Corella town to court: Junk water deal with BWUI

BOHOL, Philippines  - Like the town of Cortes, the town of Corella is not amenable to the water compensation from its service provider and is now digging the dirt against the water deal with Bohol Water Utilities, Inc. (BWUI), which is extracting water resources in its back yard with a very low price tag.

After Cortes annulled a similar Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) over alleged "unfair" water transaction, BWUI is facing yet another legal battle over the same deal. This is aside from a case that will be elevated to the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) by city government over the water bill collection that retroacts in 2006.

Sensing that the MOA is disadvantageous to townsfolk all these years, Corella officials filed Civil Case No. 7939 for "Declaration of Nullity of Memorandum of Agreement and Damages" before the Regional Trial Court here.

Named respondents is the BWUI represented by Mr. Romeo G. Robles, senior manager in the said case filed by the Municipality of Corella through Mayor Jose Nicanor Tocmo, Felix Salang, Onesimo Anong and Domingo Curayag.

In their eight page complaint, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare the said MOA as "null and void and of no further force and effect." They also prayed for the court to order the defendants to pay "deficiency" amount of "P1.25/ cu.m. on the amount of water extracted from the six wells since January 2003 up to the present" and to pay the reimbursement of P300,000 and P2,000 for every appearance of its counsel in the hearings. Atty. Antonio Arabejo of the Arabejo and Mar Law Firm assisted the complainants.

The Sangguniang Bayan has authorized Tocmo to proceed with the filing of the case by virtue of Municipal Resolution No. 2011-28.

The Resolution pointed out that the town must get the fair share of the town contrary to the MOA. "The extraction/royalty fee paid by BWUI is grossly minimal in the amount of P0.25 per cubic meter which is way below the P1.50 per cubic meter as provided in section 3.b of Municipal Ordinance No. C-013 of Corella, Bohol."

The Resolution also accused BWUI of not providing an environmental guarantee fund to answer for the conservation and sustainability as a result of the underground water extraction.

Corella-BWUI MOA void?

The MOA disputed by Corella allows the respondent to establish five pumping stations and facilities in the town in connection with its rights to extract underground water.

It also provides that "BWUI shall pay the Municipality (Corella) as a royalty fee of P0.25 /cu. M. For water being extracted less the free water to the municipality from existing five deep wells of BWUI beginning upon the effectivity of this agreement."

Aside from this term, BWUI will also provide free water supply of not exceeding 15,000 cu m. And in excess of this volume, the town shall pay the former and amount of P15/ cu. M. The MOA took effect on January 1, 2003.

According to the complaint, then Mayor and now Vice-Mayor Vito Rapal entered into the said MOA with BWUI on September 17, 2004, more than a year already following the approval and enactment (on March 17, 2003) of Municipal Ordinance No. C-013, imposing a royalty fee of not less than P1.50/cu.m.

However, the said agreement is allegedly contrary to the aforesaid ordinance, the complainants stressed. Thus, the SB of Corella passed the following year (2005) Resolution No. 71-05 declaring the said agreement "to be null and void."

The same MOA "has no concurrence of the Sangguniang Bayan of Corella," said the complainants. Under the Local Government Code, local chief executive must secure prior authority to enter into all agreements in the form of a MOA and other similar instrument of contracts.

The complainants also alleged that the said MOA did not provide P2 million as guarantee fund for development of watershed in the area near and around the pumping units.

As a consequence, "The Municipality of Corella is continually suffering the degradation of its natural water resources as the establishment of the watershed in the area is stalled by the non-compliance of the defendant to tender the agreed amount intended thereto."

Rapal and Hamelito A. Quiokeles, vice-president for utilities of BWUI, affixed their signatures to the said six-page MOA as verified by Atty. Artemio C. Villas on Sept. 17, 2004.

BWUI's argument

In a letter dated November 6, 2010 to Tocmo, BWUI Senior Manager Romeo G. Robles disputed Corella's contention that the MOA is inequitable and disadvantageous to the municipality.

BWUI insisted that the MOA "is still valid, effective and enforceable." The water company stressed that declaring the MOA as invalid by Corella lawmakers in improper since it is only the court "with proper jurisdiction can declare a contract or any of its stipulations or agreements as null and void."

But BWUI admitted that the MOA "may not have been formally concurred by the Sangguniang Bayan" and said why the lawmakers did not bother to question or "disturbed" it (MOA) for past six years.

"We could rightfully claim that there is nothing wrong or inequitable, as to the adjustment of the royalty fee to P0.25/cu.m. from old wells and P0.50/cu.m. from new wells of water extracted. The MOA therefore is consistent and in harmony with Municipal Ordinance No. C-013."

Cortes case

In Cortes town recently, the Sangguniang Bayan presided by Vice Mayor Danilo Montero passed a resolution that dealt a blow to the water deal between the municipality and BWUI to provide Tagbilaran City residents with potable water to be drilled from Ohan Spring in Barangay New Lourdes.

The resolution, sponsored by Councilor Lynn Iven Lim, rescinded the "authority given to the Municipal Mayor Engr. Apolinaria H. Balistoy, Ph. D. to enter into a MOA with BWUI."

What prompted the SB members to revoke the said authority was the alleged failure of the mayor to submit the draft MOA as what was promised, Montero said. Montero and the six councilors voting to nullify the said authority want to get hold of a copy of a draft of the MOA so they could study the same and make counter-proposals if needed.

He said they have waited for the hard copy of the MOA for so long since the time they gave the authority last year, but to no avail. They only learned later that Balistoy already signed the MOA without their knowledge.

The Cortes council wants a higher price of the water to be extracted from Ohan Spring in Barangay New Lourdes since the proposed price tag is PhP0.25/cubic meter. Montero said the water deal is "disadvantageous" to Cortes. (FREEMAN)