San Fabian barangay streetlights switched off
IN THE DARK
SAN FABIAN—It was a dark Christmas in most parts of this town, literally.
And the darkness will continue as more than 400 streetlights have been disconnected from power supply by the Dagupan Electric Corporation (Decorp) as of Dec. 21 after the town’s barangays failed to pay their arrears.
The shifting of the accounts for electricity from the municipality to the barangay was effected upon the advice of the municipal government.
Mayor Irene Libunao sent notice in early December informing Decorp that the municipal government will no longer assume the responsibility of paying the electric bills for all the town’s streetlights in the barangays.
It instructed Decorp to collect monthly charges for power consumed by the barangays to the latter, particularly for their respective streetlights’ consumption.
Libunao said she wrote the letter on the advice of the Department of Finance to save on cash to avert a looming financial crisis in 2012 on account of the town’s reduced annual Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
San Fabian was paying Decorp a flat rate of about P250,000 for the monthly consumption of the streetlights all over town.
Streetlights around the municipal hall, however, which are under a metered rate, are maintained by the town hall.
BARANGAYS
Before the disconnection, Decorp sent notices to the chairmen of the barangays telling them that the mayor has passed on the monthly dues to them and were given until December 15 to reply whether they are accepting the responsibility.
None of the kapitans responded to Decorp.
After the streetlights stopped functioning on December 21, complaints from the people flooded in, prompting the municipal administrator to ask Decorp to reconnect the power supply and withhold more disconnections.
However, Decorp Retail Service Manager Dominador Liwag Jr. explained that the company could not simply reconnect those that have already been switched off without written notice from barangay chairmen indicating that they agree to assume the cost of paying the bills for the streetlights.
“Pag walang request si mayor or the barangay captains who are willing to assume the cost of electric consumption, we will not reconnect power,” Liwag said.
Liwag said San Fabian is the only local government unit within their service area that has so far opted to withdraw financial support to the streetlights of barangays although all LGUs are suffering similar cuts in their IRA.
Decorp’s other areas cover Dagupan City, Mangaldan, San Jacinto, Sta. Barbara and Calasiao.
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