DAVAO CITY —Frustrated Davao del Norte residents want Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) to stop distributing power in their province, citing poor and intermittent power for nearly 50 years as a reason for signing an omnibus petition against their power distributor.
The residents found an ally in Governor Edwin Jubahib who admitted to Newsline “I am tired of waiting, people are tired, we need to act now.
According to Island Garden City of Samal mayor Al David Uy, “The power distributor here is run by oligarchs, but we need to move legally because this involves a congressional franchise and only the House of Representatives has the power to terminate franchise.”
Mario Angelo Sotto, the 5th regular manager of the Nordeco in an interview with Newsline admitted, “Before I came in, it was really ailing but we instituted changes, we upgraded lines and we are trying our best to improve our service.”
But, according to Jubahib, nothing has changed “perwisyo” (upsettingly), because even though the management has changed in 2019, people are still dissatisfied with the service, which is why he is leading the petition to ask the House of Representatives to cancel Nordeco’s franchise.
For decades, the then-DANECO was in shambles, having been divided into two wings, one called Daneco-CDA (Cooperative Development Authority) and the other Daneco-NEA (National Electrification Administration), both of which collected charges from the same consumer.
In many cases, if Daneco-CDA disconnects a household’s power supply due to late or non-payment, they ran to Daneco-NEA for reconnection, and when the two warring groups unified in 2019 through the intervention of Jubahib and other officials, many consumers complained that their payments were not reflected, resulting in a ballooned bill.
But Sotto said they condoned the surcharges and interest of all inactive payment.
Sotto has requested another two years from the Davao del Norte provincial government to improve their services, but Jubahib has stated that he has had enough and that the next option is to allow a private power provider, the Davao Light and Power Company, which is owned by power giant, the Aboitiz company.
Grease Money:
Sotto said they were offered huge sum by a private firm for the take over but they refused.
Sotto has asked the Davao del Norte provincial government for another two years to improve their services, but Jubahib has stated that he has had enough and that the next option is to allow a private power provider, the Davao Light and Power Company, which is owned by power giant, the Aboitiz company.
Elma Tanhusay of Barangay Cawag said the intermittent power supply is a problem especially that her daughter is studying online.
Jubahib vowed to end the people’s misery but Sotto said Nordeco’s franchise will last until 2033.
