Lax security imperils Metro water supply

Everyday hundreds of people motor over the La Mesa Dam aqueduct as if it’s a public road. Abetted by cops and reservoir guards, passersby treat the high-security zone their right-of-way by virtue of sham stickers. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. The aqueduct straddles the dam’s north side. From a car a saboteur may lob poison into the reservoir, and kill or sicken millions of Metro Manilans who depend on it for tap supply. Or, the brittle aqueduct could cave in from the load of vehicles and flood adjacent areas.

Time was when only waterworks light vehicles could pass over the aqueduct, and only rarely. The road was deemed prone to harm. Its asphalt overlay was not for heavy traffic, but to protect the reservoir’s spillover onto Tullahan River. Authorized heavy equipment had to divert to a feeder road near the filtrations from Quirino Avenue in Novaliches. The Quezon City Hall spanned a new bridge in Fairview for easy access of waterworks trucks and tourist buses to Eco-Park below the aqueduct. The road above strictly was off-limits to strollers. More so right after 9/11 when a man rented a house just outside the dam perimeter fence and was spotted sneaking in from the roof.

Things began to deteriorate five years ago. That’s when the Metro Waterworks & Sewerage System tapped the police to augment its dwindling team of guards. (The MWSS could no longer afford to patrol the La Mesa forest too, and handed over the task to volunteers.) True to cops stationed anywhere long enough, a racket soon sprouted. Motorists wishing to avoid traffic near SM and Robinsons malls were given special passes to shortcut to and from Fairview or Novaliches. Though outsiders, they were accorded access through La Mesa gates and over the aqueduct — for a fee of course. As usual the racket soon became institutionalized. Police officers at La Mesa came and went, but the illicit fund-raising stayed.

About the same time as the police’s came an internal scam at the MWSS. Through some documentary hocus-pocus, favored managers and supervisors were awarded private lots inside the dam perimeter. As well the board trustees who perpetrated the scheme assigned themselves big plots. Having privatized two areas, the hundred or so trustees, managers and supervisors built homes, and now reside there permanently. Seeing that the police allowed outsiders over the aqueduct, the MWSS insiders crookedly began to believe they had more right over it than anyone else. They too now break their own reservoir security rules and rumble over the aqueduct 24/7. Bantay Kalikasan, the NGO that runs Eco-Park, recently was able to stop MWSS rank-and-file from erecting homes on a 55-hectare corner of La Mesa. But the higher officers beat them to it years ahead.

Police and reservoir guards have a false sense of security. Cops think that the unauthorized persons to whom they have sold bogus passes are all clear for passage. They do not realize that the holders can lend the passes — for a fee too like them — to those with destructive motives. The guards believe that MWSS employees are all risk-free. They have not studied enough about terrorism to know that attackers can be the least likely. A La Mesa “homeowner” could sell or rent out his dwelling to a saboteur, with no MWSS boss or neighbor to stop him. They will realize the mistake only when it’s too late.

Passage over the aqueduct is by itself an engineering threat. The road could cave in from the weight of heavy equipment and too many cars. If that happens, reservoir waters will wash away not only the Eco-Park below but also houses near Tullahan River up to Malabon, Navotas and Caloocan. La Mesa Dam would go dry. President Gloria Arroyo’s order for the MWSS to disallow any rate increase by the two private water concessions will be for naught.

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If things run their fair course, another racket will be exposed at the justice department. This involves the drafting of two or three decisions per hot case. Each decision has an equivalent price, based on strength of legal argument. The racket allegedly is the reason for flip-flopping in rulings, where the litigant changed his mind in favor of the higher-priced decision.

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Immoderate greed was the only reason for colluders and protectors to rig World Bank biddings. They thought nothing of crossing the 45 rich countries that donate a total of $40 billion a year for international aid. But they are now reaping the whirlwind, having been discovered in 2003 trying to fix the bidding for a WB roadwork. If they got away with it before, the WB is ensuring that they fry this time.

Britain, USA, Japan and Germany are the top donors. Coming next are European industrial powers, Australia and Canada. If these nations so choose, they can pressure the rest of the world to offer no safe haven to the culprits.

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