Section 5Sec./Art. 5

Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 269, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4. Powers, Functions and Privileges of the National Electrification Administration. To strengthen the electric cooperatives, help them become economically viable and prepare them for the implementation of retail competition and open access pursuant to Section 31 of the EPIRA, the NEA is authorized and empowered to:

"(a) have a continuous succession under its corporate name until otherwise provided by law;

"(b) adopt and use a seal and alter it at its pleasure;

"(c) sue and be sued in any court: Provided, That the NEA shall, unless it consents otherwise, be immune to suits for acts ex delicti;

"(d) make contracts of every name and nature and execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business;

"(e) supervise the management and operations of all electric cooperatives;

"(f) exercise step-in rights as herein defined;

"(g) provide institutional, financial and technical assistance to electric cooperatives upon request of the electric cooperatives;

"(h) pursue the total electrification of the country through the electric cooperatives by way of enhancing distribution development and, in case of missionary areas, shall be done in coordination with the National Power Corporation Small Power Utilities Group (NPC-SPUG) which shall be responsible for the generation and transmission requirements, as necessary;

"(i) devote all returns from its capital investments to attain the objectives of this Act;

"(j) ensure the economic and financial viability and operation of all electric cooperatives;

"(k) restructure ailing electric cooperatives with the end in view of making them economically and financially viable;

"(l) develop, set and enforce institutional and governance standards for the efficient operation of electric cooperatives such as, but not limited to, the observance of appropriate procurement procedure, including transparent and competitive bidding. Such standards shall he enforced through a mechanism of incentives and disincentives to complying and non-complying electric cooperatives, respectively;

"(m) formulate and impose administrative sanctions and penalties and when warranted, file criminal cases against those who are found in violation of any of the provisions of this Act and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR);

"(n) serve as guarantor to qualified electric cooperatives in their transactions with various parties such as, but not limited to, co-signing in power supply contracts;

"(o) grant loans to electric cooperatives, for the construction or acquisition, operation and maintenance of subtransmission and distribution facilities and all related properties, equipment, machinery, fixtures, and materials for the purpose of supplying area coverage service, and thereafter to grant loans for the restoration, improvement or enlargement of such facilities or for such other purposes as may be deemed necessary;

"(p) subject to the prior approval and/or opinion of the Monetary Board, borrow funds from any source, private or government, foreign or domestic, and secure the lenders thereof by pledging, sharing or subordinating one or more of the NEAs own loan securities;

"(q) exercise primary and exclusive jurisdiction in the adjudication of complaints against electric cooperative officers, election disputes and all matters relating to the effective implementation of the provisions of this Act;

"(r) as a quasi-judicial agency, deputize local law enforcement agencies to enforce or implement its orders or decisions, with the power to cite for contempt any party or witness to any case before it for contumacious conduct; and

"(s) exercise such powers and do such things as may be necessary to carry out the business and purposes for which the NEA was established, or which from time to time may be declared by the Board of Administrators as necessary, useful, incidental or auxiliary to accomplish such purposes.

"For this purpose, the authorized capital stock of the NEA is hereby increased to Twenty-five billion pesos (P25,000,000,000.00) divided into two hundred fifty million (250,000,000) shares with a par value of One hundred pesos (P100.00)."