The plight of the employees of Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) under the public private partnership (PPP) joint venture with PrimeWater is being taken cared of, according to Board Chairman, Atty. Lorendo Dilag. It is the board’s primordial concern that their salaries, benefits and allowances are in place.

Based on the PPP Governing Board, all retiring permanent employees hired before December 31, 1999 can avail of the BACIWA Retirement’s Incentive equivalent to 150% of the monthly basic salary multiplied by their length of service in years to be paid by BACIWA. The BACIWA benefit is on top of the Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) from PrimeWater. The retirement incentive including other benefits enjoyed prior to December 31, 1999 are not allowed/authorized by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to employees hired from year 2000 to the present.

In addition, for employees hired from January 1, 2000 up to the present and absorbed by PrimeWater, all benefits and allowances received by those hired before December 31, 1999 will be added to their basic pay and special allowances like the following:

1. Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) – one month basic pay instead of 35% maximum (at present, BACIWA has not met the parameters to qualify for the grant of PBB)
2. Financial Assistance of 1.5 x monthly basic pay
3. Grocery Allowance of Php20,000 per year
4. Rice Allowance of Php2,000 per month

For all employees absorbed by PrimeWater, a retirement benefit is equivalent to one month basic salary at the time of retirement multiplied by length of service including length of service rendered in BACIWA (casual + regular years only).

At the end of the joint venture contract, separated employees of PrimeWater shall be rehired by BACIWA in accordance with the prevailing organizational structure, qualification standards and compensation set by the appropriate government agencies at the time of turnover. This is guaranteed based on PPP Governing Board resolution in line with the guidelines set forth by the existing laws on public private partnership./WDJ