Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Editorial: P100-million loan and transparency
THE concern that has long been spawning rumors for some time now, this P100 million loan that the Davao City Water District (DCWD) wants to avail of, will finally be discussed in a hearing today.
Hopefully, after today, the rumor mill will stop churning out stories--including one about a French water company a few years back--and facts will be laid out to be properly appreciated, critiqued, and understood. This may lead to debates, accusations, and arguments, but it can also lead to rational discussions.
The rumors, the fears, the misinformation being fed to the public feeds on lack of information, and the DCWD management cannot expect the public to get the information they demand if the water utility is run like a private enterprise where sensitive issues are kept from the public's eye.
This may be difficult especially for a board who are respected business leaders from the private sector, but that is what governance is all about: transparency. And it pays to remember that DCWD is a quasi-government agency.
Without the proper information, complete with the monetary details, people can always smell corruption, shenanigans, and kickbacks. The way DCWD has been hedging the issues, like preferring to discuss the issue in an executive-legislative session behind closed doors, doesn't help any.
It may be troublesome to discuss money matters with a public who may not have a good grasp of how the business of generating water and distributing this to a city as large as Davao, but that trouble is a necessary part of running this water facility.
The information on how potable water is distributed by a government-owned corporation to its consumers is vital. Just as vital is information on how water is being generated and how this will be generated in the future.
After all, water is a very important need. We cannot blame people if they are easily stirred up by any information, whether right or wrong, regarding their water source and its sustainability. It should also understand that only they have the "right" information regarding their operations.
The DCWD should know very well that murky waters are always of suspicious origins and that the public demands no less than sparkling clean water from them. Like clean drinking water, transparent operations should not be denied the public.
