'Give us water or give us death'

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”W. H. Auden

By Alex P. Vidal

We can live for seven days without food, but not without drinking water.

In this modern age, we can live without electricity, but not without drinking water. Food is hard to swallow and digest without water. Human evolution is impossible to attain without water.

We have been expressing fears that our endless woes with the cash-strapped Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) would develop from bad to worse.

And those fears have now become our nightmares.

MIWD continues to maintain a Punch-and-Judy relationship with its bulk water supplier, FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc., and the direct casualties are the water consumers.  

Since FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. operates as a business entity, its transaction with the MIWD is purely business.

Compassion and whatever “human” considerations won’t interfere in this conundrum.

If MIWD fails to pay its arrears on time, which has reached P5 million, FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. cuts off its water supply. We, the consumers, bellyache! As simple as that.

How long shall we suffer? If MIWD continues to renege on its obligations with the FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc., we will also continue to suffer indefinitely.

CYCLE

It has become a cycle. We have the same problem several months back, and the same problem will continue to haunt us if the situation is not remedied.

The debate on how to deal with the bungling water agency was only temporarily set aside when other pressing issues took over these past months, but MIWD’s inefficiency and inadequacy to perform its obligations to the Ilonggos remained.

The move of Iloilo City Rep. Jerry P. Trenas to introduce House Resolution No. 1363 calling for the privatization of the MIWD last August 12 won’t immediately solve the water district’s mismanagement.

While the politicians debate in the House of Representatives, the Ilonggo consumers won't have water to drink.

The threat by Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to file a case against MIWD also won’t immediately solve the water crisis.

While the lawyers prepare for the legal battle in court, there is not water in the faucets.

Gov. Arthur Defensor, the appointing official of the MIWD board, neither supports nor opposes the privatization and the filing of case against the MIWD, but he, too, is hard-pressed to ferret out any immediate solution to address the mess.

EMBARRASS

Some local officials, especially the business sector, fear embarrassment should MIWD’s skullduggery prolongs until next year when the city will host part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings here.

Never mind the APEC. These ministers will stay in the hotels anyway. With or without the APEC, we still need water. 

It’s the household consumers that badly need drinking water on a daily basis. APEC will come and go, but the Ilonggo consumers' need to have a drinking water on the table during meals, is still the most paramount.  

Ilonggo consumers are getting impatient. Unlike in the electricity, they seldom complain about their water bills, which are “cheaper”, thus they almost religiously settle their bills on time without any prejudice to the MIWD.

But they don’t get the kind of services that they deserve in return. MIWD does not reciprocate the consumers’ goodwill and show of support for the management. 

Instead, MIWD bungles on its job and takes the consumers for a ride.

Enough is enough. 

Each time water fails to come out from the faucets, we can almost hear the Ilonggo consumers scream collectively, “Give us water or give us death!”