Representatives Rodel Batocabe, Michael Angelo Rivera and Reynaldo Umali are pressing the government to provide aid totaling P600 million to electric cooperatives in regions devastated by typhoon “Glenda” last July.

Batocabe of AKO Bicol, a partylist ally of the National Unity Party (NUP), said the P600 million subsidy will help electric cooperatives rehabilitate substations, sub-transmission lines and distribution lines  damaged by typhoon “Glenda.”


”The government should immediately help these electric cooperatives that serve millions of households, cater to other basic services and move the wheels of the economy and prevent deterioration of the peace and order conditions in the affected areas," Batocabe and his co-authors said.



In House Bill 4973, Batocabe, Rivera and Umali said the subsidy from the Office of the President will be coursed through the National Electrification Administration (NEA), which will then channel the aid to five “Glenda”-ravaged regions—Bicol, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas.

Typhoon Glenda hit the country last July 15, 2014 and left 18 electric cooperatives in these  regions with about P600-million losses due to damages to substations, sub-transmission lines and distribution lines, the bill’s authors said.

In filing the measure, the lawmakers pointed out  that “NEA electric cooperatives are designed not to earn profit so they cannot build up funds to respond to natural disasters such as typhoon and earthquakes.”

“The operation of an electric cooperative severely damaged by a natural calamity puts its integrity to a challenge," they said.


Citing initial assessments made by NEA, the Department of Energy and the electric cooperatives, the lawmakers listed the following damages for the Bicol Region: Sorsogon II Electric Cooperative (SORECO II) at P122,749,342.00; Camarines Sur I Electric Cooperative (CASURECO I) with P89,715,180.00; CASURECO III and CASURECO IV estimated at P79,138,172,87; APEC EC at P61,043,380.70; CASURECO II with P30,753,952.38; and SORECO II and CASURECO II at P9,013,437.50.



For Calabarzon – Batangas I Electric Cooperative (BATELCO I) with P7,897,531.48; BATELCO II with P24,157,016.22; First Laguna Electric Cooperative (FLECO),  P3,584,895; Quezon 1 Electric Cooperative (QUEZELCO I), P45,262,155.00.



For Mimaropa – Marinduque Electric Cooperative (MARELCO) with P8,812,310.00; Oriental Mindoro electric Cooperative (ORMECO),  P624,441.97.



For Central Luzon – Zambales II Electric Cooperative (ZAMECO), P4,200,285.76; Peninsula Electric Cooperative (PENELCO), P138,000.00; Pampanga II Electric Cooperative (PELCO), P1,784,765.00.



For Eastern Visayas – Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative (ESAMELCO) with an estimated losses of P200,978.00.