BENECO DIRECTORS ELECTED

Five new faces are expected to join the Task Force of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) this May following their election as directors on April 20. The one lady and four gentlemen directors are Josephine Aclayan (District 2-Baguio), Claudio Calugan (District 5-Baguio), Joel Cervantes (District 7-Benguet), Abello Fernando (District 8 ), and Wilfredo Diano ((District 10-Benguet). They will take their seats and join the current members of the Task Force that currently functions as the interim board directors -- Steve Cating (Chairperson), Elma Donaal, lawyer George Dumawing, Rodolfo de Guia, and Joaquin Geronimo Depalog, Jr.

Fernando and Aclayan ran unopposed.

The remaining districts of 1,3 and 4 for Baguio City and districts 9 and 11 for Benguet will be up for grabs in the elections set on Sept. 21 this year. The electric cooperative is still waiting for the decision of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) on the fate of the elections for District 6 of Baguio City. The screening committee of BNECO earlier disqualified all three aspirants for the district for failing to hurdle the qualifications.

One of the candidates, however, filed an appeal before the NEA to contest his disqualification. If the NEA grants the appeal, a special election will be called for the district.

About 546 voted in Baguio City and 3660 in Benguet. Only those who became members of the electric cooperative 90 days before the election were allowed to vote pursuant to the NEA election guidelines. A total of 18 candidates applied but 10 of them were disqualified.

As of March 2024, there are 144,534 member accounts of BENECO. Of this number, 63,816 accounts are in Baguio City and 80,485 are in Benguet. ***LSI