P8-million PSC deep well facility illegal

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Sports Commission’s P8-million deep well project intended to handle the water needs of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex could possibly become a “white elephant” after the National Water and Resources Board ordered the closure of the newly completed facility.

According to the NWRB, the lead government agency in the Philippine water sector, the deep well is illegal, having been constructed without a drilling permit in violation of Article 64 of the Water Code of the Philippines. It was also located within a “critical area.”

Aside from ordering the “illegal deep well operation” stopped, the NWRB also slapped the PSC a P1,000 fine for drilling a well without a permit and another P1,000 per day from receipt of notice (Aug. 13) for appropriating water without a water permit pursuant to Sec. 82 of the Water Code.

The deep well was built last year during the time of former PSC chairman Harry Angping. The new well was expected to save the agency P800,000 to P1-million in water bills. The PSC pays P2 to P3-million for water supply.

“There was good intention (in constructing the well) but it’s just not done properly,” said current PSC chairman Ricardo Garcia, whose agency received the order signed by NWRB executive director Vicente Paragas dated Aug. 10.

Garcia said the PSC’s legal team is preparing to appeal before the NWRB, a fellow agency under the Office of the President, to lift the order and the penalties and allow the PSC to operate the deep well.

“We’ll ask for a reconsideration and let’s see what will happen,” Garcia said.

As early as May 14, the NWRB directed the PSC, in a letter from then OIC Nathaniel Santos to then PSC senior executive assistant Paul Vega, to stop construction of its deep well and close the facility. The PSC, though, still went on with the project.