By Perla Lena – PNA
ILOILO CITY — A member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) here has expressed hope that her ordinance seeking the establishment of a Water Efficiency, Protection and Conservation Council, would come into fruition, citing the need for a sustainable water supply, which continues to grow in this highly urbanized city.
“I’m also asking him to issue an Executive Order (EO) for the creation of the council,” Lady Julie Grace Baronda said in an interview after their regular session on Wednesday afternoon.
Regulation Ordinance 335 was approved way back in 2016 when Mayor Jose Espinosa III was then vice mayor and presiding officer of the SP. Until now, no EO has been crafted to operationalize it.
“The council will be armed with a three-year development plan. Every three years it has to be revisited and should be incorporated with the different plans of the city through the City Planning and Development Office,” she added.
She said that with an existing council, they would know the city’s water needs.
“I’ve been very vocal about it since day one that it should be included in their plans. I checked with the planning office if they have included in their plan water efficiency, protection and distribution and supply but there was none,” she said.
The council is supposed to be composed of the mayor as the chairperson and the SP committee chair on social services and disaster as vice-chairperson. Its members will come from concerned city government offices, and representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources — Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Iloilo River Development Council, nongovernment organizations and other representatives to be determined by the council.
Baronda during the SP session on December 11, abstained when the local council approved the non-exclusive franchise to Primewater Infrastructure Corp. (Primewater) to construct, establish, commission, and maintain a water supply system.
She said the problem is with the distribution and not the supply. Also, she opined that the city government has no authority to issue a franchise.
Instead, she said she believes that the joint venture agreement between the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and the Metro Pacific would address the concern.
“This will hopefully boost the efficiency of MIWD in terms of water distribution,” she said, adding that it was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that guided the MIWD and the Metro Pacific in coming up with an agreement.
Aside from Primewater, the city government also gave a non-exclusive franchise to the Balibago Water Resources, Inc. to operate in Jaro district.
On December 12, the SP approved on first reading the application of the Manila Water Philippine Ventures, Inc. to construct, establish, commission, operate and maintain a water supply system in the city.
Committee on Rules chair, lawyer Plaridel Nava II, said he will be holding public consultation about the application next year.
“It is presumed that we have that power. We have regularity of the performance of our duty. Under the local government code, we can grant franchise and we will liberally construe that in favor of the general welfare clause,” he said
