Negligent Capitol heads blamed for power bill surcharges

By Florence F. Hibionada

‘Finger-pointing' has no place at the Capitol.  As such, the ax will fall on negligent department heads with the promise of administrative charges if and when they fall short of what is expected of them.

This was the consensus reached in the Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) during Tuesday's session with the talks stemming from the unsettled surcharges of the Capitol's electric bill.

The amount that has since awaited payment totaled P109,375.04 deemed as “waste of people's money” by First District Board Member Bernardo Silla. 

In a Committee Report, Fifth District Board Member Niel Tupas Jr., chair of the Committee on Appropriations pushed for the payment covering surcharges dating back to December 2003. 

Who's to be blamed? The Board Members asked with Silla stressing the missed chances in the previous supplemental budgets passed and regular executive budget allocation.  Silla said “definitely not us, not the SP” but concerned Capitol department heads who were remiss in processing the payments and not having the foresight on such bills.

“I want the Treasurer's office, Budget Office, Accounting Office and the General Services Office to explain how and why this happened.  There is no reason we failed to pay then so I call on our department heads to explain and not pass the blame on us,” Board Member Silla repeatedly stressed with Tupas Jr. agreeing that huge savings should have been generated had the surcharges were earlier resolved.

Board Member Macario Napulan for his part sought clarification on what item will be sacrificed in order to accommodate the surcharges set to be taken from the current appropriations of the province.

“Shouldn't this newly-ressurrected payment be charged to our savings?,” he asked with Tupas Jr. giving the assurance that no “sacrifices” will be made courtesy of the surcharges.

Panay Electric Company (PECO) has since made repeated demands for payment to the Iloilo Provincial Government.