Opinion

Sanchez: Unable to move on

Benedicto Sanchez

I THOUGHT I can move on. Water has been miraculously flowing from our tap in Alijis. Certainly not yet 24/7 as it should be. Still, I count my blessings.

Last weekend, water was gushing from 1 a.m. to roughly 6 p.m. (15 hours). Not something to crow about when you are in other parts of Bacolod.

But in this neck of the woods, that signals bringing out the champagne bottle if it was not so darn expensive.

Just goes to prove that if Baciwa puts its mind to deliver its mandate “to provide our stakeholders with quality and reliable water and wastewater services through effective and efficient stewardship of resources that (it) manage.”

It turned out to be too early to be jumping for joy. Now we are back to the new normal at the water utility. TUBIG!

These past days, the faucets are as dry as El Niño. What are the non-engineers of the Baciwa board doing to address these issues? What is the non-engineer general manager solving our lack of water?

They are being paid taxpayers’ money. Yet as the fast food companies say, Baciwa consumers are not getting value for their money in this part of the City of Smile—or Smirk.

How can we solve a problem like Baciwa?

Well, here is one. Hire more technical people especially at the board and management level with expertise in water management.

As Albert Einstein quipped, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Do not expect engineers to be familiar with the legal issues in a court. It is their comfort zone. Get a lawyer to do that.

In the same vein, don’t expect lawyers and politicians with no technical background to solve the lack of water. A politician who does that is obviously courting problems with his voting constituency deprived of water on a daily basis.

(bqsanc@yahoo.com)

THREAT. According to a Capitol consultant, the Cebu City Government is threatening to shut down the Cebu North Bus Terminal at the back of SM City Cebu (left) and the Cebu South Bus Terminal along N. Bacalso Ave. for operating without a business permit. The Province, which runs both terminals, maintains that it operates the facilities as a public service for passengers going to the province and vice versa. /

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