PMCJ: ALECO must be owned and run by the people; Albayanos, stop the MERALCO takeover!

Media Communications
Sep 11
3 min read

Albay, Philippines — The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) has raised an urgent alarm over the reported discussions regarding the privatization of Albay Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ALECO).

Hon. Caloy Andres Loria, Albay 2nd District Representative, revealed in an interview that Meralco has expressed interest in taking over ALECO. Loria cited "poor service and brownouts, exorbitant power rates, high system losses, and ballooning debts estimated at 9.9 billion [pesos]" as reasons for the privatization, according to House Resolution No. 108.

“The precedent to consider is the history of ALECO itself. In 2014, ALECO entered into a 25-year concession agreement with the Albay Power and Energy Corporation (APEC), a subsidiary of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corporation (SMGP), which is a power arm of San Miguel Corporation (SMC). Former Albay Governor Salceda pushed for this to address the operational issues of ALECO, which were blamed on the catastrophic impacts of Super Typhoon Reming in Bicol. Privatizing ALECO did not solve the problem; it just exacerbated the management failures in the face of debts and higher power rates,” said PMCJ Senior Energy Program Officer Larry Pascua.

In April 2025, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12146, which renewed the Meralco franchise for another 25 years. Since then, proposals for the privatization of electric cooperatives have been floated by Meralco. Two years ago, Meralco had already announced plans to expand beyond its traditional franchise areas through joint ventures with electric cooperatives.

Aside from ALECO, Meralco expressed its intent for a joint venture agreement with Batangas II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC II). Prime Electric challenged the proposal as it is also interested in the electric cooperative. Both distribution utilities are now awaiting clarification from BATELEC II on the guidelines, structure, and timeline of the selection process. Meralco also confirmed that they are interested in submitting a proposal to BATELEC I, should the process be confirmed.

Meralco customers expected higher electricity bills in August as the company increased its power rate by 63 centavos per kilowatt-hour. National Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Antonio Almeda shared in an interview that most of the electric cooperatives have a lower average residential rate than Meralco. Out of 121 electric cooperatives, 90 of them recorded a lower rate than Meralco between January 2024 and June 2025. But NEA also mentioned that Meralco serves as a benchmark in terms of service reliability, and wants electric cooperatives to achieve the same level of service.

PMCJ has long argued that services such as these should remain public, not private, as privatization is often marred by corporate greed and business-as-usual interests that prioritize profit over public service.

“We call on Albay officials to act in the interest of Albayanos and not for the big corporations. They are mandated and rightfully have the authority to reform ALECO into a genuine, people-owned cooperative. The Philippines’ long history of privatizing electric distribution utilities demonstrates that privatization often exacerbates the situation, such as passing on the burden to member-consumers through power rate hikes and life-disrupting power interruptions, rendering the privatized EC more inefficient. It is the government, not private profiteers, that has the responsibility to fix ALECO’s issues,” said PMCJ National Coordinator Ian Rivera.

In July 2025, the Ligao City local government unit (LGU) expressed its support for a rapid shift to renewable energy (RE). Albay RE Network, a regional renewable energy alliance, highly commended the city LGU for its strong and determined push towards clean and renewable energy.

“Albay has been at the forefront of the fight for a just transition to renewable energy as Bicolanos ramped up their effort for the cause since last year’s Albay Renewable Energy and Investments Summit. The people of Albay deserve so much better than privatized power distribution that doesn’t serve their interests. The Albay provincial government should not fail its people and should instead strive to help ALECO develop and safeguard our right to affordable, accountable, and people-centered electricity,” Rivera stressed. ###

#AtinAngALECO #NoToPrivatization #ClimateJusticeNow