EIGHTEEN years ago, the United Nations came up with Type II partnerships that were developed at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.
Arising in opposition to the state-centered eco-governmentality of previous approaches to sustainable development policy, the partnerships facilitate the inclusion of private and civil actors into the management of sustainable development.
There is a general consensus among state and non-governmental actors that Type II partnerships are a significantly progressive step in global environmental governance in general and sustainable development discourse in particular.
As Andrew Carnegie put it, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
I find it surprising that Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. opposed the proposed public-private partnership (PPP) of the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa).
“The Baciwa management called it a PPP, but it’s the same thing (privatization), so I’m not in favor with the move.”
No one is talking of privatization but of partnerships.
And then we get this comment from Baciwa, Employees Union president Claudio Salmo.
A private company is profit-oriented. They have seen that if a private company runs a water utility firm, water rates will not be regulated.
I just have to grin and bear it for a little more.
Like the Lone Ranger, the bulk water project will come to the rescue by November and will give consumers water. But that was in October 2017.
And it is already October 2018. But the problem remains. Obviously, by itself, it cannot solve the problem.
I am getting tired of broken promises, of calling and visiting its customer relations who are being used as tapalan (chopping boards) with solutions nowhere in sight.
Privatization is not the answer to the problem of lack of water supply, Salmo said.
Last month, Baciwa started the deliberation on the proposed PPP of the water district.
The public utility received unsolicited proposals from three private companies such as Metropac, Prime Water, and the Manila Water.
It is about time for Baciwa to get partners who can do the job of delivering water to its consumers.
Lawyer Lorendo Dilag, chair of the board of Baciwa, clarified that the Board is considering having a joint venture by way of an unsolicited proposal and not privatization as local media reported.
Good. About time. (bqsanc@yahoomail.com)