DAVAO City Water District (DCWD) said they are currently addressing issues on the water quality in Indangan area following complaints on unidentified objects that have been observed coming out from the faucet of 37 households.
The issue prompted Davao City Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang to propose a resolution recalling the franchise issued to DCWD to give other investors the chance to provide water service in the city during this week’s city council session.
However, DCWD Human Resource Department head and spokesperson Bernardo Delima Jr. explained on the sidelines of the Habi at Kape media forum on Wednesday, August 28, that DCWD has no legislative franchise as it is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) created under Presidential Decree 198 and it is the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) that gave them the certificate of conformance to operate in the city.
“We do not need to have legislative franchise. We have secondary franchise issued by LWUA in 1973. We will leave his [Dayanghirang] statement as it is. We will just proceed with our work. If other entity wishes to enter and compete with us, we will just face it as it comes. It is premature to say something about it,” he said in a text message yesterday.
He added that the water business in the Philippines is open to all investors or water providers and DCWD could have as many competitors.
Delima said they understand the sentiments of Dayanghirang but it is not enough reason to question their services as the incident was only a small portion compared to their water service coverage.
“Actually, the cause of his, let’s say, anger is the incident in Indangan area but we already went there and managed to identify the household,” he said in the vernacular, adding that the 37 households identified is not even “0.01 percent of their coverage,” he said.
Delima added that DCWD currently has 221,000 service connections serving the 112 barangays in the city.
“For me, that is a small area and now we are addressing it. We are not leaving it in blank stare. We are helping that area to improve the water supply. If that would be his only reason, I think that it is not enough,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delima said DCWD is even doing a regular flushing operation in their distribution line in aim to flush out sediments and mineral deposits to improve water quality they serve.
“Just imagine the cost of doing that. It is water being used without revenues because it will just end up in canals. Currently we are rehabilitating the water source in Cabantian water well. Hopefully, the issues will also be addressed there,” he said.