Masbate residents have heard it all before. For years, the Masbate Electric Cooperative (MASELCO) has been synonymous with darkness—rotational brownouts, unserved households, and a trail of broken promises from the agency tasked with fixing it. Last week’s stakeholder meeting, led by NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda, did little to change that perception.
Almeda arrived in Masbate armed with photo opportunities and recycled pledges. He announced that the Central Luzon Electric Cooperative Association (CLECA) would donate 5,000 meters to MASELCO. This act exposes NEA’s own inability to provide even the most basic tools for efficient collection. Instead of mobilizing its own resources, NEA relies on donations, as if electrification were a charity project rather than a government mandate.
The promise of a 10 MVA substation in Uson, to be subsidized by NEA, is another case of too little, too late. For decades, Masbate’s residents have suffered under a fragile grid and unreliable supply from the National Power Corporation (NPC). A single substation project—long overdue—will not solve decades of neglect, mismanagement, and systemic inefficiency.
What is most alarming is NEA’s own admission that only 61 percent of households in MASELCO’s franchise area are energized. This means nearly four out of ten Masbate households remain in the dark—an indictment of Almeda’s leadership and the failure of NEA’s electrification mandate.
Almeda framed the meeting as an “engagement with stakeholders” to “develop concrete plans of action.” However, critics note that the NEA has convened numerous meetings in the past, each time leaving behind the same unfulfilled promises. For the people of Masbate, plans have never translated into progress.
Local officials, including Rep. Antonio Kho and Governor Richard Kho, as well as other stakeholders, were present; however, their attendance only underscores the political theater that such gatherings have become. What Masbate needs is decisive action, technical expertise, and financial discipline—not another round of press releases.
If results measure Almeda’s leadership of NEA, then Masbate stands as the most damning case study of failure. With almost 40 percent of its people unserved and the rest living with daily outages, MASELCO has become a symbol of what happens when regulatory power is squandered on optics rather than solutions.
Until NEA takes real accountability and enforces structural reforms, Masbate will remain in the dark—and so will the credibility of Administrator Almeda.
