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Bill seeks to reinstate CUC board of directors
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Posted on May 22 2008
Legislation has been introduced to bring the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. in the hands of a board of directors.
Rep. Victor Hocog, chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications, is proposing to cancel Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s 2006 executive order.
The order authorized the governor to pick the executive director for CUC, and created a CUC advisory board, for which no appointees have been named.
Hocog’s bill seeks to reinstate CUC’s five-member board of directors. The board would have the power to appoint the CUC executive director and dictate policy at the utility.
Hocog in his bill said a board of director s would bring stability and consistency to CUC, especially at this time of power crisis. He also said the present management structure at CUC “creates an unpredictable and unstable situation whereby the governor can effortlessly replace the executive director or any employee notwithstanding the corporation’s circumstances.”
The PUTC chairman also said the Commonwealth would be served best by having a board of directors, rather than a single executive director, calling the shots at CUC.
But the Fitial administration disagrees. Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said yesterday that a board of directors would complicate matters at CUC.
“It’s going to be messy,” said Reyes. “CUC is still in a state of crisis. We want to insulate it from political tinkering and micromanagement.”
He added that the administration has confidence in CUC’s new executive director, Antonio Muna, who had served as the governor’s special assistant for management and budget during the first half of Fitial’s term.
Earlier this month, Muna took over from former CUC executive director Anthony Guerrero, who had resigned from the post.
