PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed into law the bill creating the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF), officials said.
The law will go into the books as Republic Act 11039, ECERF Act. It aims to assist to Electric Cooperatives (ECs) affected by natural disasters to restore and rehabilitate damaged infrastructure.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) will be tasked to coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in coming up with policies for the implementation of the law.
Under RA 11039, ECs will be required to submit comprehensive and integrated disaster management programs, which will be evaluated by the NEA and NDRRMC. These include Emergency Response Plans, Vulnerability and Risk Assessments, and Resiliency Compliance Plans, among others.
Based on these submissions, the NEA will produce its own National Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Plan (NECERP) to be integrated with the NDRRMC Plan.
The law mandates that P750 million of NDRRMC funds be allocated for the initial implementation of the ECERF Act. The NEA may also receive “donations in the form of funds, materials or equipment, whether local or international, intended for the express purpose of restoring or rehabilitating” power facilities.
RA 11039 consolidates Senate Bill 1461 and House Bill 7054 and was approved by the Bicameral Conference Committee on March 7, 2018.# Source— Charmaine A. Tadalan- Business Word.