Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco rallied electric cooperatives to maintain a sustainable and efficient power supply in the countryside.
Velasco, the chairperson of the House Committee on Energy in both 17th and 18th Congress, said economic progress is hinged on rural electrification.
“I have witnessed how powerfully transformative access to electricity in the rural areas can be,” Velasco said on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) which coincided with the month-long celebration of the National Electrification Awareness Month.
Velasco, who is also the co-chair of the Joint Congressional Energy Commission, stressed that all Filipinos should have access to reliable, sustainable, efficient, and affordable electricity.
“It is the only way for our country to progress economically. It is the only way to bring genuine prosperity to the countryside,” he said.
Velasco also urged electric cooperatives to focus on the few remaining barangays in the country that have not been energized.
He said that since 1969, NEA and the Electric Cooperatives have succeeded in energizing 90 cities, 1,385 municipalities covering 78 provinces in the country. A total of 36,057 of the 36,065 of the barangays have been energized. That is 99 percent of the barangays nationwide.
He said electric cooperatives and their consumers hold the proverbial torch in rural electrification.
“A few hundred meters na lang nasa finish line na tayo. Let’s go for it,” he said. – Marinduquenews.com