CUC revamp hailed

Two members of the Senate welcomed the change in the leadership of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Board, saying it bodes well on the efforts to improve ties between the two agencies which have worsened in recent months due to differences of opinion on the Saipan power project.

Under the leadership of new Board Chair Jesus T. Guerrero, they are hoping that the stalled 80-megawatt plant will push through as initially proposed despite earlier decision by CUC to scale down the project.

“Whoever chairs it, I think the direction now is to try and work together with the Legislature. That’s what we have wanted from the very start,” said Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes.

The new board officers have already “committed to communicate with us and make sure to sit down” with lawmakers to discuss the plan, added the senator who has been very vocal about his disappointment on CUC’s recent actions.

Former Board Chairperson Rosario M. Elameto was ousted last Thursday during a surprise election, four months before her tenure expires. The move was apparently an upshot to her stern position on the power project supporting a recommendation by independent experts to build a 60-MW plant instead.

But in recent weeks, she had said the government-owned utility corporation would back legislation reinstating the original plan if power rates would not go up once the 80-MW plant goes on-line.

Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero, who has been locked in word war with Ms. Elameto in the media, hailed the election of the new officers as he criticized the former chair as “not professional.”

Asked whether he also welcomed the renewal of contract of CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez for another two years, the senator said that all he wants is to sit down with his erstwhile deputy director.

“I have no problem with [Mr. Villagomez]. If he would [only] sit down and try to think that the only way that CUC can be helped is by working with the legislature,” he told reporters in a separate interview.

Mr. Guerrero, a former executive director of the government-owned utility corporation, has sought a formal investigation on allegations linking Mr. Villagomez to bribery on the power project. The Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations is awaiting findings by both the Office of the Public
Auditor and the Attorney General’s Office on the charges.

“Personally, I’m happy that the new board will make some changes for the better,” he explained. “The new board would provide me documents we are requesting.”