BACOLOD City – Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. asked President Rodrigo Duterte to look into the alleged illegal termination of 60 Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) employees.
These Baciwa employees were declared redundant after Baciwa entered into a joint venture agreement with PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp.
The employees were barred from entering the compound on Jan. 4.
Gamboa cited Republic Act 6656 (“An Act to Protect the Security of Tenure of Civil Service Officers and Employees in the Implementation of Government Reorganization”). Section 2 of the law provides that “no officer or employee in the career service shall be removed except for a valid cause and after due notice and hearing.”
For their part, councilors Dindo Ramos and Archie Baribar authored a resolution asking the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to fast track the petition of the terminated employees for the claim of illegal termination.
In its Dec. 23, 2020 Resolution No. 172, the Baciwa board of directors declared the employees and their respective posts “redundant” following a reorganization that stemmed from Baciwa’s joint venture agreement with PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp.
Such declaration abolished positions deemed no longer needed.
Baciwa board chairman Lorendo Dilag earlier said the employees would receive appropriate separation benefits as government workers under existing laws.
Dilag, together with directors Lawrence Villanueva, Mona Dia Jardin, and Rebecca Filasol, and acting general manager Michael Soliva, explained the stand of the board and the management after the employees were refused entry to the Baciwa compound on Monday.
Director Mona Dia Jardin, board secretary, said after the joint venture took effect on Nov. 13, 2020 when PrimeWater took over the operations and management of the water district, Baciwa only had to retain employees tasked to monitor the private firm’s compliance with the agreement.
She said Baciwa reduced its personnel from about 500 to only 23 for monitoring purposes. Other employees were absorbed by PrimeWater while others opted for early retirement.
The 60 employees, whose functions fell under operations and management, had been given the option to either re-apply with PrimeWater or avail themselves of the early retirement incentive program, but they refused to choose between the two, as they preferred to remain as Baciwa employees.
Dilag said the board has a legal basis in declaring the employees and their positions redundant.
“The action of the Board of Directors is legal. It is supported by the opinions of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC). It was made after giving the employees several notices for their explanation, but sad to say, no explanation was ever submitted,” he added./PN