By Restituto A. Cayubit
TUNGA, Leyte - The budget cut for the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for next year is counterproductive to the electrification program of sitios, an electric cooperative general manager based here said.
Allan L. Laniba, general manager of the Leyte III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LEYECO III) based in this town, said that the NEA budget cut will derail the sitio (or the group of houses or the territory in a distance that forms part of a barangay) electrification program of his electric cooperative serving nine towns of this province.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Laniba spoke to reporters during the LEYECO III 39th annual general membership assembly (AGMA) here last Saturday August 25, where he lamented that his cooperative which was conferred with the 2017 “Electric cooperative of the year” award among the 121 electric cooperatives nationwide may not be able to attain its target to energize the 73 sitios under LEYECO III due to the budget cut.
Laniba said he appealed to Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of the 1st District of Davao City and chairman of the Committee on Appropriations the House of Representatives to restore the P635 million budget cut of NEA made by Department of Energy.
Rep. Nograles, in his speech before the audience of more than 9,000 electric consumers who attended the LEYECO III AGMA, expressed his support to the cause of the electric cooperative movement and assured that he will do all his best to restore the budget cut.
Interviewed by reporters after his speech, the congressman said that the budget “for the sitio electrification program dapat P1.8 billion yan if we go for the 2018 level. Pero dito sa 2019 ang nangyari naging P1.1 billion na lamang. So ang importante dito is mahanapan natin ng paraan kung papapano e-restore yon at least back to P1.8 billion na level.”
In previous interviews with the media, Rep. Nograles said that based on NEA estimates an average of 1.4 million pesos is needed to energize a sitio. This means that the P635 million NEA budget can provide electricity to 453 sitios in the country.
Nograles said that according to NEA records, there are still 19,740 sitios or 2.4 million households across the country that need to be energized and majority of these sitios are in the provinces.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Laniba spoke to reporters during the LEYECO III 39th annual general membership assembly (AGMA) here last Saturday August 25, where he lamented that his cooperative which was conferred with the 2017 “Electric cooperative of the year” award among the 121 electric cooperatives nationwide may not be able to attain its target to energize the 73 sitios under LEYECO III due to the budget cut.
Laniba said he appealed to Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of the 1st District of Davao City and chairman of the Committee on Appropriations the House of Representatives to restore the P635 million budget cut of NEA made by Department of Energy.
Rep. Nograles, in his speech before the audience of more than 9,000 electric consumers who attended the LEYECO III AGMA, expressed his support to the cause of the electric cooperative movement and assured that he will do all his best to restore the budget cut.
Interviewed by reporters after his speech, the congressman said that the budget “for the sitio electrification program dapat P1.8 billion yan if we go for the 2018 level. Pero dito sa 2019 ang nangyari naging P1.1 billion na lamang. So ang importante dito is mahanapan natin ng paraan kung papapano e-restore yon at least back to P1.8 billion na level.”
In previous interviews with the media, Rep. Nograles said that based on NEA estimates an average of 1.4 million pesos is needed to energize a sitio. This means that the P635 million NEA budget can provide electricity to 453 sitios in the country.
Nograles said that according to NEA records, there are still 19,740 sitios or 2.4 million households across the country that need to be energized and majority of these sitios are in the provinces.