TAGUM CITY — “Tama na! Palitan na! (Enough! Change it!” Those words were the by-words uttered by some 5,000 disgruntled protestors during the Awakening Rally against Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (NORDECO) on Monday at Rotary park here.
The rally that was organized by the Tagum City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., started with a motorcade around the city.
Aerol Conde, president of the Chamber said “We have reached a point that we need to unite and spearhead this activity because our members are complaining and incurring huge losses due to sporadic power supply and their appliances are destroyed.”
Aside from poor and unstable power supply, Conde said, “the prices per kilowatt hour rose up to P18 and the capital expenditure is so much when they get their funds from government, the system loss is huge. Look! we do not have new investors were because we do not have enough power supply.”
Businessman Larry Rubiño, president of LYR Group of Companies elaborated “How can an ordinary employee who earns P12,000 a month sustain the needs of his family with more than P3,000 power bill?”
“I am an investor of the cooperative but until now, I have yet to receive a penny for my investment, no general assembly, to audit report. What happened to our money? We are the owners they said but they do not consider us!” Rubiño stressed.
“Apektado na ang pagkaon sa akong pamilya, daku na kaayo og billing, karon P3,000 na akong bill, dili na halos kaya sa akong sueldo kay putlan man ka, dati P1,000 kapin ra na, Refrigerator lang ug freezer unya suga, tag P1,000 ra akong bill, dapat gamayan ang charges, dili mi kasabot unsay among gibayaran, (the food for my family is affected because of the huge billing, now, our bill is P3,000, my salary is no longer enough and we might be disconnected if we don;t pay. Before we paid over a thousand only. They should lower the charges; we do not understand what we are paying), ” said Renerio Mirafuentes. an employee who earns 12,800 a month.
Elvera S. Alngog, Acting General Manager of NORDECO in a press conferenec said “We are doing our best to improve our services.”
But the coop blamed some business operators whom they accused of having illegal connections.
Alngog also claimed the submarine cable from Pantukan will soon reach the Island Garden City of Samal.
It can be recalled that the late Nordeco President Mario Sotto in an interview with Newsline in 2020 said, the submarine cable project would be completed in 2021.
Another consumer group called Davao Consumer Movement (DCM) has urged power consumers to support the protest to show to the lawmakers and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the status quo has drastically impacted the lives of Nordeco’s customers,.
“As a concerned group, we have closely monitored the operations of the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative, and it is our firm belief that its inefficiency has severely impacted the communities it serves. Nordeco’s substandard services, lack of transparency, and inadequate infrastructure have caused significant inconvenience and discomfort to their customers,” the DCM added.
The group also cited that Nordeco’s lack of transparency made it difficult for the public to hold the cooperative accountable, citing a submarine cable that conked out at the Island Garden City of Samal on Christmas Day.
“In contrast, DLPC has a reputation for providing efficient and reliable services, with a strong commitment to transparency and accountability. The public’s support for the proposal to transfer Nordeco’s franchise areas to DLPC is a testament to their confidence in DLPC’s ability to improve the quality of service in these areas,” the DCM said.
