News Release
January 13, 2014
Reference: Vince Casilihan
Cellphone number: 09481390488
Karapatan-Bicol today
assailed the “barrage of spiteful ploys forcing Albay Electric Cooperative’s
privatization”, as the human rights organization denounces the renewed threat
of ALECO’s disconnection by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
“When the privatization
maniacs failed at taking over ALECO, they have once again thrust the bludgeon
of power stoppage,” Vince Casilihan, spokesperson of the group, said. “And what insolence Petilla has in blaming
protesters for ALECO’s possible disconnection,” he continues.
Casilihan exclaims the human rights organization’s revulsion
on Department of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s statement to media
organizations that protesters are to be blamed for the impending disconnection as
consumers are allegedly prevented from paying their bills. To this, Casilihan bares
Petilla’s brazenness as “a lie to cover up the malversation of funds” supposedly
by ALECO officials. “Nearly 265 million pesos under the Special Payment
Agreement collected from the consumers were specifically intended to pay off
ALECO’s electricity bills,” Casilihan explains. “This amount should be initially
enough to prevent disconnection. But we ask Sec. Petilla and ALECO’s Project
Supervisor Veronica Briones to explain where the people’s hard-earned payments
went,” examines Casilihan.
