Consumer groups are seeking an end to the joint venture agreement (JVA) between the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. as the majority of the consumers in this highly-urbanized city continue to experience poor service and low water quality.
In a petition addressed to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. yesterday, Water Watch Advocates, represented by its convenor Wennie Sancho, called for the revocation of the JVA as it “has resulted in substandard water quality, particularly turbid water, affecting the health and well-being of consumers.”
“We respectfully pray that the JVA between Baciwa and PrimeWater be revoked. A thorough investigation be conducted into the water quality issues and other concerns and alternative arrangements be explored to ensure access to safe, potable, and affordable water for Bacolod City consumers,” the petition read.
Water Watch also cited the lack of ratification, wherein the contract was not submitted for ratification by the consumers, violating their right to participate in the decision-making process.
It also mentioned the City Council’s refusal to hold a public hearing on the issues surrounding the deal which denied consumers their right to be heard and participate in the oversight process.
Sancho said the petition serves as an initial submission as they intend to gather signatures from fellow consumers for support.
Meanwhile, Amlig Tubig, an alliance of concerned water consumers based at the Diocese of Bacolod Social Action Center, said that the “decline in service has become a pattern in every water district that signed a JVA with PrimeWater.”
“It includes Baciwa, which has endured deteriorating water service for Bacolod residents for nearly five years,” it said in a statement.
Amlig Tubig, together with the Baciwa Employees Union-National Federation of Labor Unions, urged other water districts and their respective local governments that have signed JVAs with private corporations to reconsider their agreements.
“They must be emboldened to pursue termination and restore public management of water services,” it said.
The clamor for the revocation of the Baciwa-PrimeWater JVA comes amid the investigation launched by the Local Water Utilities Administration into the water utility firm’s 73 JVAs with local water districts across the country, as ordered by President Marcos last week.
In November 2020, the Villar Group’s water utility firm took over the operations of Baciwa, with an investment pledge of P1.6 billion to improve the city’s water supply system during the first five years of its 25-year JVA with the local water district.
As of March 24, the city’s water availability map showed only 47.45 percent of Bacolod has a 24-hour water supply, while the average number of hours when water is available in the city is 19.11 hours. (PNA)