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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Solon to consult MCWD workers first before refiling water bill
Only after consultations with employees of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) employees will the proposal to create the Cebu Water Resource Management Authority be revived next year, a Cebua-no legislator assured.
If only to assure Cebua-nos that he has no hidden agenda, Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) said he will even let the MCWD employees themselves decide on some provisions of his bill.
Objections from the MCWD employees and people’s organizations prodded del Mar to defer pursuing the approval of the bill.
Next year, however, del Mar said he will refile the bill only after consultations are held.
He said the authority, proposed under House Bill 6126, will not seek the privatization of MCWD.
“The main objection that we came across was from the MCWD union so as a way of reassuring them, I will sit down with them so we can craft another version together before I refile the bill,” he told Sun.Star.
He added that he plans to meet with the MCWD union by the end of January.
Workers’ fears
When he filed the bill during the 12th Congress, del Mar said the MCWD union members feared he was out to privatize the water supply system in Cebu.
“I assure everybody that privatization was never thought of at all. The main objective is only to protect our water sources and identify additional sources so the existing ones will stay clean and there will be a steady supply,” he added.
Del Mar is confident something positive will come out of his consultations with the MCWD employees “since we all share the same concern to protect the watersheds and see to it that the aquifers are not damaged.”
The authority, he said, needs to be established especially with the depleting water supply and water intrusion in Cebu City’s midtown and downtown areas.
Representatives
If the bill is approved, the body it seeks to create will comprise the representatives of different local government units in Cebu, government agencies, private sector and people’s organizations.
It will be governed by a board of directors that will be headed by the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Del Mar clarified that the Metro Cebu Water Management Authority, if created, will be separate and distinct from the MCWD board, although both will be complementary to each other. (LCR)
(December 28, 2004 issue)
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