IM FIT to be tied with Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa). Instead of improving its services with the bulk water project, we in Alijis got nothing but hot air.
The reason why Alijisnons have no water? No one really knows in the water utility. Customer Service pointed me to its Engineering Department. I called it up. No, Virginia. There was no dial tone.
It’s the season of Lent, I suppose. Holy Week is coming up. Some people with accountability want to wash their hands, as Pontius Pilate did on Good Friday.
The same with Baciwa. No one is claiming responsibility why Alijis is waterless. Their refusal to coherently explain could only mean their engineers are washing their hands of any accountability.
Look at Baciwa’s water advisory dated March 16, 2018. It says that “The Bacolod City Water District regrets to inform the consuming public that no water supply, and turbid water will be experienced in some portions of the service area, due to intermittent power supply.”
Then it listed affected areas. 4 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 17, 2018: Espinos, Mansilingan, Vista Alegre Road, Alijis, Taculing, UNO-R Ville, Bakyas, Bangga Alit, Rosario Heights, Araneta St., Pagla-um Village, Green Acres, Bacolod Homes Royale, Mt. Carmel, Circumferential South Road, Woodside, Providencia Mabini, Sta. Lucia, Singcang, and Downtown area.
And yet, the whole week, we got tap water from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. A mere seven hours at a time when Alijisnons are already fast asleep!
Customer Service even has the temerity to say that our water bills show that there was water usage. Duh! True, we have to fill our pails at midnight to the wee hours. Often these results in water wastage while we slept.
And get this. Customer Service gave me a wonderful engineering “solution”: buy pails to address the water shortage.
My retort, “Baciwa doesn’t need its engineers for that. You need only to pass the elementary grades to propose that solution.” Heck, you don’t need any education at all!
Are Bacoleños paying their engineers an arm and a leg for that kind of solution? Pu-leeze!
In June 2017, labor leader Wennie Sancho brought to the attention of John Chiong, the Task Force Kasanag national chair, this issue. He promised to relay this problem to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Sancho’s request cited the water district’s P537-million loan from the Local Watert Utilities Administration in 2002 which was exposed by incumbent board chair Lorendo Dilag.
So what happened? Baciwa not been reprimanded, it seems. There are no public explanation. Is this public utility an untouchable?
(anc@yahoo.com)