MALINIS AT MURANG KURYENTE CAMPAIGN

PRESS RELEASE
MARCH 14, 2019

“BUWIS NIYO, BAYAD NIYO!”

Consumers protest against electric cooperatives' petition to pass on real property tax

QUEZON CITY - Consumer and energy advocates called on the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) to reject the petition submitted by Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives
Association Inc. (Philreca) which seeks to pass on Real Property Tax (RPT) charges to member
consumers of ECs.

Organizations behind the Malinis at Murang Kuryente Campaign rallied in front of the ERC, to
urge the Commission to reject proposal of Philreca to add the tax on real property to the
monthly bill of consumers nationwide. The petition follows the Supreme Court ruling that
transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators and electric meters are not
exempted from RPT under the local government units (LGUs).

“In previous years, consumers have always been one with ECs to be recognized as tax-exempt
just like any other cooperative, since they are supposed to be people's enterprises owned by
the consumers they serve,” said Dr. Clint Pacana, Convenor of the Mindanao Coalition of
Power Consumers (MCPC), President of the Institute for Power Sector Economics.

Pacana explained that Philreca, in filing the petition, abandoned consumer groups who are
calling for the exemption of cooperatives from paying for real property tax. “While the
consumers fight it out for their tax exemption, ECs want the easy way of passing on the burden
to their supposed owners - the unfortunate consumers. We hope there is no collusion among
local officials, ECs, and other distribution utilities (DUs) for this,” Dr. Pacana continued.

"All property owners pay amilyar (real property taxes) on what they own. Why do we also have
to pay for what the coops own?”, Murang Kuryente Partylist Nominee and MMK Convenor
Gerry Arances. Murang Kuryente Partylist filed a motion on behalf of its members and
consumers nationwide for the ERC to dismiss the petition.

“Already, electric consumers are bearing the brunt of many ECs’ violation of system loss caps,
mismanagement of financial liabilities, and the costly Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) with
dirty energy generation companies. Meanwhile, many ECs are guilty of long and frequent
interruptions in their respective franchises and failure to electrify areas within them,” he
continued. 


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