By Gonzalo Duque

 

I am happy that almost all the barangay captains of Dagupan filed their timely objection to the application for franchise of Pamana and its proposed water rate increase lodged before the National Water Resources Board.

Atty, Jose Tamayo is right that if the NWRB grants the application, the takeover of the Dagupan Water District by Pamana becomes complete and a water rate hike in Dagupan is imminent.

Methinks the JVA was done with utmost haste, without  due diligence. My son, who was a member of the DCWD board then, abstained from voting on the matter after noting the “speed” with which the JVA was entered into. (Note that Brian Lim was already the mayor  at that time).

Mayor Brian could have stopped the agreement by refusing to give Pamana a business permit, but he didn’t. After Pamana officials paid a courtesy (or was that a “kwartasy”?) call, the business permit was granted pronto.

If only he pursued a  JVA between DCWD and Manila Water or Prime Water, it could  have been a redeeming factor for him – putting the welfare of the consumers above personal interest as expected of a public servant. He could have protected the city. But he gave that business permit knowing fully well that the terms of JVA with Pamana were grossly disadvantageous to the city’s water consumers.

Now, it is Pamana that’s calling the shots in DCWD. All billings and receipts issued to consumers now bear the name of Pamana – no mention of DCWD!  And all employees of the DCWD are now all of Pamana’s. Even the board of directors of DCWD had now been downgraded to a mere monitoring group. Talagang nawala na ang DCWD totally.

The DCWD lost its identity as a quasi-public corporation. When the partnership should have been named as ‘Dagupan City Water District-Pamana’, only the name Pamana appears in all its official transactions to date.

Councilor Tamayo said the JVA never passed the scrutiny of the Sangguniang Panlungod (SP). In fact, when SP requested for a copy of the JVA, an official of Pamana insulted the body by telling it to get its copy from the mayor’s office. To this day, the mayor’s office has not shared any copy.

The fact that the SP, was not allowed to scrutinize the JVA, it can be presumed that Mayor Brian did all the negotiations and clearly overstepped his boundaries. With its business permit disguised as joint venture, Dagupeños are deprived of their rights to life, liberty and property without due process of law as guaranteed by our constitution. Ano kaya ang nangyari?

The crafting of JVA, it was reportedly facilitated by two of the mayor’s boys who obviously benefitted from that transaction. They made sure that everything was done in complete secrecy because no public hearing was ever called.

Even if the JVA provides that Pamana can increase the rates after one year, it should have first improved the system and the quality of water that it brings to households. In many areas, the water is murky.

Hers’s the funny cover-up that Mayor Brian’s troll farm resorted to Social media was littered with fake news that it was Mayor Belen who influenced the approval of the JVA. Ha-ha-ha! Would Brian dare allow Belen, a private citizen, dip her fingers in a deal that he and his barkada were silently arranging?

So, I join the barangay captains headed by Kapitan Lino Fernandez of Lucao in opposing the granting of franchise to Pamana and its request for water rate increase. Other water consumers must also do it.

*          *          *          *

It appears the open dumpsite in Bonuan was never closed at all.

Brian Lim and his cohorts said they planned to haul the wastes to the Urdaneta sanitary landfill so a hauling contract was for the job. But the facility was eventually closed by DENR. Where could the wastes being hauled to?

There were persistent reports early on that instead of hauling out the garbage, pits were dug where tons of decaying garbage right at the dumpsite itself were buried.

If true, this is violative of environmental laws being enforced by DENR. No wonder, when Belen was jogging at Tondaligan Baywalk after winning the election, she almost vomited because of the obnoxious smell of garbage in the area. She should look into this because even judges at the justice hall are complaining about nauseating odor from the dumpsite.

Sigurado  may kumita ng malaki sa basura!

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