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Yaranon urges BWD to reject BWSP anew

BAGUIO CITY (June 30) — Mayor Braulio Yaranon urged anew the Baguio Water District (BWD) board of directors to summarily junk the Bulk Water Supply Project (BWSP) to protect the interest of residents not only of the city but also of other towns in the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba (BLIST) area.

“The city government of Baguio along with the BLIST towns reiterate our resolute position that the BWD Board should disapprove, not merely defer the issuance of the notice of award of the project to the qualified bidder”, the mayor said in a letter to BWD.

The mayor opposed the project on the basis that first, there was no prior consent obtained from the barangays, towns and province concerned; the potability of the water to be supplied remains questionable; and that the project will lead to the unconscionable increase in the cost of water by 145%, which the mayor calculated to be P75 per cubic meter from the present rate of P22 to P24 per cubic meter.

Yaranon reiterated these in the State of the City Address on July 1 at the Rosebowl Restaurant.

“The agency has the right to reject any or all projects in the name of public interest and for these reasons, the BWD should deny or disapprove the project,” the mayor said in his weekly Usapang Panlungsod media briefing.

The Benguet Corporation (BC) won the bidding for the project. It plans to draw water for the project from its mining site in Itogon, Benguet, giving rise to objections from the host town which fanned the city’s own opposition to the project.

Itogon town officials led by Mayor Mario Godio and Vice Mayor Noel Ngolob in a resolution refused to endorse the project, saying it goes against BC’s Bulk Water Supply Itogon-First-Priority commitment to the town.

Earlier, residents of various sitios in Brgy. Dalupirip in the same town also expressed their vehement opposition to the project where they aired concern against tapping their water sources without prior consultation with the residents.

The mayor’s stand was boosted by the agreement he recently made with heads of the towns in the BLIST area for the protection of the water resources.

The mayor said that the BLIST executives, including Benguet Gov. Borromeo Melchor agreed in principle that no local government unit can draw water from other LGUs without prior consent from the concerned locality.

Meanwhile, City Councilor Rocky Thomas Balisong said he is in favor of the BWSP if the water source will come from other towns, other than Itogon, where the source is allegedly contaminated.

“We really need water,” the councilor said. # Aileen P. Rufuerzo/PIO

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