SC: Electric coop officials not deemed resigned upon filing of candidacy

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SC: Electric coop officials not deemed resigned upon filing of candidacy

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

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MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that officers and directors of electric cooperatives do not automatically lose their positions upon filing of their certificates of candidacy.

In a decision of the 3rd Division promulgated on November 13, 2024, the court denied the petition for review filed by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) against former Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative II (CASURECO II) directors Oscar Borja and Venancia Regulado.

In the 2013 elections, Borja ran for mayor of the town of Bombom while Regulado ran for councilor in Canaman while serving in the cooperative’s board. 

Both the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the two, stressing that Presidential Decree No. 269 or the NEA’s charter did not provide that candidates should be deemed automatically resigned from the board. 

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While the issue before the Supreme Court is already considered moot and academic, the court still resolved the matter.

The court stated that electric cooperatives are private entities engaged in public service as electric distribution utilities.   

While they are regulated by the NEA, they are not government agencies and cannot be classified as Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations, as they are owned and controlled by their member-consumers and not the government. 

“In the same vein, the officers of these electric cooperatives remain private individuals despite the public nature of the service they render,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao. 

The court further stressed that the only type of “private individual” who is deemed resigned upon filing a COC are mass media columnists, commentators, announcers, reporters, on-air correspondents or personalities, according to Republic Act No. 9006 or the Fair Election Act. 

“Certainly, officers of electric cooperatives do not fall within the foregoing category,” the court said.

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