BENGUET Electric Cooperative is set to formally ask the courts to rescind the memorandum of agreement between them and the City Government of Baguio for the management, repair and maintenance of LED street lights in the city.
In the weekly Talakayan sa Environment Code, Beneco general manager Gerardo Versoza reiterated the burden that the city has given to the cooperative which should be a function of the city since it involves peace and security.
“Our next move while waiting for the approval of the board is to allow us to go to court and work for the termination of that agreement and give to the city the function of managing, repairing and maintaining the LED street lights in the city,” Versoza said.
Based on Beneco’s daily log, 40 percent of complaints are on street lights. Addressing these complaints take up too much of the working hours of linemen, who should be focused on other important electrical line repair works.
“We have strongly told the city for them to bid out the LED street light privatization so that we will be unburdened with the management, repair and maintenance. The winning bidder will then be in charge of managing, repairing and maintaining this but the city does not want to which is why we are up against the wall,” Versoza added.
In 2014, the Baguio City Council requested Beneco to install LED streetlights for free including fixtures and consumption in all barangays aside from requesting replacement of busted light bulbs and fixtures as part of its "corporate social responsibility."
The council also authorized Mayor Mauricio Domogan to enter into a memorandum of agreement with Beneco to institutionalize the power firm's assumption of the increase in power consumption as a result of the replacement of some streetlight fixtures from 70 watts to 250 watts.
“We have told the board the city refuses to bid out the privitization for the management, repair and maintenance of the LED street lights and we just could not let go of this because we have a MOA with the city which states that until such time that the city will have a partner for the privitization, Beneco would still have to maintain it, but it has been five years already,” Versoza added.
Once the management, repair and maintenance of LED street lights are turned over, Beneco will bring down the billing from 12 hours per fixture per day to 10 hours. (Jonathan Llanes)