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Baguio City Council, Baguio Water District clash over Bulk Water Supply Project

Parties invoke constitution, laws

BAGUIO CITY (Sept. 12) — At the height of the city council-initiated public hearings on the bulk water supply project (BWSP) between the Baguio Water District (BWD) and the Benguet Corporation (BC), the chair of the BWD Board of Directors (BOD) said the water utility does not need the council’s endorsement for it to consummate the water contract. This elicited some adverse reactions from many sectors present in the third public hearing, including both Councilors Rocky Thomas A. Balisong and Leandro B. Yangot, Jr.

Balisong, the chair of the city council’s committee on public utilities, transportation and traffic regulations, disagreed with BOD chair Atty. Antonio Espiritu, who said that a Marcos decree provides that water utilities are autonomous and must exercise its independence to avoid red tape.

Espiritu invoked Presidential Decree 198, which created public utilities such as the BWD, saying Marcos decreed that public utilities are autonomous. However, Espiritu was quick to say that a city council endorsement is most welcome for the BWSP.

In separate interviews, both Balisong and Yangot cited the General Welfare clause or Section 16 of the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, which provides that every local government unit shall exercise powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental of its efficient and effective governance, and those essential to the promotion of the general welfare.

The people of Itogon also claimed they were not consulted and there remains no local government endorsement for the project as provider by Section 2, Paragraph B, Section 26 and 27 of the LGC or Republic Act 7160.

Ms. Jeannette Ribaya, of COURAGE (Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees) said, “Di pwedeng isantabi ang concerns ng mga mamamayan,” (The council could not just brush aside the people’s concerns). She said it is ironic that BWD took the stance of BC, making clear to the public whose interests BWD seemed to be serving. Ribaya told the public hearing that the BWSP spells privatization of the water utility and this, she said would threaten the job security of many government employees at BWD.

Tongtongan ti Umili secretary-general and spokesperson of Metro-Baguio PRO-CONSUMERS Chie Galvez, said her group urges the city council to take a stand, despite Espiritu’s assertion.

“Dapat tayuan ng city council ang mga issues na ihinapag ng mamamayan ng Baguio sa mga public hearings,” (The council should stand by the issues raised by its residents in the public hearings) Galvez told Nordis in an interview.

Earlier, the Baguio consumers invoked the LGC and asked the council to take the stand of the people. Galvez said, this prompted the local government unit to conduct its own investigation on the issues raised against the BWSP.

Even Baguio Mayor Braulio D. Yaranon earlier said that the issues are substantial that the lawmakers and city officials should not take these for granted.

In her privilege speech in April this year, Councilor Pinky Rondez said the right to access clean water is a universal human right. Thus, she said it is inevitable that the city council take a position on the BWSP.

“The council will exercise every possible effort to address the issues,” Balisong said, adding that if it would mean a legal battle on the issue of endorsement, the council would not just take it sitting down.

Among the issues raised by the Baguio’s urban poor are the projected exorbitant water price, privatization of public utilities, monopoly of water resources and the inefficiency of BWD to manage the water crisis. ORNUS (Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad) in a statement computed the water bill of an ordinary household to increase four-folds once the BWSP contract is granted to BC. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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