The town mayor of a remote town in the south may as well be inscribed in the Guinness Book of World Records as he is reportedly paying for the electricity bills of his 35,000 townmates.
This was learned from the Mayor himself, Hadar M. Hajiri (Al-hajj) of Lugos town, Sulu in an impromptu interview with this writer Wednesday night inside Solaire Resort Hotel and Casino in Pasay City.
Mayor Hajiri has sought the help of this writer to look for funders who want to invest in LNG in his resource-rich province that has huge deposits of gas and other minerals.
A full-blooded Muslim who is now on his third and last term as mayor of Lugos, Hajiri said that he has asked nothing in return (for providing free electricity) from his constituents but purely “for humanitarian reason.” The money he was spending for the electricity needs of his townmates come from his own personal pocket.
This is the first time perhaps we’ve heard that a town mayor of an impoverished town was shouldering all the electricity bill of his whole constituents in his bid to help them alleviate their poor condition.
Hajiri was a former top Moro Islamic Liberation Front member who had also served as officer of the Philippine National Police.
Asked how he could recover his expenses for his constituents, Hajiri said that he bought from his personal money five generator sets (Genset) which is supplying more than enough the electricity needs of his townmates.
“I am just spending from my own personal pocket for the daily consumption of diesel of these Genset that supplies enough electricity for the whole town of Lugos for the last 13 years,” pointed out the 67 years old mayor.
When asked why he does not want to charge the electricity bill from the municipality, Hajiri said that their town lacks resources, saying “ I can somehow afford to shoulder it since I am also a businessman who runs and manages a fleet of ships and barges; I am earning here on my business. That is why I decided to share my income to my poor constituents who are mostly dependent on fishing.”
His fleet of ships and barges are hauling diesel being supplied to National Power Corporation along the island provinces of Basilan, Sulo and Tawi-Tawi.