BY MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – A city councilor here urged the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to investigate the P537-million loan of the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa).
Only a little more than half of the amount had been used for actual civil works projects, said Councilor Wilson Gamboa, president of the Bacolod Water Consumers Watch, Inc. (Water Watch).
Gamboa alleged that members of the Baciwa Board of Directors used about 25 to 35 percent of the amount, which is anomalous.
The loan was approved in 1998 and was used from 2001 to 2006, he claimed.
It was part of the 20th Yen Credit Package that the Philippine government obtained from Japan’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (now the Japan Bank for International Cooperation).
LWUA is mandated by law to promote and oversee the development of water supply systems in provincial cities and municipalities, Gamboa pointed out.
He also asked LWUA to intervene in the power play at Baciwa.
The Board of Directors suspended General Manager Juliana Carbon over alleged violations, but the latter defied it by staying in her office.
Gamboa believes that LWUA — tasked to develop water utilities through financial, technical, institutional, and regulatory assistance — can rule on the issue.
If not resolved immediately, the dispute at Baciwa may hamper the services of the water district, the councilor warned.
Water Watch will not “intrude in the internal bickering” among Baciwa’s general manager, the Board of Directors, the management, and the employees, Gamboa said.
Water Watch is concerned only about long-term water sufficiency, water security and reasonable water rates, and the rejection of unfair and arbitrary rules and policies that could disrupt these, he said./PN
