NO to Aleco power rate hike!-BAYAN-Bikol. Protest actions geared

September 13, 2010 | Reference: Tessa Lopez, public information officer, BAYAN-Bikol | In a noise barrage protest at the provincial capitol and the Legazpi market, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Bikol (BAYAN-Bikol) denounced the proposed  power rate hike by Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda  to settle the Albay Electric Cooperative’s (Aleco) outstanding electricity bills with the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) amounting to P982 million.

According to Tessa Lopez, public information officer of BAYAN-Bikol, “Gov. Salceda is essentially trying to pass the corruption, mismanagement and irresponsibility of the Aleco Board of Directors unto the already suffering Albayanos with this P1.66 power rate increase. This would peg the power rate in the province to P10.22 per kilowatt hour and is extremely unfair to Albayanos. ”

Furthermore such an increase will require Aleco to file a petition for increase with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and a public hearing is to be convened. It cannot be done so haphazardly and without the approval of the people of Albay. We have set a series of protest actions to oppose this increase and stop the governor’s covert plan to privatize the cooperative,” the militant leader added.

 “These actions are geared for the immediate conversion of the cooperative into a real one and we are also pushing for an independent and thorough investigation regarding Aleco, We are enjoining all Albayanos to support  and participate in these actions because we are definitely directly affected by this assault on our livelihood ” ended Lopez. # # #