Lanao Solon wants power coop to stay connected with Mindanao grid

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Lanao del Sur First District Congressman-elect Zia Adiong on Tuesday said they will try to do their best to stay connected to the Mindanao power grid despite the recent order of the Department of Finance to cut off the power line for Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco)  due unpaid bills which now amounted to P12.8-Billion.

The Lasureco has incurred the bill for decades and the amount is over and above the   multi-billion unremitted universal charges which the power coop failed to pay the Power Sector Asset and Liability Management (PSALM) Corporation.

Lasureco is the power distributor for Lanao del Sur and their main power supplier is PSALM.

Earlier on, Department of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has issued an order to cut off the power supply for Lasureco.

.” We can’t afford to disconnect power supply to LDS because that’s tantamount to disfranchisement of more than 2M citizens from availing basic government services,” Adiong said . He cited that if Lasureco power supply will be cut off from electric power, the entire franchise area of Lasureco covering the entire Lanao del Sur & Pantar, Pantao Ragat and Baloi towns in Lanao del Norte, will effectively cause humanitarian crisis in the area.

Cutting off the power supply, Adiong said would mean  “All hospitals, schools, government instrumentalities, private businesses, commercial banks within the area rely on power/electric supply in order to service the communities and to operate.”

 Adiong added that Lanao del Sur is already facing multiple crises, and have yet to recover from the siege and the economic downfall the pandemic has caused. 
“How can we ever recover of we add another layer of problem by placing the entire province in complete darkness?,” Adiong asked.

Last week, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong, Jr. Said that they are currently coordinating with PSALM and other stakeholders in Metro Manila to strategize as to the restructuring of the debt Lasureco has incurred. 

“Hopefully, before this week ends, appropriate solutions will be formulated. I am urging consumers to continuously and religiously pay their electricity bills to Lasureco,” Governor Adiong said.

“We are conscious of the obligations of LASURECO to pay their arrears to PSALM, that’s why every official in the province want to assist in searching for a solution mutually agreed between the two parties, LASURECO & PSALM. Power disconnection should be the last recourse when all possible solutions have been exhausted and failed,” Zia Adiong added.

Lasureco General Manager Nordjiana Lucman Dipatuan-Ducol also urged consumers to pay their electric bills “Let us move forward and erase in our minds that we own Lake Lanao. I hope that we will all understand this, that we are paying PSALM. They are generating our electricity. Without PSALM, even if we have waters in our lake, it won’t generate electricity,” Ducol said. 

Given the problem, the lawmaker said he will file three resolutions when the 19th Congress opens in July 25, to include the following proposed measures : the issues on universal charges, review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) law and, an inquiry on shares of Lanao del Sur from wealth tax sourced from Renewable Energy such as the Agus Hydro Power plant which source its water from Lake Lanao. 

Adiong said he has been scheduled to sit down with the officials from Department of Energy and the National Electrification Administration to discuss the dedt restructuring and payment arrangements for the power coop.

The Lasureco has been debt-ridden due to low collections from consumers and many refused to pay their bills while other consumers harassed cooperative employees during collection.-Bobby Lagsa