MY JUNE electricity bill arrived last weekend. I live in Bacolod City whose electricity is supplied by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO). The June bill indicated that I now pay P12.23 per kilowatt hour. (kWh). This is a record.
What can be done?
The first aspect is that contracts between the local electricity supplier and the entities from which they obtain electricity need to be examined thoroughly. This is a role of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Can improvements be made to these contracts to ensure that customers are treated fairly? It is noticeable that price variations between local suppliers have become wider. Is this justifiable? Or are some of us paying too much?
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It is disappointing that the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) last weekend retained the Philippines on its ‘gray list’ meaning that our banks have not yet put into place the measures needed to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. Furthermore, the banking environment is not as safe as it should be. Customers are not relaxed about whether banks have sufficient controls in place to effectively combat illicit withdrawals from their accounts.
The problem has been significant with BDO where a few months ago, over 700 accounts had suffered from illicit withdrawals. My concern is that in, in this instance, BDO was able to control the narrative. Suddenly, in mid-February, the print media stopped publishing details of the problems. Why? It is in the public interest to fully explore what went wrong. If the story was fully dealt with, we may become more reassured that the problem is not likely to happen again.
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I believe that there is a risk that IT (Information Technology) technical staff in banks are not sufficiently controlled by non-specialist senior management.
My recent experiences with a European branch of Standard Chartered Bank are not reassuring. We have instructions for my pension to be paid into my Security Bank account in Bacolod City. Instead, for reasons I cannot understand, the money was transferred to Standard Chartered Bank in New York! I received an unhelpful missive from Standard Chartered to say that the funds had been returned.
Banks must not use automation to transfer responsibility for funds movement from themselves to their customers.
I hope that the incoming management of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will ensure that banks operate more reliably than in the past./PN
