Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Zamora dares Ceneco: File P35M pilferage rap
By Nanette L. Guadalquiver
LAWYER Allan Zamora, counsel for Los Amigos Development Corp., has challenged the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) to file a P35 million power pilferage case against his clients.
Zamora issued the challenge after the City Prosecutor's Office reopened for preliminary investigation the charges filed against LADC owners Tomas and Orville Ong.
The case, however, involves only Kundutel's P9.2 million differential billing which, he said, simply shows that Ceneco's computation is incorrect.
Ceneco had declared that the final differential billings for all 81 tenants of the LADC-owned Goldenfield Commercial Complex reached P30.5 million.
The initial computation, however, was P35.1 million.
Zamora said Ceneco's corporate counsel Enrique Tabino should either file a P30.5 million or P35.1 million case against the Ongs to prove the accuracy of the differential billing.
The re-opening of the case will make things worse for Ceneco if they sustain the P9 million billing, he said.
In his latest resolution, Assistant City Prosecutor Jesus Ocdinaria said a preliminary investigation will be conducted anew following Ceneco's submission of Insp. Augusto Buenaventura's affidavit, which the prosecutor considers as a mandatory requirement for the case.
Buenaventura, who was present when the Ceneco technical team found illegal connections at Goldenfield Commercial Complex in August last year, failed to submit an "attestation" prompting Ocdinaria to dismiss the case.
Tabino then sought reconsideration and submitted Buenaventura's affidavit.
Moreover, Zamora said they will file a damage suit against Ceneco president Primo Esleyer and the Ceneco technical team shortly after the concerns of the affected Goldenfield tenants are resolved.
Ceneco cut off power to Goldenfield on Wednesday last week after LADC failed to pay its remaining P26 million differential billing.
The amount is supposedly LADC's balance after it paid P4 million in December last year.
Zamora had earlier questioned the power disconnection in only 16 establishments since Ceneco included all 81 tenants in the P30.5 differential billing.
Ceneco said the amount represents LADC's consumption during the time it used illegal connections allegedly discovered only in August last year. |
