Friday, June 15, 2007 Town ready to pay power bills By Dante M. Fabian
OFFICIALS of the Mabalacat Municipal Government and Pampanga Electric Cooperative (Pelco) 2 have reached a mutual agreement regarding the settlement of the local government's P15-million arrears in electric bills.
Pelco 2 general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. disclosed to Sun.Star Pampanga that Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales had agreed to pay the Municipal Government's overdue electric bills in 2008.
"Mayor Morales said the local government could not settle the arrears yet this year because the 2007 budget is already done. But the mayor has pledged that by next year, the entire bill will all be settled," said Lagarde in a phone interview.
He said the local government's P300,000 bill for the current month will be paid as soon as Morales assumes his post.
Lagarde said he "is all too happy that Pelco 2 and the Mabalacat Municipal Government have finally been in good terms."
"We have melted down the ice that prevents us from speaking and agreeing for the benefit of the consumers. I am really happy with the cooperation of Mayor Boking," added Lagarde.
Some two years back, Morales and then Pelco 2 general manger Rodrigo Salas were locked in a conflagration when the electric cooperative top brass cut the power lines at the Municipal Hall. Salas and his men with soldiers in tow cut the lines after Morales failed to pay their overdue bills.
But Morales countered by closing down Pelco's main office in Barangay San Francisco here for failing to pay taxes to the Municipal Government.
According to Davidson David, chairman of Pelco 2 Consumer's Alliance, the consumers "are one in making the electric cooperative viable and service-oriented."
He added that he "is more than glad that Pelco 2 and the Morales administration could finally move forward and establish a healthy relationship for the benefit of the electric consumers."
David said he was in the meeting between Morales and Lagarde in Clark.
"I was just there to protect the interest of the consumers. The meeting went well and cordially," said David, who is also a councilman in Barangay San Joaquin here.
Lagarde stressed they needed the cooperation of local officials concerned to further improve the service of Pelco 2. He said they will use the payments of Mabalacat for their various projects that would benefit the consumers.
