Employees of Panay Electric Co. admit that a new management is necessary to provide solutions to Iloilo City residents who are facing province-wide electricity problem.
Gaudioso Sumandi, PECO lineman and troubleshooter for the past 24 years, said he could not stand the management lapses of the company, which led him to air his sentiments to President Rodrigo Duterte through the 8888 Citizens’ Complaint Hotline last Aug. 12, 2018.
Sumandi had asked Malacañang to conduct an investigation on the situation in Iloilo, particularly of the PECO employees.
He added that some of his co-workers would also want to voice their grievances against the company, especially on the issue of contractualization.
In the operations department for instance, wherein there is only one regular employee while the rest works under a contractual basis.
He also expressed alarm over the overloading of PECO power lines that posed great danger to the public.
Fire incidents were caused by the overloading.
Sumandi explained the complaints on frequent brownouts resulted from interrupted and damaged power lines, with PECO providing only “band aid solution” to address the problem.
“The lack of concrete and long-term solutions to replace these power lines have caused recurring issues almost daily. PECO does not want to allocate additional fund to address this,” Arnejo said, adding that the company was only turning a blind eye on the matter.
He said, “It seems that the PECO is no longer interested in running the company—we were not provided with office supplies from pens and vehicle services, which have been in use for the last 30 years. Their management is indeed in bad shape.”
PECO also had to deal with issues before the Department of Labor and Employment-Iloilo because of complaints on non-payment of overtime pays.
In the case of Sumandi, 21 out of his 24 years as PECO employee, he served under contractual terms, earning a measly P14,200 per month.
“This proves that the company does not give a care about us,” he said.
Sumandi appealed to PECO to admit their lapses especially on providing bad service to its consumers.