Nullification of DCWD’s water permit can result to water rate increase

The nullification by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) water permit is seen as disadvantageous for Dabawenyos as it can result to water rate increases in the future.

NWRB has declared null and void the water permit it issued in 2007 to DCWD which surprised the water company’s officials when they received the decision last July 15, since it was not the issue of the protest they lodged with NWRB.

“We were surprised because we were protesting the use by Hedcor Corporation of the Tamugan River where DCWD has an existing permit,” DCWD manager Rodora Gamboa said. Instead, she added, we received NWRB’s decision not only dismissing our protest but also nullifying our water permit.

The 12-page decision of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) dismissing its protest against the water permit application of Hedcor Corporation on the Tamugan River has placed in danger one of the sources of clean water for the Dabawenyos, Gamboa said.

“While we are extremely disappointed with the NWRB’s decision to deny our protest against Hedcor we are surprised why they nullified our water permit when it is not included in the issues being heard,” she said.
With the nullification order, DCWD will have to continue sourcing water from the ground water sources which means they will have to continuously pay a power rate of at least P200 million annually (which is expected to increase to P300M with the rise in power rates) to the Davao Light and Power Corporation which is Hedcor’s sister company.

Gamboa said that in effect, this is disadvantageous to Davao water consumers since it can result to an increase in water rates with the accompanying increase in power rates. Had they been allowed by NWRB to continuously use Tamugan River’s surface water, DCWD’s power consumption would have remarkably decreased and the water firm would not have reason to reduce their rates for years.

DCWD filed its protest because it claimed to have preferential right over the Tamugan River by virtue of Water Permit No. 15729 issued by NWRB on May 27, 1997. The protest was also filed because Hedcor’s operations will adversely affect the proposed surface water development of the water firm in Tamugan River.

Gamboa said NWRB’s decision did not only disfavor DCWD “but in effect the thousands of stakeholders in Davao.”

“We believe that as a resource that is considered as the city’s only source of clean water in the future, the Tamugan River deserves the full protection of the law from unnecessary exploitation by industrial interests,” Gamboa said.

NWRB’s decision indicated that DCWD’s water permit was nullified because the latter failed to make use of the Tamugan River

Gamboa however said this is not true since DCWD has been preparing the area for the implementation of their water project through the conduct of reforestation in the area. DCWD has also conducted bidding for a feasibility study on the Use and Development of Surface Water in Tamugan River last November 7, 2007 with an approved budget of P9.9 million.

While NWRB’s decision indicated that DCWD can still re-apply for a permit, Gamboa however said they will not do this but will file a motion for reconsideration as well as explore other legal means.

Gamboa questioned the continuous assessments being made by NWRB for DCWD’s water charge when they are already planning to nullify the water firm’s water permit. “We even paid our water charge already and they also even assessed us for 2009 yun pala ina-nullify lang nila ang permit naming,” she added.

SM workers get non-wage benefits

Wage earners in Southern Mindanao are set to get non-wage benefits under the Department of Labor and Employment XI’s Presyo Diskwento: Basket of Goods Project for Wage Earners.

The project was launched in Region XI yesterday, July 20, with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board X and the 20 participating employers who have agreed to extend the non-profit initiative to their employees through a corporate selling scheme.

“The Basket of Goods Project will allow workers to avail of basic and prime commodities at discounted prices,” DOLE XI regional director and RTWPB XI Bard Chair Jalilo O. Dela Torre said. The discount will be on top of the existing and prevailing discounts being offered by the retail stores, he added.

And since the prices of the products are way below the standard retail prices or SRP of the retail stores, he said, the project will not only augment the family income but will also allow enterprising workers to start their own sari-sari stores.

Under the MOA, the RTWPB XI will coordinate with the suppliers of the basic commodities as well as with the companies or employers supporting the Non-Wage Benefit Program.

Dela Torre said the participating employers have pledged to allow their workers direct access to the commodities at their specific workplaces. It is the employer which will facilitate the taking of the orders of their employees which will then be given to the supplier every 13th and 28th of the month.

He said it is also the employers who will set up the salary deduction scheme of the employees who will avail of the discounted basket of goods.

However, only employees whose employers have signified intention to join the Program will be able to avail of the discounted basket of goods. As of the MOA signing, only 20 employers have committed to join the Program.

Among the employers who will participate in the Program are: Casa Leticia, Charlie’s Ice Cream House, Inc., Davao Cableworld Network, Inc., Davao Concrete Poles Corporation, Davao Light & Power Co. Inc., Davao Rope Factory, Inc., Davao Toplas, Inc., Deco Machine Shop, Inc., High Yield Sugar Farms, Corp., Holy Cross of Davao College, Inc., Holy Cross Press of the Archdiocese of Davao, Jhaymarts Industries, Legaspi Oil Company, Mahugani Security and Investigation Agency, One Network bank, San Pedro Hospital, SODACO Agricultural Corp., Stanfilco, Tagum Agricultural Dev’t. Co. and Tesoro’s Printing Press.

Dela Torre said the discounted commodities will come from Proctor & Gamble and Nestle Philippines. All the other products non supplied by the two companies will be provided by Gaisano Southmall.

Davao to become Paris of the Philippines

Davao City may be a small part of a struggling third world country but it has all the ingredients of becoming Paris of the Philippines.

“We artists are faced with the challenge of making Davao City Paris of the Philippines,” painter Victor Secuya said during yesterday’s Kapihan sa Davao held at the Rysus Café, SM City.

Secuya said he has just come back from Tokyo, Japan “where everything is so urbanized and all roads are smooth as silk.” He said it is the same thing in Canada where every building has a sculpture and everything is clean.

When he came back to Davao, he said, what welcomed him were the wires all over the electric posts and everything chaotic unimaginable in a first world city. “Davao has a lot of potentials but not in the level of the first world,” he said.

However, he said, the burden of exploring Davao City’s potential and making it the center of art in the country lies in the shoulders of the local artists.

“It is our responsibility to move Davao’s art scene because if we will not do it then who will,” Secuya said.

Secuya said the city can be the center of arts to include theater, dance, architecture, painting and sculpture in the country if the Dabawenyos only work together “with a laser-beam kind of discipline”.

Secuya, along with artist Kublai Millan, is set to display at least 20 of his original and reproduction paintings at the Davao City International Airport on August 8 with the theme “Spirit of Davao’. This is a prelude to the week-long Kadayawan sa Davao celebration from August 17 to 23 this year.

“While the Kadayawan is something great for the city it is the way we live, wake up early to clean up our surroundings and practice discipline that we become at par with highly urbanized cities,” he said.(

“There will be elections in 2010”-GMA

“There will be elections in 2010”. This was the statement reiterated twice by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on two different occasions during her visit to Davao City today.

Arroyo returned to the Philippines via Davao City yesterday straight from her attendance in the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Leaders Summit in Egypt.

“In no uncertain terms, there will be elections in 2010 and those who question this is undermining our nation’s commitment to a vibrant democracy,’ Arroyo said during the Regional Media Interview held at the Insular Hotel.

The President uttered exactly the same statement when she addressed the almost 175 municipal mayors and other officials from Regions 11, 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao attending the Interconnectivity Caravan at the same venue. The caravan aims to encourage the participation of the local government units in the government’s program to combat climate change.

Arroyo did not only emphasize that the election will push through as scheduled in 2010 but she also urged the League of Municipalities of the Philippines to help make the automated polls a success.

The success of the automated poll during next year’s election, she said, “will show the world that our democracy is stable.”

Arroyo acknowledged the need for a strong voice from Mindanao who will voice out the aspirations of the Mindanaoans. And while the administration party follows a certain process when choosing its senatorial and other candidates, Arroyo said she will urge them to give due representation to Mindanao.

Organizers confident in raising P15M Kadayawan budget despite econ. crisis

The organizers of this year’s Kadayawan sa Dabao are confident they can raise the P15 million budget a month before the celebration despite the economic crisis and other challenges.

The seven-day Kadayawan may be the grandest festival in the city but the city government allocates only P700,000 for the event. Majority of the expenses will be raised by the private sector.

“We have a lot of work to do but we are confident we can raise that much given the economic condition,” Kadayawan Festival private sector committee chair Jun Te said.

Te said a lot of big companies are interested to invest in the festival including the Lucio Tan Group of Companies.

He said they are set to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with big sponsors who have confirmed their participation in the event. Te added that the telecommunication companies want to invest in the Kadayawan but “they want it in kind so they can also promote their products at a lower cost even during the recession.”

City Mayor Chief of Staff Patricia Ruivivar said this would be the grandest Kadayawan ever considering that this is the last Kadayawan under the term of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. However, she said the city will only contribute a small percentage of the budget and the rest is up to the private sector.

“This year we want to highlight how Davao City has prospered from the time of the very first migrants in the city,” Te said. Thus the theme “Nahiusang Katawhan Nakigdait sa Kalibutan (One People In Communion with the Earth)”.

This is also the primary reason why the grand opening of the 24th Kadayawan sa Dabaw will start at the Agro field near the Bankerohan river. Te said the opening ceremony will be conducted with a “grand water ritual, sounds and rhythms, dance and sealing of people’s covenant to protect mother earth.”

Ruivivar said the theme is actually timely considering the global warming issues being faced by the planet.

Davao is most-prepared city to counter anti-terrorism

Task Force Davao said Dabawenyos should remain calm even as they assured residents that Davao City is the most prepared city when it comes to countering terrorist attacks.

“Davao may be at a heightened alert but it is the most prepared city for countering terrorism attacks,” Task Force Davao commanding officer Oscar Lactao said yesterday. The city has been placed under security level 3 which means there is a heightened threat as opposed to level 1 for no threat, level 2 for moderate threat and level 4 for very high threat levels.

Lactao however said the city may be on a heightened alert status but “there is no specific and no imminent threat to the city.” There is thus no reason for Dabawenyos to worry despite the successive bombing incidents in Jolo, Iligan and Cotabato.

He said all the systems are in place to protect the security of the city and its residents. They have just completed “Oplan Laban sa Terorismo”, a document which lists down the roles of the various concerned agencies involved in combating terrorism to include Task Force Davao, Maritime, 911, Regional Mobile Group, TMG, Davao International Airport, Marina and the City Mayor’s Office among others.

The first line of defense when there is a terrorist threat, he said, is intelligence which is needed to stop the perpetrators even before they get into the city. This has been accomplished, Lactao said, with the arrest of three members of a terrorist cell in Cotabato, Maguindanao and Marawi and the killing of one in Pantukan. Only one of the cell members is at large and he is monitored to be in Central Mindanao.

Lactao said the next line of defense involve the setting up of s system such as the Task Force, Philippine National Police and the 911. These systems are already in place so the city is secure, he added.

Next strategy, he said, is target hardening which means securing the area including malls, schools and other public places. He said these places already have their own security in place and they have also coordinated with them.

SOCO confirms human remains in firing range; CHR probe hampered by lack of warrant

The Commission on Human Rights-led Task Force probing the alleged dumping ground of bodies of summary killings in Davao City has found human skeletal remains but its probe has been hampered by the delay in the issuance of a search warrant from the local court.

This was revealed by CHR Chairperson Leila M. De Lima in a statement dated July 7, 2009.

The original search warrant being held by the Task Force has been issued by The Regional Trial Court Branch 34 of Manila. While the warrant authorized them to search a burial site within the Gold Cup Firing Range owned by retired policeman Bienvenido Laud, it did not however include a man-made pit in a creek where they found a human leg bone.

“The team immediately endeavoured to apply for a new search warrant at the RTC-Davao City; the application was however passed from one judge up to the fourth who appeared to reluctantly conduct the summary proceedings,” the statement said. It added that the presiding judge made a very discouraging comment “alam nyo ba ginagawa nyo?”

The CHR said the presiding judge promised to act on the application before 5PM of July 6 but directed the applicant to wait for the following day July 7. The CHR statement was sent to NBN Davao at 1PM of July 8 sans any update as to the status of the warrant application.

The PNP Special Investigation Task Group or SITG applied for the original search warrant based on the “sworn statement of a former self-confessed DDS member/eyewitness” under the belief that the Gold Cup Firing Range has been used as a dumping ground of bodies of victims of summary killings in the city.

CHR said the digging, which was led by SITG’s PSSupt. Fajardo, “resulted in the findings of several fragments identified by the SOCO as human remains”. With such a positive result, CHR said, “The team is very optimistic that more remnants of summary executions are about to be unearthed.”

The other members of the SITG Team implementing the search warrant include CIDG-NCR under PS1 Sy, CLS led by PCI Palmero, Atty. Villena of HRAO, CIDG PRO XI’s PSupt. Masauding assisted by the Regional Mobile Group led by PSupt Quinsay, PACER Mindanao led by PSupt Briones. (photos by: Rene Lumawag)