Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Dayanghirang hits DCWD for undrinkable water
CITY Council Floor Leader Danilo Dayanghirang called on the Davao City Water District (DCWD) to improve the quality of water provided to the city's 2nd district.
He also told the water district to pay the city its share from the proceeds of development and utilization of national wealth -- in this case, water.
In his privilege speech during Tuesday's regular session, Dayanghirang said that despite DCWD's success, it had not been able to provide some barangays in the 2nd district with "drinkable water." These barangays include Lasang, Bunawan, Cabantian, Mandug and a part of Tibungco.
"Allegedly, the water that has been distributed to these areas contain yellowish material leaving undesirable residue to the filter that somehow made water undrinkable," Dayanghirang said.
He added that a family of three living in Ilang would spend an average of P250 monthly for water bills but also has to shell out another P600 monthly to pay for two gallons of water per day for food preparation and two containers of mineral water each week at P45 per container.
"This is a plain buyer and seller relationship of which a defective product is delivered. I suppose that DCWD committed breach (of contract) for failure to comply with the necessary specification of the product being delivered to the people," Dayanghirang said.
He also cited the case of Sasa where people have to wake up at dawn to gather waster supply for the entire day as there is no supply from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"I am requesting the Honorable Council to support me in this request to DCWD to stop collecting meter rental fee to those areas like Saa where service is discontinued during daytime," Dayanghirang said.
He also proposed that DCWD give at last 70 percent discount to people who received water supply from non-Dumoy water pumps.
"If they cannot give the second district the same quality of water that those in the 1st and 3rd district enjoys, then I think it is fitting that the water bills be discounted," Dayanghirang said.
Meanwhile, he also reminded DCWD to pay the city P44 million as share from the proceeds derived from the use of water. This is provided by Sections 291 and 293 of the Local Government Code.
The amount covers shares of the city from 1993-2004 as assessed by the City Treasurer's Office based on the yearly income of DCWD.
In an interview, City Treasurer Rodrigo Riola said they have sent numerous letters to DCWD reminding them to remit the city's share but it has not made any moves to do so.
Dayanghirang, meanwhile, said the body has agreed to invite DCWD to their next session to clear the issue. (GLP)
