Bacolod: Labor groups split over CENECO JVA

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Bacolod City – Twenty labor groups under the umbrella organization of General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) recently signed a resolution in support of the Joint Venture Agreement between the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CENECO) and MORE Electric and Power Corporation.

In Resolution No. 002, Series of 2023 they signed on May 1, which also coincided with the celebration of International Labor Day in Bacolod City, they said that the electric consumers in the franchise area of CENECO had been suffering from all forms of inconvenience due to unscheduled power interruptions, brownouts, and inefficient services for decades, due to its dismal failure to provide affordable, reliable and efficient power supply.

The resolution further states that CENECO failed in its task to rehabilitate and overhaul its most basic facilities, particularly transformers substations and power lines, which are literally overheating to full capacity, resulting to huge system loss at the expense of the consumers.

The stand of 20 labor organizations comes after Iloilo local government and Church leaders, as well as the business sector called CENECO on consumers to study and assess the proposed JVA between MORE Power and the concerned electric cooperative.

On the other hand, 16 civil society groups and people’s organizations earlier expressed their strong opposition to the proposed JVA, claiming that it would cause higher electricity rates, stressing also that a lot of employees will lose their jobs.

But GAWA said that the proposed JVA between CENECO and MORE Power Corp. would serve as lifesaving mechanism that will improve and level up the operations and services of the electric cooperative, to serve and advance the welfare of the consumers.

It added that they have high expectations on the JVA, as it would harness modern technology, and state of the art gadgets using geographical information system, with a scheme to reconfigure the system when there are sudden and unscheduled power interruptions.

“A more reliable efficient and stable power supply is the foundation of our economic development. A robust power supply will attract more investors, which in turn will create job opportunities and income that will pump rime the economy and strengthen the purchasing power of the workers,” the resolution further said. (Gilbert bayoran via tvds photo by pbc)

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