LIBMANAN, Camarines Sur---Engineer Charito Mabitasan, project supervisor and acting general manager of Camarines Sur I Electric Cooperative (CASURECO I), which was placed temporarily under the management of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), said over the weekend that the P800 per day allowances he and two of his staff have been receiving from the coffers of the reportedly depleted electric cooperative was legitimate.

        Mabitas further said that they only started receiving “allowances” from CASURECO I funds on their second month of stay, adding that that his two assistants even waived portions of their “valid” per day allowances considering that they were doing less heavy tasks.

        These he said in the wake of accusations from department heads of the beleaguered electric cooperative saying that the 100-day stay of the NEA management team had done more harm than good to the electric cooperative because of the additional expenses arising from the allowances received by members of the management team.

        Several department heads earlier said that then electric cooperative had spent almost P82 thousand every month since the NEA takeover for the compensations and food allowances of the three-person management team.

        They said the members of the management team which include Acting General Manager Mabitas already had been receiving monthly compensations from NEA head office apart from the P20 to P24 thousand pesos receive monthly from the electric cooperative.

        Erwin Dilanco of the Board of Directors of CASURECO I was quick to defend the management team, however. He said what the management team had been receiving every month were honoraria, and had been authorized by NEA.

        It was learned that a consumers’ group who is pushing for the extension of the NEA management team’s temporary takeover, is poised to file charges against several personnel in the electric cooperative—including several from its board of directors once the findings on what have caused the financial troubles of the electric cooperative is made public.

        The NEA management team told Bicol Mail that they found sufficient evidences of mismanagement in the electric cooperative, including alleged improper payment collection practices. They said they found out that there were instances when payments from members-consumers were used personally by some CASURECO I personnel whom they refuse to name. They also said that the past management of the electric cooperative had allowed the use of substandard power transformers.

        In addition, the management team relayed that the electric cooperative was experiencing financial losses mainly because of power pilferage which they said had been rampant in Camaligan and Gainza towns in this province, as they said that it would be better if the vacant managerial position in the electric cooperative would be opened to “outsiders” after they had left.