Power consumer group backs Marcoleta as Energy Secretary
“NCECCO hereby pledges its support to Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta and reiterates its endorsement of him to be the next Secretary of the Department of Energy,” said the power consumer group in a public statement released yesterday, June 18, 2022.
The National Center of Electric Cooperative Consumers, Inc. (or NCECCO), a 4-million- strong member organization, expressed its support to the SAGIP Party-List Representative who has been considered by political pundits as one of the preferred candidates by the incoming Administration.
NCECCO added that “the success of the government’s socioeconomic plan will always be dependent in the situation of the energy sector of our country” and that “any big investments in infrastructure will be futile if it will not be accompanied by a similar venture in the energy sector.”
The energy portfolio in the Cabinet is considered by many as a very crucial position especially now that majority of the world’s economy is already in or headed to recession due to increasing prices of oil and its derivatives, affecting basic commodities and services.
“As a matter of fact, any of our policies and plans can be held hostage by problems and turmoil involving energy concerns…. In the last few months, we have experienced the most devastating increase in oil prices affecting the cost of basic commodities, while the purchasing power of most of the people remains the same,” NCECCO explained.
The national association said that “it is of utmost importance for the incoming Administration to select a Secretary of the Department of Energy who is not only adept in solving problems of national significance, but someone who has the heart for the masses and someone who has experienced the plight of the marginalized people for proper perspective.”
NCECCO’s statement highlighted some of the accomplishments of Marcoleta, including being able to champion measures on “free college education, free irrigation, access to universal health care, and the Magna Carta of the Poor, among many others.” The group also believed that Marcoleta has “successfully utilized the Legislature’s oversight powers by exacting accountabilities from government agencies and public utilities.”
Although Marcoleta took an Oath of Office already as a representative of SAGIP Party-list, he can still be appointed to any Cabinet position by the incoming administration but he will need to vacate his position in the House of Representatives.
