The Central Negros Electric Cooperative board on Thursday, August 31, declared the conclusion of its Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) plebiscite as authorized by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) since the majority have already voted for its approval, CENECO acting general manager Arnel Lapore announced.
The remaining plebiscite voting dates on September 2 and 3 will no longer be held, Lapore said.
NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda , in a memorandum dated Wednesday, August 30, authorized CENECO to declare the termination of the plebiscite voting, and to conduct the final canvassing of the consolidated returns.
It would be unnecessary to continue with the September 2 and 3 voting dates since the threshold number of votes in favor of the CENECO-Primelectric Holdings Inc. JVA has been achieved, he said.
To continue with the plebiscite would only result to unnecessary costs and burden to CENECO as well as interfere with the resumption of public school classes and the scheduled local elections, Almeda said.
The NEA Administrator, in his memorandum, said an affirmative majority vote of the 178,236 eligible Ceneco voters was needed “to give effect to the CENECO-PHI JVA”.
That meant 89,119 affirmative votes was the threshold number required for the JVA approval, he said.
CENECO’s partial official canvass shows that of the 105,540 votes that have been cast by the CENECO consumer-members 98,591 voted “yes” and 6,899 voted “no”, Almeda noted.
Almeda said the remaining number of votes during the September 2 and 3 plebiscite dates would no longer materially affect the outcome of the plebiscite. “It is now mathematically impossible to overturn the affirmative majority vote,” he said.
Lapore said once the JVA approval is officially concurred by NEA, the joint venture firm – Negros Electric Power Corp. (NEPC) – will seek a 25-year franchise from Congress.
CENECO will own 30 percent of NEPC, Lapore said.
Meanwhile, CENECO will work with its future partner in reducing its systems loss until its distribution assets are turned over to NEPC that could take eight to ten months, he said.
Lapore expects that more than 70 percent of CENECO’s employees will be retained by the joint venture firm.
“This is an overwhelming endorsement of the joint venture agreement from the member consumers” and he expects that will bring better power services for everyone, Lapore said.*