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BAGUIO CITY: Alleged irregularities prompted Benguet Electric
Cooperative (Beneco) to request Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. to order
an inventory of all certificate of final electrical inspection (CFEI)
issued in 2007 by the City Buildings and Architecture Office.
Beneco general manager Gerry Verzosa made the
request to the mayor after an applicant for new electrical service
connection informed Beneco that someone inside the City Building and
Architecture Office approached her and promised to process her
applicationfor CFEI after paying a certain amount.
While the amount demanded as payment was not
mentioned, a high-placed source confirmed there was a “fixer” at
the city building office.
When a CFEI was eventually issued in favor of
the applicant, it was later canceled after records showed that the
attached building permit, a requisite by CBAO in issuing CFEI,
turned out to be fictitious.
With the cancellation of the CFEI, Beneco
disconnected the power supply of the applicant, who in turn, wrote
the company that she should not be blamed for any perceived
irregularity relative to the supporting documents she submitted to
CBAO.
The applicant even complained to Beneco that
there are other buildings or residential houses that have electrical
services despite the absence of a building permit.
To avoid a similar incident from happening
again, Verzosa reiterated his request for City Hall to immediately
validate the CFEIs issued by CBAO for 2007, which will serve as
basis for Beneco’s action.
“While we adhere to the principle of
regularity of functions, in the light of the incident that
transpired in the acquisition of a CFEI (by the applicant), we would
like to nonetheless protect the sanctity of our systems and
procedures,” reads the letter of Verzosa, which was furnished to
members of the city council, CBAO, and other concerned City Hall
departments.
Under the current set up, a building permit is a
requisite in the issuance of a CFEI. Beneco only requires CFEI for a
new service connection and it does not require a building permit.
But city council Betty Lourdes Tabanda last year proposed a
resolution requesting the mayor to direct the CBAO to implement
Ordinance 45-92 as amended by Ordinance 52 series of 1992.
Ordinance 52 series of 1992 repealed an old city
policy that prohibits the instillation of electric and water
supplies to houses without building permit.
City officials, on the other hand, are already
in receipt of a request from the Beneco Board of Directors asking
the city government to approved Beneco’s proposed rationalization
of the city policy.
The proposed rationalization of the policy on
electrical connection in the city means that the city will lift up
its standing policy that all structures must not be connected with
electricity without a building permit.
-- Harley F. Palangchao
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