In its effort to help ease the mounting financial burden among households amid economic slowdown brought by the pandemic, the city council has requested through a resolution the Benguet Electric Cooperative to continuously negotiating with Team Energy Corp. for the possible reduction or stabilization of electricity power generation cost or charges being added to electric bills of consumers.
Team Energy and Beneco has an existing power supply agreement, which will end in 2024, supposedly for an affordable power rate but recently increased.
Beneco General Manager Melchor Licoben told the body the high generation charge, which covers around 50 to 60 percent of electric bill is due to the continuing increase in the world market on prices of coal, a primary fuel used in producing or generating electricity.
The other contributory factors in the rapid surge of electric bill are the increase in transmission charges specially for August due to the increase in the ancillary service charges of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the implementation of the incremental currency exchange rate adjustment, which an added new item in the billing as required by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Supportive of Licoben’s initiative and assurance for proactive and stable solutions, the council hopes for the electric utility to conscientiously meet and agree on how the generation costs and such other additional charges can be possibly spared from the obligation of the household consumers.
As a way of showing support and assistance to the frontline workers with the goal of curtailing and eliminating the threats of Covid-19, the city council has authorized Mayor Benjamin Magalong in behalf of the city government to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for the hiring of 30 job order nurses amid the increasing number of Covid-19 patients.
The nurses will be deployed as augmentation staff and manpower complement of the hospital to continuously attend to Covid-19 patients from the city and other parts of Benguet and Region 1.
In separate measures, the body approved a supplemental Annual Investment Plan amounting to P94.299 million for the operation of Covid-19 related activities and P10.8M to fund the needed equipment for the Baguio Convention Center.
Through Resolution 462, s. 2021, the body confirmed the MOA between the City Government of Baguio and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) for the land development component of the “Luna Terraces” located at Irisan barangay.
Under the MOA, DHSUD committed an amount of P155M for the land development component of the 1.8 hectares city property called the “LGU-Baguio Socialized Housing and Resettlement Project” or the “Luna Terraces Permaculture Community.”
In a joint resolution, the body expressed the city government’s condolences to the bereaved family of the late former chief city prosecutor Benedicto Torralba Carantes who passed away on Sept. 20 at the age of 79.
“Benny”, as fondly called by his friends and readers, was a columnist for the Baguio Midland Courier where he maintained countless and loyal followers in the course of writing his famous “Opposite Connection” column for more than 40 years. He was twice chosen by the Courier as “Columnist of the Year.”
The resolution recognizes Benny’s professional competence and due care, his proven integrity throughout his long career as a public servant, and his strong leadership as a city prosecutor under the Department of Justice have contributed to unparalleled achievements and accomplishments of the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office towards “effective, efficient, and equitable administration of justice.
“His exemplary service rendered to the national government and the city government of Baguio, the free legal service rendered to the destitute city residents in his private practice, the legal information and opinions shared to his readers, the fruitful and productive life he has lived and shared to others, and his brilliant and humorous writing that are mind enriching and entertaining are worthy of appreciation and recognition that will remain his legacy to the people of the City of Baguio,” the resolution reads.
April 27, 2024
