Arnold Garbanzos ILIGAN City--It is a great shame and dishonor to ourcCity which is known as the “City of Waterfalls” if we cannot solve a very basic issue like water and its supply. No investors will come if we cannot solve this once and for all. By the way, I am not a technical guy when it comes to water and water connections. When my water system gets busted, I still call Engrs. Albao and Orbe to help me. I am a marketing man ready to market our city to the entire world, and want to see it grow and progress. But this I cannot do unless I help solve this very basic issue on water supply for all Iliganons. My goal is 24/7 water for all Iliganons. And I am not a politician. I am a technocrat. I am with government to provide solutions and not to add more problems to our city. The city therefore gives you the four options to consider -- continue to LGU-subsidize ICWS, go for a Water District under Lwua, go for a coop arrangement or a PPP. The option is all ours to consider. Of the four options, PPP is the latest and is the most less understood by the public, thus the “opposition” to it is understandable. But honestly of the four, PPP is the one that saves a lot of money for government -- and there is check and balance -- since the private sector monitors the entire operations. And it is also an option strongly supported by the ADB and the World Bank. One of the greatest advantages of a PPP arrangement is that it brings foreign direct investments or FDIs to our shores. It allows the nations to be involved with the progress of our city. These are valuable investment opportunities our city cannot ignore. On top of their money invested, we also need their technology and their expertise. Other than this, PPP also allows big conglomerates like Ayala and San Miguel to be involved in the infrastructure building of our city. It is an option which big conglomerates like since it is government supported and is backed up by the financial institutions. Consider also that under a PPP arrangement the investors would not only look into our water supply as a city. They are also here to scout and maximize business opportunities for our waters since Iligan though well endowed with this resource does not even have a water industry to speak of like soft drinks, mineral water and juices. In contrast Singapore which is a country with virtually no water resource at all makes billions of Singaporean dollars (S$1.7 billion to be exact) out of their water industry yearly and generates 11,000 jobs in this industry. PPP therefore allows the development of our water industry in Iligan through these Investors. Think about this: if only PPP were an option use in the case of NSC and the IDPP, the properties could have been still ours. Since it has never been explored as an option in the past by our city, then we have lost them to total privatization which for me is a very big loss for our city and our country. And this is why total privatization of our ICWS is out of the picture -- even I would be against it. With all the water resources we have and as generously endowed by God on us, privatization is not an option for Iligan. What we need is an approach or method which would professionalize the ICWS management with least or no expense on the part of the City, remove our waters from politics and allow us to retain ownership of our water assets-for me PPP is the option with the greatest advantage. Again I repeat PPP is not privatization. It is a joint venture between the private sector and our government- and our PPP Code demands transparency and utmost good faith from both parties in all aspects of the partnership. If considered and approve the rehabilitation of the water system of Iligan will be its first PPP project and will open the City for more investments coming from many Nations and agencies in terms of infrastructure and enhancements. It is best that we keep an open mind as a City-since we need more infrastructures and more investments. PPP is an option to build more infrastructures and rehabilitate existing infrastructures with the LGU not making a loan-it saves us a lot in terms of interest charges and amortizations. I am not saying that PPP as an option is a “perfect solution”-there can be problems along the way just like what is happening to Maynilad and Manila Waters in Metro-Manila-but under our present financial condition as a growing City it is for me the best option. And that is why there is a need to come up with a PPP Project Monitoring team in our City to give full and periodic quarterly attention to the rights and welfare of the City when it comes to the partnership and its operations. One thing funny with Iligan as a City is that we never had an Iligan City Water Masterplan for 65 years. We solve our water problems piece meal not in a comprehensive manner. I say funny because we had the CIC or the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor Masterplan but never did we created the Iligan City Water Masterplan- where we do not only tap one, two and three systems for water but the entire water system open to Iligan-it can be 10 or 20 systems-since water rich Iligan is capable of that. We do not even know where the next water reservoirs will be place all over Iligan. As far as I know Barangay Palao badly needs one-since in it is our City Hospital and our City Hall. This reservoir can be place on Buhanginan Hills because of its elevation. By the way for the info of the public our Hinaplanon Pumping Station incurs no less than a million per month on power charges just to make it run and eats into the budget of our City tremendously-something must be done to correct this. This “sad” situation of the Hinaplanon Pumping Station brings to mind the suggestion by some quarters that we let our next pipelines pass through the mountains since by doing so we can bring water to the households by means of gravity. For me this is a brilliant idea and should be considered seriously. Why should we pay so much for electricity when gravity is enough to bring these waters to our houses? On top of these almost 1/2 of the residents of Barangay Palao have no water. And many households in Barangay Tipanoy rely on deep wells only- they have never been connected to the ICWS. These is a very sorry picture for a City which is 65 years old and counting. And have you ever wondered why after 65 years of being a City the fresh waters of Buru-un never reached our City? The Springs of Buru-un produces no less than 150 MLD per day-that is 150 million liters per day of abundant fresh waters and they have never been utilized by our City up to today-why? We do not even have a thriving mineral water factory or even a soft drink factory in the water rich Tourism Triangle (comprising the Barangays of Ditucalan, Maria Cristina and Buru-un) to generate employment for our people-do you not wonder why? Its been 65 years. Of course bringing the fresh waters of the Tourism Triangle to the City proper and our Barangays would incur expenses-water is free for Iligan-that is our greatest blessing as a City from God but the infrastructure to bring it to our houses and the development of a Water Industry is not free-we need to invest in them. For the info of everyone one of Davao City's secret of success as a City is because they realize the relevance and importance of  PPP in bringing in investors for their City.  They are the first City in the country to passed a PPP Ordinance.   Ordinance No. 0353-12 "An Ordinance promoting Public-Private Partnerships in the Financing, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Local Government Infrastructure or Development Projects" was passed in 2012-in support of National Government's policy to promote the participation of the private-sector as an active partner in the pursuit of economic development and selfeliance as well as generate investments and projects through the PPP scheme.  For this effort Davao was given due and proper recognition by their Regional Development Council.. At the end of the day Iligan must ask itself, are we willing to make a loan again to secure the needed infrastructures for our City and develop our water supply? Or shall we allow a Private entity who is willing to invest and partner with us  on our water supply and Water Industry do it for us? The future of Iligan and its waters are in our hands. We must choose wisely fellow Iliganons.