Tag Archives: water

Day-long meeting

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Lighted up acacia tree in front of the Student Union building. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I met with our water concessionaire’s shareholder (company AVP) and the OIC GM of our water concessionaire today. Because of my advocacy and continuous fight, the shareholder company was forced to change the management and suspended the 🤬 top officials until investigations are finished and proper charges are filed.

We met before 10 am at their corporate office and then I toured them around to show them the areas that are experiencing low pressure, mud coming out of their faucets, etc.

I told them that they have a reputational issue with the customers that’s why they’re still coming to me for complaints and are not going straight to them. Even though they are now fixing the shit left by previous management, the people still don’t know about it and thus they need a proper comms person to fill that gap–a proper community relations manager.

I recommened to them the steps that they should do, how to tap the local government units (barangay officials and their facilities) to conduct focus group discussions and needs assessment from these engagements. Monitoring and evaluation of information campaigns. I said that people should be properly informed and the knowledge is correct so that when the time comes the water concessionaire files a petition for tariff adjustment to help finance the network upgrade and other capex needs, we the customers will not be up in arms. I also told them they should take advantage of the local media in their information campaign by engaging with them.

They asked me to help in looking for a comms consultant to help them with that. I’m waiting now for a text message from a schoolmate so I can discuss with her this headhunting chore.

We parted ways at 3 pm. It was a long day.

My kids, on the other hand, went to a nearby city in the south to have early dinner in a bed and breakfast/art gallery with my sister and their cousin Kuya P. They sent me lots of photos.

Twin I looking at the exhibit.
Watercolors.
One of the dining areas
Another dining area

Meanwhile, I went to the semester ender Christmas bazaar inside our university campus.

Students are up and about before they go back home for the holidays. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I have all windows open right now to feel the cool December provincial breeze. I will leave tomorrow evening to be with my cats.

The battle has begun

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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.

Dead tired

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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

Emotionally exhausted

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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.

I need to draft three stories tomorrow.

I hate incompetence. God help me on Saturday.