MIWD Board: Sowing intrigues won’t solve water woes
“Time for solutions, not intrigues.”
This is the gist of the press statement issued by the Board of Directors (BOD) of Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) yesterday amid the controversies hounding the water district.
Signed by BOD chair Celso Javelosa, vice chair Adrian Moncada, and directors Danilo Encarnacion, Sergio Gonzales and Bernadette Jamerlan-Castellano, the press statement states that “(s)owing negative speculations, intrigues and even personal attacks against the Board of Directors will not solve the water crisis in Iloilo Cit.”
The BOD likewise slammed “any group, individual or vested interest seeking to impede or sabotage the water district’s plans, programs, projects and innovations that will redound to the benefit of all its consumers.”
They added that their “paramount interest” is for MIWD to achieve its goal of serving 100 percent its service area.
“It is our position that the time has come for MIWD to explore viable options with the end in view of delivering the best service possible to water consumers, let alone sufficient supply. Change becomes necessary when the traditional ways become ineffective in achieving the water district’s mandate,” the BOD stressed.
It added: “The Board of Directors, as the policy making body of MIWD, is open to all suggestions on how to open new avenues towards achieving the water district’s goals. We are open to the alternative solutions recommended by the Castalia study. The time is high for solutions underlined by the community’s welfare.”
Few years ago, World Bank’s International Finance Corporation through its consultant Castalia Advisory Group conducted a feasibility study on the proposed privatization of MIWD.
The BOD also clarified that they did not “suggest or propose to allocate funds for our own aggrandizement.”
“The public needs to know that all propositions regarding money matters originate from the management team. The board’s function is only to approve or disapprove,” they averred.
The BOD cited that today’s problems are the “product of many years of inefficiencies and inadequacies inside MIWD.” “The present board cannot just sit idly. To do nothing means to condone these inefficiencies and inadequacies that ultimately put the community to a disadvantage.”
Earlier, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) revealed that top officials of Iloilo City are maneuvering to realize the plan to privatize MIWD.
FDC said that a meeting transpired among World Bank representatives, incoming Iloilo City congressman Jerry Treñas, incoming City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, and Mr. Celso Javelosa, chairman of MIWD’s Board of Directors, and Senator-elect Franklin Drilon to tackle the proposed privatization.
The group also noted that the letter of the MIWD Board of Directors appealing to the City Council to declare Iloilo City under a ‘state of emergency’ because of water shortage was part of the grand design to eventually privatize MIWD.
