THE National Electrification Administration (NEA) yesterday filed complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against current and former officials of two electric cooperatives for alleged mismanagement and other alleged irregularities.
NEA administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda personally led the filing of the complaints against the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative Incorporated (INEC) and First Bukidon Electric Cooperative, Incorporated (FIBECO).
Almeda was accompanied by deputy administrators Omar Mayo and Vic Alvaro.
“We have filed two criminal cases against erring officials of First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative Incorporated and the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative Incorporated in the Ilocos Region,” Almeda said in a press conference at the DOJ after the filing of the case.
“With Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative, six former general managers and department managers were sued for syndicated estafa in the amount of P118 million,” he said, adding the amount involved the cooperative’s Employees Retirement Funds.
“That is the general funds for the retirement of the employees,” he explained.
As to the case filed against First Bukidnon, Almeda said they charged three former general managers with qualified theft for allegedly embezzling cooperative funds for personal use in the amount of more or less P20 million.
Almeda said one of the FIBECO general managers purportedly used his position to divert P6 million of the cooperative funds for his personal use.
Prior to the filing of the case, NEA said the FIBECO general manager was already under investigation over an alleged conspiracy to unlawfully purchase a land worth P11.550 million, which never materialized.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. We will be filing more cases against them,” Almeda said.
Almeda also said they have uncovered the “mother of all scam” involving the retirement funds of an electric cooperative in Central Luzon but he declined to provide additional details since the investigation is still ongoing.
He said P150 million in retirement funds was allegedly “embezzled by certain employees” of the said cooperative.
“It (Central Luzon case) prompted the NEA, my office, to sound off on all electric cooperatives to check on the retirement funds of their own electric cooperatives and it turned out that Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative has an anomaly like that,” Almeda said.
“From there, we were able to build a case and now its a criminal complaint,” he added.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the department will look at the cases carefully and observe due process.
“These cases will be reviewed carefully, with full respect for due process. Our role is not to prejudge, but to determine whether the evidence warrants prosecution under our laws,” Remulla said.
