TACLOBAN CITY- Practically all houses located in the resettlement sites in this city have now power connection, beating the deadline set by Malacañang.
Engineer Fernan Paul Tan, general manager of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II), announced that even houses who have no occupants have now power supply. Leyeco II provided power connections to around 11,000 houses at various resettlement sites in Tacloban.
“Leyeco II, being a resilient cooperative, and with the experience of the supertyphoon, was able to do our job. In two weeks’ time, a record breaker, we were able to finish energizing the houses with primary and secondary lines,” Tan said during the gathering of the members of the Multi-Sectoral Electrification Advisory Council (MSEAC) held last Sunday (December 18).
MSEAC is a group which serves as an advisory council to the officials of the Leyeco II with its members coming from various sectors within the coverage area of Leyeco II, Babatngon, Palo and Tacloban City.
Tan said that no less than President Rodrigo Duterte directed Leyeco II, together with concerned agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways, Leyte Metropolitan Water District and National Housing Authority, issued a directive for them to address problems besetting the resettlement sites, located in the northern parts of Tacloban, intended for families who totally lost their houses due to supertyphoon “Yolanda” within this month.
Mr. Duterte issued the order during his November 8 visit in Tacloban coinciding the third year anniversary of Yolanda.
But Tan said that Leyeco II was able to finish their work by December 11.
Tan said that they were able to do their job with the help of linemen coming from other electric cooperatives from the region.
The electric cooperatives worked at the resettlement sites under “Task Force: Duterte Speed.”
Because of its sterling work, Leyeco II was given recognition by Malacañang, through Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Sec. Michael Lloyd Dino, along with other government agencies.
It was learned from Tan that all the permanent shelters were given an individual electric meter although the process could turn out to be disadvantageous to the power cooperative.
This is because, Tan said, not all of these houses have occupants who would pay the monthly electric consumption.
Tan also announced that Leyeco II has to recover the amount it spent to connect power supply to these houses at the resettlement sites. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)