LET me greet SunStar Bacolod a Happy New Year. Or let me just greet everyone a New Year. I just can’t bring myself to include Happy in the greeting.
In 2017, Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) promised me that by November 2017, the lack of water will be a thing of the past in our barangay.
So I waited. Waited. And waited.
Guess what? Nothing. As in nothing!
And now we’re in 2019. Nothing’s new. Water starts to flow in our faucet between 12 midnight to 2 a.m. and stops between 6 to 7 a.m.
Wait. I apologize. In 2017, water comes between 9 to 10 p.m. Water distribution has changed but it did not improve (but for the worse).
In 2016, the incumbent Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the Baciwa needs to improve their services. He noted that the water utility is about 43 years old, but at that time, they are serving only 53 percent of the people of Bacolod.
“So there is something wrong with Baciwa. They should serve the remaining 47 percent of the people of Bacolod who still have no water supply.”
That same year, Leonardia appointed his allies to the Baciwa Board. “Atty. Lorendo Dilag carries with him his wealth of experience in dealing with public interest. Aside from being a credible lawyer, he is the kind who has his ears on the ground and could easily respond to the needs and demands of our community.”
Didn’t Dilag promise that he will “continue to work toward the fulfillment of Baciwa’s vision of delivering potable water to Bacolod residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week?”
Did he tried to put his ears on the ground in Alijis and Taculing?
I haven’t seen him around.
Then there’s Mona Dia Jardin, whom Leonardia vouched in 2016 for her “professional knowledge of her competence, dedication to duty, and sincerity to public service.”
That year during her appointment, Jardin promised she will study the Baciwa operations and get acquainted with the functions of the Board. She was put in the water utility’s board as an... on-the-job trainee?
But I’ll bite. Has Jardin learned how to provide Alijisnons with water 24/7 from their faucets?
This coming local elections might turnout to be a pivotal year. So far, I heard from a candidate that water will be an election issue. It seems the incumbent is basking on this laurels in his awards.
But he said, the awards provide “some kind of moral pressure that we have to live up with the expectation of our people.”
Let’s go for water pressure so that they will give us 24/7 water service.
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)