Lawyers, consumers’ group slam Butuan bulk water deal

By BEN SERRANO
Correspondent

BUTUAN City––The Coalition for Consumers Rights Protection on Tuesday assailed the P565-million Butuan City Bulk Water Supply Contract Agreement, and called it “anomalous, patently illegal, null and void from the start, onerous and allegedly meant to defraud and plunder the government.”

In a 59-page document sent to the Butuan City Water District (BCWD), nine lawyers who serve as co-convenors of the group, said the water district’s process of tendering, selecting, and awarding the multimillion-peso project “was fraught with serious irregularities and anomalies that conveniently benefited private proponents… at the expense of public transparency, fairness and genuine competition.”

The “private proponents” are Twin Peak Hydro-Resources Taguibo Aquatech Solutions, and Equiparco Construction Corp.

The lawyers who signed the document were Kahlil Lamigo, Dionisio Lua, Reggie Mag-usara, Jesus Tantay, Jaime Cembrano, Nelbert Poculan, Arcedel Libarios, Froilan Montero and Roan Libarios, former national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

On April 23, 2013, the firms entered into a 25-year contract with BCWD for the P556-million bulk water supply, months after BCWD received a unsolicited proposal from Twin Peak.

The consumers’ group alleged that no true-to-goodness public consultation was made, and the agreement did not get city hall’s green light.

The lawyers said the deal was “fraught with blatant if not, fraudulent disregard of basic laws, rules and regulations, and smacks of unmitigated mockery of public accountability.”

It said the “Public Private Partnership” contract was “a complete sellout and betrayal of public trust,” and that it would mean that BCWD would practically give away its water rights, existing water treatment facilities, and technical employees for nothing.

The group pointed out that there would be no rental, no concession fees, no share of profits, no ownership stakes in the facilities to be built.

They said the BCWD also agreed to pay a bulk water rate at almost double the price, and to contract a volume beyond its capacity to absorb.

“Clearly, there is every reason to cancel, junk, and scrap the PPP transaction for being patently illegal, grossly onerous and manifestly disadvantageous to the government and consumers welfare,” reads part of their statement.

The group said the project was also a blantant violation of environmental laws, and the Water Code, citing the cutting of mountain slopes, uprooting of trees at the Taguibo watershed for the construction of a dam and access roads. It said these were done without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the environment department.

Libarios, one of the lawyers, alleged that the principal contract has been kept from the public for years, and even from the city council that has requested official copies since 2013.

Libarios said he also took note that BCWD general manager Aneslmo Sangtian and  members of the BCWD board were repeatedly asked to appear before the city council but allegedly turned the invitations down.