DAVAO CITY — About 600 supporters of Nothern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) staged a rally in front of the Davao del Norte provincial capitol on January 14, to dramatize their opposition to the bill which seeks to allow private power utility to distribute power in the province.
The protesters said the government should protect the interest of the power cooperative saying the member/consumer rights must be protected.
The protest was spearheaded by the group calling themselves as Coalition Against Privatization of Electric Cooperatives (CAPECS) opposes the House Bill 10554 which authorizes the Davao Light and Power Company to expand their franchise area to Davao del Norte.
Ariel Perote, the secretary of the newly formed coalition said “We are here to air our sentiment to protect the interest of the power cooperative against the capitalists because the cooperative is serving the provinces of Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro.”
Perote claimed “The law says no electric private utility will serve the Nordeco franchise.”
Congressman Godofredo Guyo, of Recoboda party-list, a partylist of power cooperative, who joined the group said “We object the passage of the house bill 10554 expanding the franchise area of Davao light and power company. We support this is not only the fight of Nordeco, this is the fight of the 14 million electric consumers in the country, we do not want the power to be a sole business of the capitalists we want to preserve the existing status of electric cooperative ”
Last year, Governor Edwin Jubahib and ten of the eleven Mayors of Davao del Norte signed a petition asking the Congress to allow other private power distributors to supply power in the province citing untsable power supply which resulted to the low investor confidence in the province.
Jubahid said “The power supply problem has been a long problem of the people of Davao del Norte, power rate is high and the service is bad, we need a stable supple of power because our investors are complaining and every household member of the Nordeco is complaining.”
The protesters even defied the social distancing protocol in the midst of the pandemic.
At around 12:00 in the afternoon, Jubahib and Rellon talked to the protesters and asked them to go home citing health protocol violations as Davao del Norte has been placed under Alert Level 3 by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19.
Rellon cited the advisory of Dr.. Arnel Florendo who raised concern about the rising Covid-19 cases in the city.
Jubahid gave the protesters ten minutes to vacate the vicinity saying he will be forced to order the police to look for vaccination Card should they ignore the order.
