Sanchez: Just a year

MAKE that just a New Year. Or just a year.

Frankly I cannot bring myself to say a Happy New Year. Perhaps a Sad Old Year this 2020.

For the past weeks, our home has been deprived of tap water for twelve hours. Twelve or 14 hours that Baciwa has been turning off water into Alijis, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

What is there to be happy about such a situation? Nothing new. This has been going in 2018.

“I’m not against privatization per se,” stressed by Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia after the signature drive opposing the privatization of the BCIWA exceeded 15,000 signatures from consumers to stop the proposed joint venture of the water district.

I was asked to sign the petition. I didn’t. Each time, I drop by the Baciwa office to pay my monthly bills, I often hear its union leaders harangue its Board on the privatization issue.

Why should I? Did the union assure us of water by Christmas? New Year? When?

Leny Espina, president of Baciwa Employee’s Union, said they are opposing the proposed joint venture or privatization because this is not good for the people of Bacolod that the private company will handle the water district. Why is it bad, pray tell?

There was a time in November or October 2019 when finally we had a 24/7 flow of water. I wanted to bring out the champagne but decided not too. I might be getting ahead of myself. That Baciwa will revert back to its old self.

True enough. By December, like a regular employee, we had no water from 8:00 AM to 5:00 p.m. But probably because it was a season of goodwill, no one took it in stride in Alijis that we are losing water again.

“We will wait if there will be more proponents on the privatization of Baciwa, but we will continue our opposition to privatize the water district,” Ms Espina added.

While waiting for my turn at the payment counter, I listened to the daily harangues. As usual, as in nothing new, the speaker, they talked about their opposition to privatization. But nothing about making providing consumers with water under the present set-up on a 24/7 arrangement.

So it’s now the year 2020. In optometry, a 20/20 vision is used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 6.09 meters.

It’s quite clear. As Metro-Manilans often quip, “kung gusto, may paraan. Kung ayaw, may dahilan.” With Baciwa, not the Board, not the trade union, no dahilan (or balibad), as we say here in Bacolod.

Unhappy New Year.