New Baguio storm: Beneco vs outsider

PRESS reports from Baguio talk ominously of a coming power play, which the community supposedly opposes. It concerns the appointment of a general manager for the Benguet Electricity Cooperative (Beneco) from outside, i.e., not from Baguio, not from Beneco. The person alluded to is a certain Anna Maria Banaag Rafael, a lawyer. It seems the National Electrification Administration (NEA) that oversees Beneco as an electricity cooperative in the Baguio-Benguet area has been told by the current political power to appoint her and is working for the consummation of this appointment. The hue and cry are that the would-be appointee is an outsider who does not have the technical qualifications while the next-in-line in Beneco, a certain Melchor Licoben, (the general manager Gerardo Versoza died last September after 32 years in the position) has the technical qualifications from long-standing work in the cooperative. Supposedly, the Beneco board appoints the general manager, but there are the orders from above to the regulatory agency in charge to appoint Banaag Rafael. Can they ignore these? Regulatory agencies are supposed to be independent and act for the good of the majority of their constituents. In this case, it should be for the Beneco consumers, not just the Beneco board. Will they?

Banaag Rafael has served as the mayor of Paracelis in the Mountain Province (though her political family comes from Natonin, another town). So, we are talking politics. She was also sometime ago an investigator in the Ombudsman’s Office and more recently also worked for the Presidential Communications Office. It does look like she has a godfather somewhere that gets her in and out of government offices where she does not stay long. On this record she has been under attack in social media and the Baguio media.