EC allied orgs urged to support consumer movemen

The country’s electric cooperative allied organizations were urged to seek only one direction geared towards the empowerment of member consumer owners (MCOs) in light of the rapidly changing environment in the power industry.

Rep. Presley de Jesus of the PHILRECA Party List said that all allied organizations must shore up their bid for a more responsive mission so that the goals of the one EC movement would not be compromised.

Edgardo Masongsong, National Electrification Administration (NEA) head, said the organizations must jibe their organizational objectives with the strengthening of the electric consumer movement in an effort to create a national consciousness that the MCOs are a force to reckon with for nation building.

De Jesus and Masongsong made the call during the EC allied organizations meeting on Monday through a virtual presser.

The solon, who is also the president of the Phil. Rural Electric Cooperative Assn. (PHILRECA), encouraged the presidents of the allied organizations to review the proposed manual of organization and procedures PHILRECA prepared so that they can determine if the proposals are fitted to their organizational directions

Under the proposed manual, the allied organizations will be clustered into regions to enhance communication and cooperation. The manual also seeks to provide policies to encourage a series of capacity building and institutional activities for the officers and members of the allied organizations that will convey a strong sense of meaning to their existence as groups.

Masongsong, meanwhile, said the allied organizations cannot afford to be on their own and act on their own targets otherwise the unity dreamt of for the electric cooperatives and member consumer owners (MCOs) will not be realized.

“As allied organizations, must seek a singular purpose,” he said. The country’s ECs have several organizations grouped according to mostly the nature of their functions in the EC.

There are more than 20 of them -- Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc (AMRECO), Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives-Power Supply Aggregation Group Corporation (AMRECO PSAGCOR), Area Managers Association of the Philippines (AMAPHI), Philippine Association of ISD Managers (PHILAIM); Electric Cooperatives Consumers’ Welfare of the Philippines Association (ECCOWPA), Philippine Association of Technical Managers of Electric Cooperatives (PHILATMEC), Philippine Electric Cooperatives Association of Safety and Environmental Officers (PECASEO), United Linemen Association of the Philippines (ULAP), Electric Cooperative Information, Communication and Technology (EC ICT), EC Finance Managers Association of the Philippines (FIMAP), Philippine Association of Electric Cooperatives Internal Auditors (PHILAECIA), National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives (NAGMEC); Association of Visayas Electric Cooperatives (AVEC), Philippine Federation of Electric Cooperatives (PHILFECO), National Center of Electric Cooperatives Consumers (NCECCO), Philippine Association of Board of Directors of Electric Cooperatives (PHABDREC), Association of Isolated Electric Cooperatives (AIEC), Rural Electric Financing Corporation (REFC), Central Luzon Electric Cooperatives Association (CLECA) and the Philippine Electric Cooperatives Association of Corporate Planning Officers (PECACORP).

The allied organizations were earlier asked to submit their risk management and sustainability plan (RMSP) to the Phil. Assn. of Rural Electric Cooperatives (PHILRECA) in April to cover the period of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

The RSMP was meant to design catch up plans relative to the respective strategic initiatives of the allied organizations submitted to PHILRECA in a planning session for all organization officers at the NEA in Dec, last year.

Lawyer Janeene Colingan. PHILRECA general manager and executive director, said the allied organizations must implement their RMSP and post ECQ targets so that their planned activities will not stagnate due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

“Being national organizations, you are expected to adjust well and to continue pursuing your activities in a manner that will not compromise the health and safety of your members,” she said in Monday’s meeting.

The allied organizations were also advised to strengthen their juridical standing by ensuring that they are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“You must also maximize your media exposure by creating your own association facebook, website and chat group,” de Jesus said.