NGO calls on RDC to make stand on Sibonga town, Siwassco issue

Freedom from Debt Coalition challenged development planners in the region to make a concrete stand on the issue involving the Municipal government of Sibonga and the cooperative handling the operation of a waterworks project in the town.

FDC said that RDC 7 is not living up to its mandate when it skirted the issue on the dispute between the Sibonga municipal government and the Sibonga Waterworks and Sanitation Cooperative (Siwassco).

The municipality of Sibonga, represented by Mayor Nestor Ponce, filed in court a declaration of nullity of contract with Siwassco because the town is now asserting itself as the "rightful" owner of the waterworks system, which it turned over to the cooperative in 1994.

"As the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region" and "a forum where local efforts can be related and integrated with national development activities, RDC 7 needs to issue a policy pronouncement in the light of the continuing threats to existing community-owned-and-managed water systems and Gov. Gwen Garcia's encouragement to LGUs to take over operation of water coops," the group said in a statement.

During a full council meeting last week, RDC officials did not issue a clear stand on the matter despite a request from the court and the Sibonga town council.

The Sangguniang Bayan of Sibonga, in a resolution, asked for the stand of the RDC 7 and the Cebu Provincial Government on the matter to comply with the order of Regional Trial Court Branch 26 Presiding Judge Maximo Perez, who is handling the case.

RDC members Tessie Fernandez, a private sector representative and Paul Villarete, manager of the South Reclamation Project, tried to convince the council to let Sibonga Waterworks and Sanitation Cooperative keep the project.

But RDC 7 chairman and Negros Oriental governor George Arnaiz said that the council would just furnish the court and the town council a copy of a court decision on the Siaton, Negros Oriental case and a copy of the MOA which was entered into by the said local government. He said that doing so would "indirectly" mean that the RDC 7 is supporting Siwassco.

FDC said that although the government has a Constitutional mandate of ensuring that the people have access to safe, affordable and sufficient supply of drinking water, this mandate is not an authority to seize control of water cooperatives, particularly the efficient ones like Siwassco.

It added that LGU takeover of water systems "strengthens patronage and transforms a basic service into a tool for political accommodation holding hostage the basic rights of citizens." - Wenna A. Berondo