Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Cubao. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My mom stayed with me overnight because she is attending the ordination of priests at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Cubao. One of the new priests is a family friend.
Just like anything that has something to do with the Catholic Church, the ceremony is ornate and full of pomp. And loooong. So is the church itself.
So here I am, 2 hrs into the ceremony, outside the church and sketching my way out of boredom.
Looking for better angles. Photo by CallMeCreation.com I have all the time for the details… Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com The details are testing my patience. The sun is beating down on me. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
It’s drizzling now so I’ll just finish this later. At least the entire pencil sketching is done on-site. 🤣
Where shall I bring my mom after this…
After church, we went to SM MOA so that my mom 1) can buy new underwear (her excuse to go to a mall); and go to St. Paul’s to buy her 4 volumes of 2023 prayer books. Along the way, we encountered a guitar center. Twin I is saving up for an acoustic guitar.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
And I thought I found the perfect guitar for her. Not too big, sounds ok and has an inlet on the side to plug it into an amplifier.
The black one looks so cool. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
After ticking off everything in my mom’s checklist, we drove to my hometown.
My granite countertop. Photo by CallMeCreation.comEntire wall/s and under the counter will be installed with cabinets. Photo by CallMeCreation.com It’s a tiny kitchen by normal home standards but it’s bigger than my current one in my apartment. Photo by CallMeCreation.com One of my kitchen cabinets. Better build (wood laminate) compared to Ikea’s MDF. Photo by CallMeCreation.com No tiles yet in my bathroom but I see now the concrete niche for shampoos and soap. Photo by CallMeCreation.com This is where the TV will be hung. My contractor said he will build shelves around the post to make it disappear. Good. I have too many books. Photo by CallMeCreation.com It’s blurry but this closet is tall. I modeled it after the Ikea Pax I designed online. Photo by CallMeCreation.com My huge bedroom window. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The welding works will be done in January so my stainless steel staircase, water reservoir tower, and fire exit platform will be made. February will just be cabinet works and finishing like painting and installation of shelves. By that time I can pull out my books from my apartment so I can put them in the shelves. That way I would know if I need to install more.
Mud coming out of the tap in one of the barangays in my hometown.
Filed my formal complaint (together with the testimonies of customers) to Laguna Water District and Local Water Utilities Administration last night. The LWD general manager responded immediately and assured me that this will be tackled by the LWD Board on Monday.
I also talked to the Institutional Development Services (IDS) of LWUA this morning about my complaint and I was assured that this will be acted upon by the agency and will also be endorsed to the National Water Resources Board, which has adjudication powers, if this is not settled by the LWD Board.
I had a fruitful discussion with the IDS and learned that LWUA only has power over the water district and has little say in the joint venture with the private sector itself. The water district board has the power to rescind concession agreements it signed with the private sector depending on HOW THE CONCESSION AGREEMENTS WERE CRAFTED.
Now the problem is, we the customers do not have access to the concession agreements that LWD or other water districts have entered into. Unlike under MWSS, there is transparency since they have made public the revised concession agreements with the private sector https://mwss.gov.ph/…/MWCI-THE-REVISED-CONCESSION…
How do we keep scorecards? What are the obligations that the concessionaires must fulfill so we can keep tabs? How many emergency water interruptions are allowable within a certain period? What are the SOPs that concessionaires must execute when there are mishaps like that i.e. water rations within xxx number of hours of water interruption? How much is the penalty for this and this and that? WE DON’T KNOW!
Another thing that I learned from IDS is that water district JVs with the private sector use NEDA Guidelines, which state that LWUA is only an observer and has no voting right in the Joint Venture Selection Committee. In the draft revised guidelines, LWUA again is still an observer. I do not know the rationale for such like will LWUA participation slow down the process? Do they think that the local water district is capable of assessing the capacity of a new entrant in water utilities space like Equi-Parco? We don’t know! Something to ask Sec. Balisacan.
In cases where a municipality does not have an existing water district like Ormoc, it is the LGU that does the JV, therefore, it is no longer under the jurisdiction of LWUA. Again, who will regulate and have adjudication powers over such transactions? NRWB only? The participation of PPP Center is elective (as I understood it as I cover infrastructure in Southeast Asia); the LGU may choose to tap it if it feels it needs the expertise of the agency. What if Mayor Lucy Torres decides that, nahhh, we can do this JV selection on our own. Pa’no na?
There are over 20 agencies that govern water resources, I kid you not. What are the enabling laws that cover water resources? There are so many and nakakahilo. Which agency should ensure that the JV selection is just and fair when the supposed regulator, the water district, is also a participant in the JV? Parang regulator-revenue generator role na naman yan like Pagcor, and Philippines Ports Authority na conflicting ang roles.
So many questions. So many things that have to be raised on a national level.
I knew this is one uphill battle. Me vs a water concessionaire. I just finished filing my complaint and petition to review the concession agreement. 🫠
I don’t know if I would ever win. The odds are stacked against me: 1) politics; 2) no enabling laws or proper regulatory framework to govern LGU private-public partnerships; 3) they have resources while I don’t (lawyers).
Oh ok. I just received an email response from the GM of the GOCC involved in this concession. Positive response and I hope this is not a fluke.
I want to cry right now. 😭
I’m dead tired.
Why am I doing this? I don’t know.
To cheer me up a bit today. My Holbeins were delivered to me tgis afternoon.
That marine blue was punctured by my cat. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So the whole day I was just bogged down by local water concerns. It has been the 5th day since water was out in my hometown. The service provider, LXXX, had the temerity to announce on their FB Page that they are on holiday that’s why their office is closed for the long weekend. My family has been scrounging for water sources FOR DAYS! So last night I contacted MPW, which is a 20+% shareholder, via my connections there.
Early morning I was told by MPW that my emails were already sent to the GM of LXXX and other partners in the consortium. The community relations of LXXX, that biatch, was combative and denied that their service is not shit. She demanded evidence. I just told her go look on your FB page and see the complaints since two years ago. She said those people are just emotional and she made it sound like this was a one-off thing. I said no, I lot of people had been complaining to me about the low water pressure and regular disrepair and that’s why many communities don’t have regular water service.
She said I will show you on Saturday evidence to dispute your claims are untrue. I shot back that I will gather evidence of your incompetence since you took over in 2016.
So I rallied people in my hometown to 1) screen cap all the complaints on LXXX FB page because they might erase it; 2) send their testimonies via email to me so I can compile and slap the CX officer’s face with it on Saturday; 3) file a formal complaint to LWUA and the local water district using the testimonies so LXXX could be penalized and 4) regulators could review the concession agreement and terminate it if LXXX is proven that it is not fulfilling its end of the concession agreement.
I told MPW that LXXX was so wrong in their approach with me. Why is the burden of proof with me?! They said they were sorry but they were only 20% stakeholders there and it was the majority owner, some mayor from Mindanao, who appointed the current GM. And guess what? The LXXX person who was combative towards me is the GM’s wife. WHICH IS TOTALLY WRONG! I told Metro Pacific that it’s nepotism, 2) this person should not handle community affairs because she has a personal stake because her husband is the GM. Metro Pacific told me that they were surprised, too, and they only learned about it this morning.
There are so many confidential info I got that I cannot blog about yet but I’ve got something on my sleeves on Saturday.
Let’s just say I have regulatory remedy on my side.
And I also told LXXX that I will present my evidence to MPW during their presscon next week and I will make sure that their chairman reads the compiled complaints against LXXX.
And of course I will tell them after Saturday that this will be filed with the regulators. I am a one-man team but OMG I will make sure heads will roll.
There are other details that I don’t have the energy yet to write here. I’M SO FUCKIN TIRED.
