ILOILO City – The franchise ordinance that allowed water distributor South Balibago Resources, Inc. (SBRI) to operate in Jaro district must be repealed, according to councilors Joshua Alim and Plaridel Nava.
A “mistake” was how they described Regulation Ordinance No. 2016-118 that the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved in 2016.
The ordinance did not have legal basis, according to Alim and Nava, citing an opinion of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that the city government did not have the authority to grant a water and sanitation franchise.
Regulation Ordinance No. 2016-118 allowed SBRI to distribute water to waterless barangays and residential subdivisions in Jaro district.
Metro Iloilo Water District, whose own franchise covered the whole Iloilo City, challenged the ordinance in court.
Late last month, Alim and Nava introduced a resolution withdrawing both their support to Regulation Ordinance No. 2016-118 following DILG’s opinion on the SBRI franchise but colleagues junked it.
The councilors’ proposed ordinance was referred to the city council’s committee on rules chaired by Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo.
DILG issued its opinion as a reply to the query of Councilor R Leone Gerochi.
Undersecretary Austere Panadero stated (DILG Opinion No. 18) that only the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) can issue a water and sanitation franchise. He cited Presidential Decree (PD) 1076 or the Water Code of the Philippines – the law that governs ownership, appropriation, utilization, exploitation, development, conservation, and protection of water resources.
Section 4 of PD 1076 stated that the application for water permit “shall be filed directly with Board or deputized agents designated the Board…”
“Clearly, granting of water permits is within the competence of the NWRB, not in the local government units,” according to the DILG.
The participation of local governments is merely confined in the processing, posting and sending of notices of application/petition, it added.
As to the argument that the city government has the power to enact ordinances granting franchises anchored on Section 458 (a)(3) of Republic Act 7160 (Local Government Code) which states that the Sangguniang Panlungsod has the power to “enact ordinances granting franchise and authorizing the issuance of permits or licenses, upon such conditions and for such purposes intended to promote the general welfare of the inhabitants”, DILG clarified that such authority in the nature of an exercise of police power.
“…(I)t behooves to the local governments and their legislative bodies to act in conformity with the will of the State that is dictated through the legislative enactment of the Water Code of the Philippines and the Clean Water Act…,” stressed the DILG.
The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 or Republic Act 9275 is the law governing water quality management./PN
