Ilonggos not ashamed to host APEC without water

“Water is the driving force of all nature.”

Leonardo da Vinci

By Alex P. Vidal

Ilonggos have nothing to be shamed of even if people from other cities and provinces in the country will talk about their problems in water supply months before the biggest gathering of economic gurus and financial ministers in the Asia Pacific.

We hope that Iloilo city officials finally stop pejorating the water shortage issue by equating it with the city’s hosting of parts of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings next year.

Our woes with the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) are purely domestic and can never dent our capability to host this international event.

The issue whether we are qualified to host is already water under the bridge.

Inspection teams have done checking the facilities of the venues, among other key areas here, and have given us the green signal to unfurl the red carpet for the biggest gathering of heads of state in Asia Pacific.

ALL SET

Everything has been set except the arrivals of delegates and foreign journalists, and the formal ceremonies that will unveil the APEC conclave in 2015.

Foremost in all the concerns of the inspection teams was security and peace and order, not whether the Ilonggos have sufficient water supply.

Power supply, of course, was also an important factor, but we are confident this issue has already been addressed sufficiently in the higher level. 

MIWD provides services primarily to the Ilonggo households.

Its main clients are the Ilonggo consumers, not the visiting ministers and other foreign dignitaries who will be staying only for a couple of days.

MIWD’s tiff with bulk water supplier, FLO Water Resources, Inc., was already at fever-pitch long before Iloilo City vied for the hosting of the APEC.

The rift won’t be over and might recur from time to time even after the APEC conference--unless MIWD settles its P5 million debt with the water firm owned by local magnate Rogelio Florete Jr.

Every city in every major or advanced country all over the world has its own share of domestic problems like floods, traffic and urban congestion. Iloilo City is no exemption, as well as other co-host cities in the country.

It is imperative that MIWD settles the matter with its bulk supplier in a soonest possible time. We can live for seven days without food, but not without drinking water.

MODERN

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 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 FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc., and we become the direct casualties as 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 soon.

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 has continued.

Even 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 don'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.

PREPARE

While the lawyers prepare for the legal battle in court, there is no of 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.

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.