The Senate and House of Representatives have ratified the final version of a bill providing a P750-million initial funding for emergency and resiliency initiatives of 122 electric cooperatives (ECs) that supply power to tens of millions of Filipinos nationwide.
“With this reconciled version of the bill, we will create a culture of resiliency in our electric cooperatives [that] will be responsive to their needs in the aftermath of natural disasters,” Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, principal sponsor of the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund Act, confirmed over the weekend.
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate energy panel, reported that both chambers of Congress had already ironed out disagreeing provisions in Senate Bill (SB) 1461, and House Bill 7054, adding that the reconciled final version allocated an initial amount of P750-million to be drawn from the P7- billion budget of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) fund for ECs.
The senator assured the amount shall be “immediately released to the National Electrification Administration [’s] [NEA] Quick Response Fund for proper release to qualified electric cooperatives,” noting that ECs would “no longer have to pass on the reconstruction costs of its damaged infrastructure due to natural calamities directly to their more than 11 million members-consumers.”
Gatchalian added that subsequent budget allocation would be included in the General Appropriations Act under the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF).
He clarified that the allocation of the fund shall be “exclusively for the restoration or rehabilitation of the electric cooperatives’ damaged infrastructures after a fortuitous event,” adding the amount “should not be used for the conversion of a calamity loan into a grant.”
Moreover, the lawmaker said a provision in the bill that requires all ECs to submit to the NEA their respective Vulnerability and Risk Assessments, Resiliency Compliance Plans and Emergency Response Plans every year as part of the requirements to access ECERF.
Gatchalian added that with regard to donations given by both local and foreign sources, the bill provides that the NEA shall be mandated to receive funds, materials, or equipment intended for the purpose of restoring, or rehabilitating damaged infrastructures of ECs caused by natural calamities, even as he voiced confidence President Duterte would sign the Congress-approved measure into law “before his third State of the Nation Address.”