Citing its “tremendous potential,” the National Electrification Administration (NEA) has urged electric cooperative consumers to “come together” to establish a bank dedicated to them.
NEA chief Edgardo Masongsong made the statement before the Barangay Member Consumers Electrification Committee (BMCEC) on April 8 at the Fibeco Consumers Training Center in Maramag, Bukidnon.
In his message, Masongsong urged the Rural Electrification Financial Corporation to convert itself into a banking institution for the consumers. However, if this is not heeded, he enjoined the consumers to create the EC Consumers Bank.
“With 11.8 million EC consumers all over the country, you hold tremendous potential. Imagine what you can do to challenge the old families in the banking and financial sector,” Masongsong said.
The NEA administrator likewise urged the EC consumers to get involved in the production of food and other agricultural goods, in industries, and in manufacturing.
He also echoed previous pronouncements that consumers should get significantly involved in power generation so that stakeholders can get itself out of the “stranglehold of the elite and the oligarchs who have entrenched themselves in the power generation industry.”
Meanwhile, the First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Fibeco) consumers at the said event also elected the first municipal chapters and the fourth provincial chapter of the newly established National Center of Electric Cooperative Consumers (NCECCO).
Categorized as Triple A in the 2016 EC Overall Performance Assessment, Fibeco serves the electricity needs of the 12 municipalities and one city in the southern part of Bukidnon which include Dangcagan, Damulog, Don Carlos, Kadingilan, Kalilangan, Kibawe, Kitaotao, Maramag, Pangantucan, Quezon, San Fernando, and the City of Valencia.
Its franchise area also covers the Municipality of Wao in the Province of Lanao Del Sur. ###