A BULK water seller was found to have no pertinent clearance and business permit and was issued a notice of violation by the Iloilo City Planning and Development Office.
City Planning Officer Jose Roni Peñalosa issued the notice to cease operation immediately to businessman Arnold Bilbao of Barangay Hibao-an Norte in Mandurriao district.
Bilbao was found to be pumping water from three deep wells and selling this to several hospitals in the city at P20 per cubic meter without the required clearance and permit.
Bilbao could not present any document allowing him to extract water for commercial purposes when called to an inter-agency public consultation held on June 23, 2010 at the Hibao-an barangay hall.
Barangay residents led by Ma. Elena Geguilapo complained over Bilbao's unauthorized extraction, saying it drained the water from their wells and left them with nothing to use.
Aside from Peñalosa, those who attended the consultation and public hearing included city environment officer Noel Hechanova, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-City Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-Cenro) Chief Bernabe Garnace and representatives of the National Irrigation Administration and city permits and licensing division.
It was reported during the consultation that Bilbao has extracted an average of 120 cubic meters of water per day from his wells since the start of summer. His deep wells, it was also said, were for irrigating his farms but sold and delivered water to the hospitals due to the drought.
An ordinance passed by the City Council on March 2, 2994 regulates "the operation and construction of deep and shallow wells for commercial purposes" in any area of Iloilo City.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, on the other hand, said he is still pushing for the privatization of the Metro Iloilo Water district (MIWD) as a concrete Public Private Partnership (PPP). The move is in line with the city's thrust to provide sustainable solution to the water shortage here.
"Iloilo City has more or less half a million population, and MIWD only has capability to serve about 20 percent of the population or roughly about 100,000 with pipe water...," Treñas said.
Since solving the shortage will take a long time, Treñas added that commercial suppliers getting water from deep and shallow wells will have to fill the slack for now. (Lydia C. Pendon)