Limlingan: The Lexicon

IT WAS in January of this year that a group of electric cooperative information officers organized themselves and formed a league of communicators that is now taking off and starting to provide relevant information about what is going in with electric cooperatives in the whole country.

The convergence of these communicators was the brainchild of Edgardo Masongsong, the administrator of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) that inspired the group of writers, editors, broadcasters and public relations specialists who are employees of electric cooperatives to unite and intensify information dissemination to member-consumer-owners of electricity distribution utilities in rural areas of the country. Thus, the League of EC Information and Communications Officers Nationwide also known as Lexicon was born.

The Lexicon, since its launching, had a series of planning workshops, the first of which was at the First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative, Inc. or Fibeco in Maramag, Bukidnon where a strategic thinking and conference, attended by key regional officers of the group was held in March.

With the aim of intensifying information and communications among electric cooperatives, their stakeholders and the consuming public they serve, the Lexicon is organizing regional Strategic Planning Workshops to plot their courses of action tailor-fitted to the needs and context of their respective areas of operation.

This week, I had the chance to attend and participate in the workshops for Central Luzon electric cooperative communicators in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija - the first organizing effort of Lexicon in Luzon.

It began with a dialogue on industry situationers and moved towards a discussion on cultural and other current realities in the region. The second day became more intense when issues and challenges confronting electric cooperatives today were opened for a more extensive brainstorming. To cap the planning event, a comprehensive enumeration of strategic communication initiatives to address current concerns were ascertained and identified to effectively and efficiently serve the electricity-consuming public.

Attended by communicators from 14 electric cooperatives in Central Luzon, the activity was facilitated by Lexicon North Luzon Officers Cristian Gregor Atacador of the Nueva Ecija 1 Electric Cooperative, Inc. or NEECO 1 and Azenith Aquino of the Tarlac 2 Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Tarelco 2).

The activity would not be made possible if not for the support of the National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives (Nagmec) Region 3 under the leadership of TARELCO 2 General Manager Jose F. Bognot, Jr.

Electric cooperatives in the country are one of the most maligned and misunderstood component of the power industry. Most often, power consumers have this not-so-good impression about electric power distribution utilities as they bear the brunt during power outages.

In fairness, electric cooperatives are doing their best, even beyond their mandate of providing safe and reliable supply of electricity to households and industries, many still do not fairly appreciate the services they provide to the public.

With the founding of Lexicon, this and other challenges will soon be addressed. People will get a better grasp of what their electric cooperatives are doing for them as they become more empowered. It is hoped that the dynamics between electric cooperatives and their member-consumer-owners woul be strengthened from a mere symbiotic relationship into a strategic partnership.

Lexicon is moving in the right direction.

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