QC cops borrow electricity from jail, to ask for Meralco’s ‘kindness’

After having power cut off to one of its stations over a multimillion-peso electric bill, Quezon City police appealed to the city government and to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) Friday for help to get their electricity supply back. Radio dzBB's Manny Vargas reported the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 10 remained without power Friday but used a temporary power connection with the nearby Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to power up its lobby lights. Meralco cut off power supply to the QCPD Station 10 Wednesday afternoon over unpaid bills dating back 2005. [See: Unpaid P44-M electricity bill leaves QC police station in darkness] While initial reports indicated the debt amounted to P44 million, QCPD station head, Superintendent Victor Arevalo, clarified Friday that the bill was "only" P5 million. For his part, Quezon City police head Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele said he will write Meralco for "consideration," saying their police work had been badly affected. "We will write a formal letter to Meralco to give us consideration. While it is true na kami [ay] kasama sa ordinary consumers, iba ang serbisyong binibigay namin sa tao (We will write a formal letter to Meralco to give us consideration. While we are among ordinary power consumers, we also give services to the public 24 hours a day)," Mantele said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said he will promise Meralco they will adopt measures on energy conservation to prevent racking up such a big bill in the future. Also, Mantele said they are asking the help of local government executives in Quezon City to help settle the police station's obligations. But Mantele also lamented that while the police station provides 24-hour service, Meralco has classified it a commercial, and sometimes even residential user. "We need services of SOCO ... hindi mako-complete ang processing without SOCO (We need the services of our Scene of the Crime Operations team. We cannot complete processing of criminal cases without it)," he said. Mantele said he is "very positive" Meralco will accommodate the city police's request. On the other hand, he "reminded" Meralco that city police would provide security to Meralco teams cutting jumpers or illegal power connections. "I do not treat this negatively, I treat this positively, kaibigan natin ang Meralco (Meralco is our friend)," he said. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV