• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
An ordinance requiring standby generators for water pumping stations, was approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on third and final reading Wednesday.
Only Councilor Wilson Gamboa manifested his abstention, due to several reasons.
Authored by Councilor Caesar Distrito, the ordinance mandating all water distributors, concessionaires, and suppliers including BACIWA-PrimeWater operating in the city to install standby power generators in their wells and pumping stations to ensure uninterrupted water supply during power outages.
Among the reasons cited by Gamboa for his abstention is that other essential service providers like telecommunication companies should also be required to install standby power generators to avoid disruptions during brown out. Secondly, this requirement is already provided in the joint venture agreement (JVA) of BACIWA-PrimeWater. As an essential commodity, once there is interruption in water supply, the water utility firm should be penalized without the need of an ordinance because general welfare so requires.
Gamboa said “It does not follow that if there is a power generator, we can already have sufficient supply of water. We are not penalizing the unavailability of a power generator, but the supply of water that comes out of the faucets if it is dirty, murky, and contaminated.”
The requirement of power generators will only provide an excuse in the advent that these water concessionaires cannot provide sufficient potable water 24/7. After all, based on the ordinance, the water utility firm will only pay a minimal penalty of P45,000, he said adding that “The argument is that we are not a party to the contract. Therefore, by this ordinance, the simple request for a power generator would already free them from the rest of their other violations based on the JVA.
“Based on the contract, we are gradually shying away from deep wells because it is not environmentally friendly. Our thrust now is for surface or spring water. Promoting deep wells runs counter to the general thrust of our water district to draw our water supply from spring and surface water,” Gamboa added.*
