Governor asked to settle unpaid bills

QUEZON Gov. Danilo Suarez is now the subject of scrutiny in the province for his failure to pay the P4-million electric bill of his family-owned fish hatchery in Barangay Punta, Unisan.

Lawyer Frumencio Pulgar, legal counsel of Quezon 1 Electric Cooperative Inc. (Q1ECI) based in Barangay Poctol, Pitogo, Quezon, had sent a letter addressed to Suarez dated January 6, demanding a settlement of this financial obligation within five days.

“Otherwise, the cooperative shall initiate appropriate administrative, civil and criminal action against the governor’s hatchery business,” the letter said.

Pulgar said in his letter that as of January 12, the facility has an outstanding obligation to Q1ECI in the amount of P4.5 million.

He revealed that Suarez claimed the power consumption of Fin Fish Hatchery (FFH) is under the account of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

This prompted Victor Cada, acting general manager of Q1ECI, to write Allan Castillo, provincial officer in charge of the BFAR based in Lucena City, on January 4, to notify the BFAR of the unpaid balance on the fish facility’s power bill.

Cada said that upon coordination with Suarez, they were advised that said account is under the BFAR so they made a request for confirmation supported with any document that the hatchery is endorsed or under the agency.

Castillo replied to Cada on January 7 regarding the account of Unisan Multi-Species Hatchery covering the months of March 2020 to November 2021.

Castillo categorically said that the electrical consumption of the facility is not shouldered by the BFAR.

“Based on our agreement, only security guard services have been secured and paid by the Office since 2011. Further, based on our records no endorsement for the said assumption of payment for electrical consumption was made by both parties,” reads Castillo’s reply to Cada.

On Dec. 7, 2021, Cada wrote to the manager of FFH regarding their unpaid electrical bills.

Attached with the letter was the list of the unpaid power bills from March 2020 to November 2021, including the request to pay the amount immediately, adding that “disconnection shall take effect five days upon receipt of this notice.”

“Quezelco 1 is now cashstrapped because of people like Gov. Suarez who use their government position to evade payment of power consumption, while lowly consumers in the third district are paying their electric bills or suffer disconnection,” Pulgar said, acting as the legal counsel of the electric cooperative.

Likewise, Salome Sosuria of the Business Permit and Licensing Office, has certified that there is no registered business name under Fin Fish Hatchery in the municipality of Unisan.

In a phone interview with The Manila Times, Suarez said he has turned over the hatchery’s account to the Department of Agriculture (DA), and discussions between him and authorities of the DA are done.

During Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s visit at the hatchery, he was shown the hatchery’s operation, with thousands of fingerlings distributed free to local fisherfolk as a source of livelihood.

Hundreds of fisherfolk have benefited from the free fingerlings given by the hatchery, the governor said.

The hatchery also has no business permit because it is not a business undertaking but a project designed as aid to local fishermen, Suarez said.