Masongsong: I did not abuse my power
Credit to Author: Jordeene B. Lagare| Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:29:30 +0000
NATIONAL Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Edgardo Masongsong refuted the call of the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore) for his immediate removal on the grounds of grave abuse of power.
“Well, kailangan muna nilang i-prove kung I really did abuse yung power. But as far as I am concerned, walang abuse of power (Well, they have to prove if I really abused my authority. But as far as I am concerned, there is no abuse of power on my part),” Masongsong said on Monday.
He told reporters that all promulgations of NEA were approved by its board of administrators and such issuances are furnished the Law Center of the University of the Philippines’ (UP) College of Law before their publication.
Based on its website, the UP Law Center’s Office of the National Administrative Register (ONAR) serves as the country’s official repository of all rules and regulations issued by different government agencies.
Masongsong explained that the UP Law Center will advise the government agency if a provision of a submitted policy or regulation is questioned.
“I’ll prepare an answer kahit hindi pa ako pinapa-sagot ni (even if I have not been asked to respond by) [Energy] Secretary [Alfonso] Cusi, I’ll prepare an answer addressed to Secretary Cusi,” he said.
Sought for comment, Cusi said “we got [a] copy [of the letter via] email. I have asked [Energy Undersecretary Emmanuel] Juaneza to look into the allegations.”
To recall, Nasecore wrote a letter to Cusi urging him to recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte the immediate removal of Masongsong for the issuance of memoranda without securing prior authorization from the NEA Board of Administrators as required by law.
The consumer group specifically questioned the two memoranda — Memorandum 2018-003 dated Jan. 17, 2018 and NEA Memorandum 2019-008 dated Jan. 24, 2019 — which increased the salaries and retirement benefits of general managers of electric cooperatives (ECs) throughout the country.
These allegedly were issued in excess of Masongsong’s authority as NEA administrator and grossly disadvantageous to the member-consumer-owners of the 121 electric cooperatives in the country, it added.
In its letter to Cusi dated Feb. 10, 2020, Nasecore said the average monthly salary scale of EC general managers is P194,125 per month. If the average salary is multiplied by 121 ECs, this would result in the total average salary of P23,489,125 a month.
“When compared with the salary of the president of the largest distribution utility, Meralco (Manila Electric Co.), which is approximately P2 million per month, the combined salary of the 121 EC-GMs of P23.295 million is grossly and unconscionably high in proportion to their monthly consolidated revenues. This is clearly prejudicial to the EC-member-consumer-owners,” the group said.
Nasecore Executive Director Rafael Antonio Acebedo said the timing of the issuance of the second memo — or four months before the May 2019 elections — is highly suspicious as this is clearly beneficial to power co-ops’ general managers, and could have been an inducement for the management of the ECs to obtain their support for the electoral campaign of four party lists where all the nominees-turned-congressmen are former, if not still the current, president and general managers of these co-ops.
The group also claimed Masongsong has no authority to fix salaries and retirement benefits of EC heads since such matters are outside the operation and internal administrative functions of the NEA head.