On August 5, 2025, NORDECO Acting General Manager Elvera Alngog confirmed in an interview with Mindanet Balita that they are already preparing the documents that will renew their franchise for the first district of Davao del Norte and the whole of Davao de Oro, and the Island Garden City of Samal. Their franchise in Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro is set to expire in 2028 while for the Island Garden City of Samal is set to expire in 2033.
This recent action from NORDECO continues to show their refusal to heed the needs and the demands of the consumers. This shows their refusal and stubbornness despite the presence of a law – Republic Act 12144, which expands Davao Light’s franchise area to the areas being served by NORDECO.
Recently, we also noticed that NORDECO has been aggressive with its power infrastructure in a bid to boost its services. While we welcome the improvements, it is noted that they only picked up pace on this after RA 12144 lapsed into law. It begs the question, why are they only stepping up improvements now? What have they been doing when we were suffering years of their poor services and high power rates? Are these improvements just for show considering that they are renewing their franchise? It is very easy to tell Congress that you have scaled up your infrastructure. However, NORDECO was not able to fully defend itself for its lapses when RA 12144 was being crafted.
NORDECO’s movements and refusal to honor RA 12144 shows that it is not respecting the law, and especially the desire of the people. If they are true to their motto of “Serbisyong Kinasingkasing,” then the best they could have been doing right now is honoring the heed of the people – step down and allow a more competitive power distributor to operate.