Getting only the bad news on water!

With the rainy season now upon us, once more all that talk about conserving our precious water resources are given low priority by everyone. Human nature is always like that; we only push the panic button when the water runs dry and only air comes out of our faucets. This is where advance nations are better than us in 3rd World countries as they are better in planning for a better future for their country, be it their water needs or other areas that strengthen their nations.

We usually go on a good news, bad news scenario but in the case of water we can only give you bad news and more bad news scenario. First the bad news. Water rates will increase by 12 percent starting July. Now for more bad news. While there's water in the town of Compostela, Mayor Antonio Dangoy refused to budge and allow the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) to operate their wells in his town.

Last week during our quarterly meeting with the Regional Development Council's (RDC-7) Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) headed by Manny delos Santos Rabacal, the Carmen Water Project was the main topic of discussion, which brought us back to memory lane asking the question whatever happened to the P100 million that MCWD loaned from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) spent in the town of Compostela. Here we are looking for water so far away in Carmen, yet nothing has happened to the MCWD wells in Compostela?

Apparently, MCWD is still faced with the same blank wall called Mayor Antonio Dangoy who continues to block MCWD's effort to operate the wells for the greater good of Metro Cebu, including serving the water needs of Compostela. This intransigent attitude of Mayor Dangoy only reveals his greed (including that well-known businessman who is behind the Mayor in denying us the use of this water) when that fresh water merely flows out to the sea! More importantly… the water that passes through Compostela comes from the Lusaran-Kotkot Watershed located in the mountains of Cebu City!

I was listening to Mayor Dangoy being interviewed by our good friend, Ricky Poca in his morning show "Ang Isyu Karon" on DyRF. When Ricky asked him why he would not make a dialogue with MCWD, the Mayor showed his displeasure with MCWD's motion for reconsideration which they sent to the Court of Appeals (CA). I was aghast by his comments; after all, he left MCWD with no choice but to file a suit because they have spent a hundred million for those water pumps for nothing! Unfortunately, MCWD lost this suit and is filing a motion to recon. Hopefully this time around, the CA would be more sympathetic to the plight of Cebu's water problem.

The problem with Mayor Dangoy is, he thinks that he is not part of Cebu! Cebu has grown by leaps and bounds because everyone helps one another, even in our political diversity. Our message to Mayor Dangoy: No man or mayor is an island, he must learn to share our God-given natural resources, otherwise he just may compromise any future development for the town of Compostela.

What I heard from the rumor mills of our coffeehouses is that, there are other interested parties who want to operate those wells in Compostela. I hope that these stories are not true for the sake of Mayor Dangoy. It is akin to the problem the Ayala project is facing in Carmen. They have been negotiating there for five years, then all of the sudden, Del Rio from Cagayan de Oro says that they can sell cheaper water from Carmen. Now whether this is true or not, they still have to put their foots in their mouths.

But the bottom line is, Cebu needs to get water from where it can get and the nearer the water source, the cheaper it would cost the consumers. Incidentally, during the RDC-IDC meeting, we could only sigh in dismay why our political leaders 40 years ago did not push through with the proposed Lusaran Dam because of its billion peso cost back then. Even if it cost P10 billion today, I still believe that the Lusaran Dam is the best source of water for Metro Cebu and in the long run, this would still end up as a cheaper way to get sustained water supply for our growing metropolis.

While we're not from Compostela, I had good childhood memories of the place because during the Second World War, my mother's side, the Segura's evacuated to the Veloso family farm in Cabadiangan. After the Korean War when I was already born, the Segura's would hold reunions in Cabadiangan and it was where my uncles taught me how to shoot a gun and go hunting there. Now we're only getting bad news from Compostela!

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