Case 8. BUENAVISTA ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.,: Mas-
the dismissal from the service of employees not
querade
Right after Engineer Oscar Pascua finished his elec -
trical engineering course at FEAT! University in 1985,
he was hired as an employee of the National Electrifica-
tion Administration (NEA). He was assigned to handle
jobs in the various units of NEA until his promotion to
Chief Planning Officer in 1994. His main function was
to supervise the planning activities of his unit. Three
engineers and two other employees reported directly to
him. His performance was rated very satisfactory.
Engineer Pascua attended training sessions of var -
ious kinds including those for management. He finished
his M.B.A. course in 1995.
When the position of general manager of the Bue -
navista Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BECI) became vacant
in January 1996, he was nominated by NEA. He got the
post in March 1996. Aware of the many problems beset-
ting the cooperative, he immediately went to work.
When Engineer Pascua called the key officers of the
cooperative to a meeting, he was appraised of the following:
1.that the price of electricity charged to BECI's
customers is the fifth highest in the country;
2.that 25 percent of the electricity service provided by
BECI is lost every month and cannot be
accounted for;
3.requisitions for supplies and materials are served after
delays of as long as three months;
4.some employees of the cooperative do not report
regularly for work;
5.the increasing amount of uncollected accounts.
Three days after the meeting, he recommended to
the board of directors the following:
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1.
regularly reporting for work;
2.salary increases of up to 20 percent for every
employee on the payroll;
3. the hiring of eight additional employees; and
4.the formation of a team to investigate and recommend
measures to minimize "system loss".
All his recommendations were approved by the
board, after which Engineer Pascua signed all the neces-
sary memoranda to implement his programs. He made
regular inspections of the activities of the various units
of the cooperative.
During the first week of March 1997, he convened
the key officers for an evaluation of the past year's act -
ivities. The following points were made clear to him:
1.No reduction in the price of electricity could be
extended to BECI's customers because no reduction in
the overall cost of doing business was achieved.
2.Instead of reducing the 25 percent system loss, it
even went up to 26 percent.
3.There was no improvement in the requisition of
supplies and materials. Delays still reach three
months.
4.There is a new set of employees who do not report
regularly for work.
5.The amount of uncollected accounts increased from
P3.8 million to P4.2 million.
Engineer Pascua concluded that in spite of the
granting of salary increases requested by the rank and
f i l e, no subsequent i m pr ovem ent i n ser vi ces was
registered. He is now considering more drastic measures
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