Three seats in the Board of Directors of the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) are at stake in the district elections set this July 11, 18 and 25, 2026 in four towns, with the recent rotational brownouts certain to figure in the campaign.
In a notice issued last week, FICELCO General Manager Engr. Francis A. Gianan said that the deadline for the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC) is on July 1 for District VI (Caramoran and Pandan), July 8 for District V (Virac), and July 15 for District IV (San Miguel).
The elections of the district representatives to the board are set on July 11 for Caramoran and Pandan, July 18 for Virac, and July 25 for San Miguel.
The director representing District VI will be chosen by qualified voters from Caramoran, with 5,706 MCOs, and Pandan, with 4,148 MCOs.
District V (Virac) has 17,452 MCOs while District IV (San Miguel) has a total of 3,239 MCOs, all figures as of May 2026 according to FICELCO records.
Of the incumbent directors for said districts, Dir. Arsenia Bernacer of Pandan-Caramoran is no longer qualified to run, having served her third and last term.
According to informed sources, Dir. Emma Bueno of San Miguel is seeking another term while Dir. Myrna Carilimdiliman of Virac is no longer interested in representing the MCOs in the capital town.
Last June 1, 2026, the three directors as well as four others – Romeo Santos of Baras-Gigmoto, Raul V. Angeles of Viga-Panganiban-Gigmoto, Alicia F. Arcilla of San Andres, and Salvacion T. Lee of Bato – were preventively suspended for 60 days by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for awarding the 2nd Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA 2) to a company owned by former Congressman Hector Sanchez which had been previously disqualified by an evaluation committee.
The suspensions, as well as the 12-hour brownouts that ensued from the controversial procurement of the 2nd Emergency Power Supply Agreement following the expiration of EPSA 1, is expected to be an issue during the district elections.
The coming polls also provide an opening for other MCOs who desire to represent their district’s power consumers in the FICELCO board.
Aside from being a Filipino citizen, between 21 and 70 years old, of good moral character and resident of the barangay and an MCO of the district for the last two years, the candidate must be a member of the EC in good standing for the last five (5) years immediately preceding the election.
Thus, he or she must have no unsettled or outstanding obligations to the EC whether personal or through commercial or industrial connections of which he or she is the owner or co-owner three months prior to the filing of the certificate of candidacy.
He or she must not have been apprehended for electric pilferage removed for cause as a director or an employee from any EC.
He or she participated in the district election at least once in the last five years preceding the election and if a qualified government employee, he/she must present a written certification from the head of agency allowing him/her to run and sit as director at the time of his/her filing of Certificate of Candidacy.
Disqualified from running are those who hold any public office or had been a candidate in the last preceding local or national elections; anyone convicted by final judgment of a crime involving moral turpitude; a person terminated from public office/government employment or private employment for just cause; those related within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any member of the EC Board of Directors, General Manager, Department Manager, NEA-appointed Project Supervisor (PS) or Acting General Manager (AGM) and its equivalent or higher position; those employed by or has financial interest in a competing enterprise or a business selling electric energy or electrical hardware to the cooperative or doing business with the EC, including, but not limited to, the use or rental of poles; the incumbent GM and employees of electric cooperatives; and the spouse of a disqualified candidate.