How long should our consumers suffer before local governments here in Laguna province realize that privatizing our basic utilities will only lead to more hardships and challenges?
Specifically, we’re talking about a troubling trend of “entrusting” (read: selling out) basic utilities like water to private concessionaires who, as it now appears, have been botching up their services.
Two weeks ago, OpinYon Laguna discussed how PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. has allegedly been failing in its mandate to provide residents of San Pedro City, Laguna with a stable and potable supply of water.
The situation has worsened to an extent where the current administration of Mayor Art Joseph Francis Mercado had reportedly warned of “penalties” against PrimeWater if the water service provider complaints about its below-standard service to San Pedronians should continue.
Widespread Problem
The onslaught of tropical storm Paeng in Laguna province last October has also exposed one inconvenient truth: poor water service appears to be a more widespread problem in Laguna province than previously thought.
In the town of Los Baños, consumers who were affected by Paeng found the calamity a perfect opportunity to bring out their long-standing grievance with the Laguna Water District Aquatech Resources Corporation (LARC), which was being run by a consortium of private entities that included Equi-Parco Construction Company, TwinPeak Hydro Resources Corporation and MetroPac Water Investments Corporations under a joint venture agreement.
As reported in the online publication LB Times last November 7, concerned citizen Likha Cuevas exposed to LARC officials actual and collected complaints from their customers regarding frequent water interruptions without prior notice, yellowish and slimy water, sometimes muddy, old water pipes causing low water pressure, and poor customer service. (Sounds familiar, PrimeWater San Pedro consumers?)
Complaint Letter
According to the LB Times article, Cuevas had earlier written a letter to the LARC, Laguna Water District (LWD), National Water Resources Board (NWRB), and Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), bringing the issue to their attention.
“I am filing this complaint against Laguna Water District Aquatech Resources Corp (LARC) and I (am) hoping that Laguna Water District, as the government entity party to this joint venture, will act on the negligence and incompetence of this company,” Cuevas said in the letter, dated November 3.
“I hope you are aware that LARC has been remiss in its duty as a reliable service provider for Los Baños since 2016. In September and October 2022, LARC has regularly posted water interruptions, which is unacceptable; we were already wondering if LARC really invests cash from operations into the improvement and proper maintenance of infrastructure,” she added.
The onslaught of tropical storm Paeng last October 29 also brought LARC consumers, who were already aggrieved over the water provider’s poor service, to a breaking point, Cuevas added.
“The straw that broke the camel's back is the management's incompetence in handling the latest water crisis when the town has been without water for five to six days (29 October -3 November 2022). It failed to give a target date as to when the service will resume and failed to provide customers with water rations to affected areas.
"Had I not contacted Metro Pacific Water regarding this, LARC would not have hired additional trucks that could have augmented the two firetrucks that the local government of Los Baños has deployed,” Cuevas said in the letter.
Insensitive
“To add insult to injury, they posted on their Facebook page that their office was closed during the long weekend to observe All Saints Day holiday; it seemed like they did not find the situation dire. It was the height of insensitivity in the middle of suffering of the people of Los Baños,” she continued.
What also drew her ire, Cuevas said in her letter, is the reply of the LARC Community Relations Manager to her phone call on November 2 regarding the issues faced by their water consumers.
“Ms. Anna Karenina Puerto [the LARC Community Relations Manager] …said that all the issues I presented to her were not true. She insisted that I present evidence that their service has been terrible, especially in recent months when water interruptions and emergency breakdowns had become more frequent. She claimed that people were just emotional on their Facebook posts about their grievances against the company, ergo, these cannot be counted as evidence of their track record,” Cuevas claimed.
Talk about insensitivity and lack of tact in answering legitimate grievances from their consumers!
Letter by Rep. Hernandez
The issue of the water service woes faced by LARC has also reached the office of Laguna 2nd District Rep. Ruth Mariano-Hernandez, who on November 2, also sent out a letter to the water service providers regarding the issue.
Aside from pointing out that several barangays in Los Baños still receive little to no water supply days after Paeng struck Laguna province, Hernandez added that “water rations in these areas have not been provided despite LARC's announcement of ration schedules.”
Hernandez has also called on LARC to provide the representative's office an "appropriate plan of action" as to the restoration and overall improvement of the water supply system in Los Baños and Bay, which is also under LARC management.
In an updated Facebook post dated November 9, Hernandez reported that LARC said it has already restored water services in the barangays mentioned in the letter she sent to the management.
According to the water service provider, delays in the restoration of electricity and damaged equipment hampered efforts to restore water services in Los Baños after Paeng.
As of press time, OpinYon Laguna reached out to the local government of
Los Baños to give their own side of the issue of LARC’s alleged poor water service to the town.
Think Twice
The experience of San Pedro City and Los Baños should serve as a warning to other local governments in Laguna province to really think twice before handing off their utilities to private companies who will always pitch that it will lead to improved service for the public.
We’ve had had numerous examples – both here in Laguna province and in the national front – that the opposite always happens: big business conglomerates rake in millions of profits, while their costumers suffer from poor service. (With report by Jai Duena)