P16-M to
P18-M as about 60 percent of consumers are from Isabela City,” the Mayor said.
Mayor Akbar was also instrumental in asking
NPC for an extension of one month. Earlier, the NPC gave an ultimatum for the
local cooperative to settle once and for all its obligation or else Basilan
will be the second province to be cut-off from NAPOCOR. Electricity in the
province of Albay was cut off recently for failure to settle millions of pesos
of debts to NPC.
In a separate meeting, local leaders and
authorities have united to help BASELCO collect from delinquent consumers and
raise the amount of some P17 million every month to help the cooperative settle
its debts to NAPOCOR.
In Isabela City, the mayor has called for a
joint emergency meeting of the City Development Council and the City Peace and
Order Council last Aug. 27 to discuss measures to address the problems.
She urged barangay officials to conduct
dialogue with delinquent consumers of their locality to explain about the
impending crisis in Basilan, which will severely affect the economy and even
the security of the province and the city. (PIA9)