Cenpelco, San Carlos City ready to settle issues
SAN CARLOS CITY—The provincial government’s intervention may not be needed after all.
The city government here and the Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative (Cenpelco) have, on their own, finally agreed to offset millions worth of unpaid electric bills against unsettled real property taxes, but computations are now at the center of the negotiations.
Mayor Julier Resuello said on Tuesday that in the discussions last December 13, with lawyers of the city government and Cenpelco present, a consensus was reached and he is hopeful that it will eventually lead to a final settlement.
The agreement is for the city government and Cenpelco management to compute their dues to one another, without interests and surcharges.
They will then compare notes on the computations and agree on the payment plan.
“The problem is, will Cenpelco accept our computation,” Resuallo said, adding that he is hoping that “all’s well that ends well”.
Cenpelco officer-in-charge Rodrigo Corpuz earlier wrote to Gov. Amado Espino Jr. seeking his intervention on the matter and the provincial board was supposed to hold a discussion with representatives of both parties last December 16.
The two parties consented to defer their appearance before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan following the December 13 talks.
“It was unfair because Cenpelco claimed in its letter to Gov. Espino whose help the electric cooperative sought that the city government owes it more than P174-million in its unpaid electric bills. But it didn’t say that it owes us P212-million unpaid real property taxes since late 80s,” Resuello said.
Cenpelco supposedly owes the city government P75-million while the city has about P40-million in unpaid dues to the electric cooperative.
Resuello said it was in 1987 when the city government stopped paying its electric bills after it won a legal battle over the issue of the unpaid real property taxes of Cenpelco.
Since then, the city government has not been appropriating an amount in the annual budget for electric bills.—Eva Visperas
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