The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has reconstituted its anti-corruption committee (NEA-ACC) as it escalates efforts in battling corrupt practices in the agency and the electric cooperatives (ECs) that it has been overseeing.
The agency announced that its restructured anti-corruption body will be headed by lawyer Rossan Rosero-Lee. The team will “implement and promote anti-corruption policies, measures and programs for the agency.”
A particular mandate on reinforcing the anti-corruption measures of NEA took its cue from Department of Energy Order No. DO202109-0012 that was issued by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi last year and underpinned by Office Order No. 2021-1100.
The agency added its anti-corruption committee shall likewise “ensure compliance” with the memorandum of agreement previously signed by the DOE with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Committee (PACC).
NEA emphasized it had been PACC that directed government agencies “to engage in policing their own offices against corruption,” and such entails the creation of anti-corruption committees within government organizations.
For the NEA-ACC in particular, it was stated that this body “shall ensure the practice of transparency and accountability, and shall conduct investigations of possible corruption when necessary.”
There had been previous reports alleging that funds being channeled to NEA as well as the electric cooperatives were not solely used for their targeted electrification ventures and other projects, instead, these were "partly funneled to election-related expenses".
Nevertheless, no formal investigations have been conducted yet on how these funds have been used. This is because grumbling parties have not also filed formal complaints, about alleged "corrupt activities" of officials, not just at the NEA but in other segments of the energy bureaucracy.
As stated in past market studies, corruption or the bribery had been cited by investors as among the factors driving up electricity rates in the Philippines; because such risks are factored in by project-sponsors in their cost recoveries.