ACTING as a vigilant watchdog, member-consumer Domingo Yu Tuesday led the filing of an administrative complaint with the National Electrification Administration urging the Casureco II board to recover the coop’s P6M deposit with beleagured G7Bank.

        He said Casureco II Consumers Movement legal counsel Atty. Voltaire Saulon is also looking at possible angles that will warrant the filing of legal and criminal charges in court against involved coop directors.

        The board was taken to task for depositing the amount of P6 million, more or less, with G7Bank despite a memorandum by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) directing all power coops to consider giving priority or preference to government banks as depository and collecting banks.

        “Perhaps, our concern is only a small thing, but it involves hard-earned money of the member-consumers,” Yu said in a letter emailed Tuesday to this reporter.

        Yu, former board president of the Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative (Casureco II), assailed the coop board for showing too little concern in handling coop funds. “Maybe they [the board directors] don’t bother where the money would go because they don’t give a hoot to consumers’ hard-earned money,” Yu said.

        The consumers’ complaint sent through NEA Administrator Editha Bueno also chided the directors for its failure to withdraw the money several weeks before the impending closure of the private rural bank while many were already speculating on the imminent bank closure.

        “NEA should also conduct investigation on the board’s failure to withdraw the money before G7Bank started dishonoring big withdrawals prior to its declaration of bankruptcy since one of its members was working as the rural bank’s comptroller,” Yu said.

        Bicol Mail’s October 2 issue named Board Member Ramon Borja as the one who convinced the board to place a savings account deposit with G7Bank because of its high interest rates on deposits more than the prevailing rates.

        The Board President Larry Basmayor defended the board’s decision, saying that they have the right to decide where to deposit the coop’s money since Casureco II is a private entity, unlike a government agency.

        Casureco II was reported to have settled its standing arrears during Basmayor’s term as board’s president. It was the same time when massive rehabilitation works on main lines were undertaken through financial assistance under the priority programs of President Arroyo, and Reps. Luis Villafuerte and Dato Arroyo, of the second and first district of Camarines Sur, respectively.