| September’s Water War
By Germelina A. Lacorte
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY -- Groups up in arms against the proposed 30 percent water rate hike were able to breathe easy at least for a while, as the courts issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the first day of September, the day before the increase was supposed to take effect.
Executive Judge Renato Fuentes, who issued the TRO, said the councilors' petition to stop the firm from finally putting into motion the water-rate hike was urgent. Later, the court extended the TRO to another 17 days, as consumers, business and even militant groups either took to the streets or expressed opposition to the increase.
One of the councilors, Peter Laviña, questioned the authority of the Local Water Utility Administration (LWUA), the body that approved the 30 percent increase, saying that it's the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) that is tasked to do that.
Early in the year, the DCWD had proposed a 60 percent increase but LWUA only approved 30 per cent.
Bayan Muna, the partylist group, urged Duterte to revamp the DCWD board because of its "callousness to the plight of the poor." The group cited Section 3 of Paragraph A of Presidential Decree 198 governing water districts in the country, which empowers mayors to review and revamp the DCWD board.
As the water row raged on, the irate councilors fished out some pieces of DCWD's allegedly anomalous transactions in the past. In 2002 and 2003, the Commission on Audit discovered that the water utility board had been given financial privileges that were not only "illegal and irregular" but were also "extravagant and excessive," and which violated existing laws.
On May 31, 2002, for instance, COA discovered 1.8 million peso worth of unliquidated cash advances and 1.1 million pesos worth of processed vouchers without supporting documents, the Daily Mirror reported. Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, one of those strongly opposing the hike, showed documents showing how DCWD paid 43 million pesos in consultants' fee alone.
After all the heated arguments and debates, the issue against the water rate hike eventually died a natural death as some other stories grabbed the headlines.
Hardly a word came out about it in the papers on the actual day it finally took effect.
The consumers’ attention had been diverted by other pressing needs: the unabated increase in the prices of imported crude and its effect on the prices of commodities. A Sept. 15 nationwide transport strike claimed to have paralyzed 97 percent of the transportation here. The trade department monitored visible increases in the prices of prime commodities in the market. On Sept. 15, minimum fare in Davao city was raised to 7
pesos, with an additional 1.25 pesos for every succeeding kilometer.
Meanwhile, groups of students marched the streets to assail the Department of Education (DepEd) order banning teachers and students from joining rallies during class hours. (Germelina A. Lacorte/davaotoday.com)
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