Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) board chair Jeffrey Tan-Endriga has stepped down as a member of the board of directors (BOD) following a disqualification ruling made early this week by the coop’s selection committee over his bid for a fresh term.
In a text message he sent to reporters Thursday, Tan-Endriga also said he will appeal the PALECO committee ruling before the National Electrification Administration (NEA) either within 24 hours or after 30 days upon the declaration of failure of elections in his district.
“Better I step down muna kasi baka madaming tumaas ang bangs,” he remarked.
“Well, first of all, we need to respect the process. We have the right to be heard by submitting our appeal. If kaya ko mahabol na magawa ang appeal ko sa NEA, I’ll do it kasi I only have 24 hours to appeal, or I will just wait for the relaunching of [the] next election in our district as per election code. If [there’s] a failure, the board (has) not more than 30 days to reschedule [an] election,” he added.
PALECO has yet to clarify its basis for disqualifying Endriga’s candidacy to represent District IX. Palawan News sources, however, claimed that Endriga was deemed as a member not in “good standing” as required in the criteria for election to its board.
The sources said Tan-Endriga’s qualification was challenged due to his alleged failure to liquidate cash advances in time and the giving of allowances to members of the board that are higher than what they were supposed to receive based on PALECO’s rating as a cooperative.
Responding to the issue, Tan-Endriga said these were only being raised against him and claimed there is “evil intent” by disgruntled employees to disqualify him at all cost.
“Sila naman ang may pagkukulang. Mga minor na lacking of documents na dapat sila din dapat ang gumawa. Kami ang nasabugan kasi election na. At may evil intent to disqualify kami talaga [dahil] may mga employees kasi na naalis sa pwesto dahil talagang naghigpit kami sa mga yan,” he said.
“Yung isa nagresign iba naman. Nag optional retirement dahil dami namin findings at iba may ongoing case sa fact finding investigation committee,” he added.