MWSS takeover of BF Homes OK’d

Vice President Noli de Castro announced yesterday that the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) may now take over the water system of BF Homes Subdivision in Parañaque City after the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) decided in favor of a petition filed by 14 homeowners associations’ from the subdivision.

De Castro, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said the HLURB, which is under his supervision, has recommended that MWSS take over the water system of BF Homes, which straddles the cities of Parañaque, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa.

In its Jan. 15 decision, the HLURB said “it is axiomatic and indisputable that water supply in the entire subdivision must not only be provided by respondents; but when its resources or material means to supply it ceases, to employ or resort to all legal and moral means including the turn over or its yielding to the state of its ineffective, idle, poorly maintained or depleted water system to the MWSS.”

De Castro added that BF Homes residents in all three cities have long been asking the government to help them solve water problems brought about by the supposed failure of the subdivision’s owner and developer to supply them sufficient and affordable water for several years now.

The residents led by Homeowners Welfare Advocacy Group (HWAG) appealed to President Arroyo last year because of the subdivision developer’s continued refusal to allow Maynilad to take over the water supply and distribution supply systems in BF Homes Parañaque.

De Castro asked the homeowners to file a petition that invokes Presidential Decree 1345, a law that would empower MWSS to take over water systems in residential subdivisions if the developer or owner has been remiss in its duty to provide households with potable, affordable and sufficient water.

The Vice President said the HLURB decision is very timely in reference to Executive Order 688, issued by President Arroyo late last year, which aims to ensure that the provisions of Presidential Decree 1345 or the law empowering the MWSS to take over the water systems of private subdivisions in the areas under the jurisdiction of the MWSS would be implemented effectively.