Wednesday, December 12, 2007 City debt to Ceneco now P198 million
"WE ARE talking here of P198,090,781.97 and growing at P3.5 million per month of Bacolod City's outstanding debt to Ceneco," said Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco) president Roberto Montelibano.
Montelibano had a close door meeting with all mayors and their representatives of Ceneco covered areas.
Montelibano refused to divulged full details of their meeting but among his concerns is the 'injustice' brought by the hugeness of Bacolod City's account with Ceneco.
Because of this outstanding account, Montelibano explained, "Ceneco lost millions but the City is now enjoying the three percent prompt payment discount even if it has not paid a single centavo since 1997."
"This is unfair to ordinary consumers who must pay religiously and must be warned by way of disconnection notices if they fail to pay on time," Montelibano stressed.
Montelibano added that partly, he had already explained this to the representative of Mayor Evelio Leonardia in Tuesday's close door meeting, adding, "The City must be clear on their plans and modes of payments. I have addressed these to other mayors as well that Ceneco needed much of their support otherwise if Ceneco goes 'bankrupt,' how will their cities survive?"
He stressed to leave the disputed portion of the P198 millions to the courts but the current accounts since July 2007, must be paid which amojnts to approximately P21 million.
Meanwhile, Montelibano announced that for the month of November, Ceneco had paid the full amount billed to it by the National Power Corporation (NPC).
Ceneco paid P121,171,111.12 before December 10, 2007 resulting into a P3,635,133.33 (three percent) discount, 50 percent of said P3.6 million will be refunded to all Ceneco consumers.
