Bill strengthening electrification program filed

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — Representative Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) led 13 other congressmen in filing a bill seeking to strengthen the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

This would ensure that power supply reaches sub-villages in hinterlands and public schools even in rural areas through electric cooperatives, he said.

In House Bill 5244, Aumentado and the 13 others emphasized the need to increase NEA capitalization from P5 million to P15 million in order to have more funds available for loan to electric cooperatives. They also set rules and guidelines on how to avail of the money, and further expand the enforcement of the agency's regulatory and supervisory functions.

The 13 co-sponsors of the bill are Reps. Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr. (Ifugao), Tomas Apacible (1st dist., Batangas), Mark Llandro Mendoza (4th Dist. Batangas), Salvador Cabaluna III and Michael Angelo Rivera (I-Care party-list), Rodel Batocabe, Christopher Co and Alfredo Garbin Jr. (Ako Bicol party-list), Homer Mercado (I-Utak party-list), Sharon Garin (AAMBIS OWA party-list), Eulogio Magsaysay (AVE party-list), Arnel Ty (LPGMA party-list) and Raymond Democrito Mendoza (TUCP party-list).

"Power has become indispensable in the economic development of the countryside especially in the light of the government's drive for poverty reduction," Aumentado told The FREEMAN.

The bill recognizes the effort of electric cooperatives, organized as the Philippine Rural Electrification Cooperatives Association, Inc. (Philreca), to bring electricity even to missionary–or not economically viable–areas "in the name of public service," he added.

Philreca records show that it has served nine million households or, at five members per household, 45 million members. - THE FREEMAN