The Misamis Oriental Rural Electric Service Cooperative (MORESCO-1) is celebrating its 50th “Golden” Anniversary this month with a three day festival at its corporate headquarters in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental.
When former Vice President and Senator Emmanuel Pelaez sponsored Republic Act 2717 (Electrification Administration Act of 1960) he became known as the “Father of the Philippine Rural Electrification and Missionary Electrification Program.”
In October 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal enforced RA 2717 and the government policy to provide cheap and dependable power facilities for the promotion of agricultural and industrial development.
MORESCO-1, came into being as a result of the survey and feasibility study carried out in 1967 by a team contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the U.S National Rural Electric Service Cooperative Association (NRECA).
NRECA also furnished advisors to MORESCO and the other pilot project built concurrently in Negros Occidental- the Victorias-Manapla-Cadiz Rural Electric Service Cooperative (VRESCO), a system complete with generating facilities.
Aimed at establishing viable power systems in the far-flung and thinly populated areas, MORESCO was envisioned to eventually serve thousands of power-end users. The electricity is supplied by the generation system (Genco) of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR).
MORESCO-1 (M1) was organized in 1967 with ten (10) districts, one (1) in each municipality and with each municipality represented by a director. During the organization drive, public meetings were held and some 6,000 people indicated their intention to become a member. The Coop was organized with 100 incorporators each making a P50 payment to generate the P5, 000 capital required under Philippine laws for registration.
In August 1968, M1 was granted separate loans by the USAID through the Development Bank of the Philippines and a peso counterpart from the Philippine government through NEA, with former President Ferdinand Marcos, as the main signatory of the agreement of the said entities with MORESCO-1.
A year later in September, Republic Act 5445, paved the way for M1’s acquisition of its franchise area, for its electric service delivery to the communities in the Western district of Misamis Oriental.
The original franchise area of M1 covered only the 10 municipalities in the Western part of Misamis Oriental. In pursuit of its rural electrification thrust and the request of other communities, M1 expanded to include 15 barangays of Cagayan de Oro City, part of Talakag and Baungon in the Province of Bukidnon; and Barangay Hindang of Iligan City, originally within the franchise areas of other private distribution utilities and other rural electric coops.
From its humble beginnings in the 1970s serving its first member-consumers — usually nipa huts with one or two light bulbs, and a radio — MORESCO-1 now boasts of a broad range of clientele.
The Pioneer MORESCO-1 Board of Directors
Houses have become bigger and stronger, well lit, and an assortment of electrical appliances. Farmers have been reaping the benefits of post-harvest facilities. Schools have extended class hours way into the night and have added modern research facilities. Industries requiring megawatts of power have sprouted.
The year 2004 was a milestone for M1 when it achieved 100% energization of the 156 barangays under its coverage area. Today it continues on working to bring electricity to the far-flung sitios of barangays still without power.
As of 2006, it incurred a growth rate of potential consumers for about 6.01% average in the last four years serving 42, 910 consumers. And in 2007 it reached 50,143 connections. With the expected growth rate of around 6% per year, MORESCO-1 reached to 85,438 member-consumers as of 2017.
MORESCO-1’s Systems Loss is consistently at single digit for the past 20 years, competently improving at 2.67 % as of 2017. System loss is a measure of total energy lost or wasted on a system due to line loss and other forms of energy loss, unaccounted energy use and theft – www.energyvortex.com Lower system loss meant higher energy efficiency.
MORESCO-1 is a world-class power provider of choice. It hopes to keep providing a world-class standard of efficiency in its service.
At present, through the inspiration of being a rural electrification pioneer in the country, it has to keep looking for ways to develop and improve itself, with great support from NEA.
The vision to become a world-class Power provider of choice lead to MORESCO-1’s many firsts:
MORESCO-1, in 2009, first obtained its accreditation of Investors In People (IIP), a UK-based quality standard framework which is used as a business improvement tool for an organization using its people. It levelled up to IIP Bronze in 2012 then geared forward and achieved the Gold accreditation in 2015.
To ensure that the Management Quality Systems of our Electric Cooperative is aligned with the international standards, it sought the accreditation of Standardization of International Organization or ISO 9001:2008. By 2016 MORESCO-1 was officially recognized by its certifying body the Certification International Philippines.
Compliance to the Philippine Distribution Code (PDC) was also achieved in the year 2015. This is one of the 2 standards that the Energy Regulatory Commission is adhering to on power industry standard system which entails in establishing, monitoring and implementing such systems to the Distribution Utilities (DUs) like MORESCO-1. It was that time, then, that MORESCO-1 was recognized to have been the first 100% PDC compliant EC in the country.
Moresco-1’s service area covers the western part of the province from Lugait to Opol, some barangays of Cagayan de Oro and the town of Talakag in Bukidnon. It services 21 manufacturing firms within its coverage area, among them Asia Brewery, Inc. (ABI), Universal Robina Corporation (URC) in El Salvador City, and Holcim-LaFarge in Lugait.
Five decades later, MORESCO-1 continues to be one of the best managed, best performing and consistently recognized leader among the country’s 119 electric cooperatives. The key to the success of MORESCO-1 is the unwavering support of its member-consumers. This has inspired MORESCO-1 in its quest to be a world-class power provider of choice.
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