BAGUIO CITY – The Federation of Cordillera Electric Cooperatives (FECOREC) recently dispatched a 20-person team as the region’s representatives to the Task Force Kapatid of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA) to help in the immediate restoration of power in the various areas in Visayas heavily battered by Tropical Storm Odette last month.
Director Peter Bosaing, FECOREC president and team leader of the region’s delegation to the Task Force Kapatid, disclosed that the team is composed of a 17 members from the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) and a 3 others from the Mountain Province Electric Cooperative (MOPRECO) who are now within the jurisdiction of the Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative (SOLECO), one of the hardest hit areas by the weather disturbance, to assist in the ongoing restoration of the power supply in the said areas.
He said that the team brought with them 2 heavy equipment, 3 service vehicles and other equipment, as well as their food provision to provide for their sustenance while working in their assigned areas for a still undisclosed duration to ensure the immediate restoration of power supply and allow the normalization of the activities of the people in the said areas.
Cordillera electric cooperatives had been actively participating in PHILRECA’s Task Force Kapatid by dispatching a team mostly composed of veteran personnel of BENECO, MOPRECO and other power distribution cooperatives in the region to help in the restoration of power in calamity-stricken areas in the different parts of the country.
The latest participation of FECOREC in PHILRECA’s Task Force Kapatid was during the aggressive power restoration efforts in Catanduanes which was heavily battered by Tropical Storm Ulysses.
Earlier PHILRECA Party-list Rep. and President Presly C. de Jesus and Executive Director and General Manager Janeene Depay-Colingan wrote the different electric cooperatives in the country for teams to comprise the Task Force Kapatid to help in the ongoing power restoration efforts in the Odette-stricken areas of Visayas.
PHILRECA instructed the electric cooperatives that will send their respective power restoration teams to submit the number of task force teams with the number of contingents per team; names of task force members; name and contact number of task force team leader; type of vehicles, plate numbers, scanned copy of official receipt and certificate of registration among others; and valid identification cards of the members.
Bosaing stated that the team from the FECOREC will be led by Percival Aspilan, BENECO construction and maintenance officer as he is an experienced personnel in the said field having actively participated in a number of teams deployed by FECOREC and BENECO to help in the power restoration efforts in different calamity-stricken areas around the country over the past several years.
The BENECO official asserted that Cordillera electric cooperatives are committed to sustain their active participation in PHILRECA’s Task Force Kapatid as part of their corporate social responsibility to extend assistance to their fellow electric cooperatives that need timely assistance from them.
(RPN Baguio News Team)
Photo by LEYECO IV