Former President Fidel V. Ramos. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
ROSALES, Pangasinan, Philippines鈥擣or three days now, the ancestral home of former President Fidel V. Ramos and his sister, former Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani, in Asingan town has been dark.
Pangasinan Board Member Ranjit Shahani, Shahani鈥檚 son, said the local utility, the Pangasinan Electric Cooperative III (Panelco III), disconnected the electricity from the Ramos house after he criticized the utility鈥檚 officials for the high power rates imposed in December last year.
鈥淭hirty minutes after I was interviewed [by a local radio station] on Wednesday, [our] electricity went off,鈥� Shahani told the Inquirer by phone on Friday.
Harassment
The board member lives in the Ramos ancestral home in Barangay Poblacion West with his mother, a former senator.
鈥淐learly, this is harassment,鈥� the young Shahani said.
On Monday last week, Shahani criticized Panelco III鈥檚 directors, who showed up at the weekly provincial board session in Lingayen town to explain the December power rate increase that had angered consumers.
The electric cooperative鈥檚 rate for residential consumers shot up from P9.80 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P15.40 per kWh when its power generation cost increased to P5.6384 per kWh.
听
Not involved
Panelco III serves 10 towns in Shahani鈥檚 district and seven towns and Urdaneta City in Pangasinan鈥檚 fifth district.
Panelco III manager Hugo Celso Sansano, however, said the firm had nothing to do with the power outage at the Ramos home.
鈥淭heir house lost power, but we did not cut if off,鈥� Sansano said on Saturday.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what happened because he (Shahani) did not ask for our help to look at it,鈥� he added.
The provincial board will again tackle the Panelco issue on Jan. 27. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon