BACOLOD CITY—Terminated workers of the Bacolod City Water District Employees Union (BEU-NAFLU), backed by fellow active workers and the AMLIG TUBIG consumers alliance, renewed their call to immediately terminate and nullify the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) and the Prime Water Infrastructures Corp. (PrimeWater), owned by the Villar family.
In an interview over the weekend with Manila Standard, BEU-NAFLU legal counsel Rey Gorgonio reiterated the workers and consumers groups’ demand to speed up the end of the JVA over alleged several violations by PrimeWater.
Gorgonio said this appeal follows their May 8, 2025 legal complaint to Malacañang, since no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called recently for a probe into several complaints against PrimeWater.
Among the serious violations Gorgonio emphasized are, “the worsening poor water quality, less consumers reached, and water service not in compliance with 24/7 provision in the JVA.”
“Another is the displacement of unionized workers and the virtual dissolution of the union, resulting to mass termination of BACIWA workers. Only 59 of the terminated workers fought their case in Civil Service Commission and won their reinstatement though the writ of execution remains unimplemented,” he added.
Gorgonio also noted that of the P100,000,000 investment per year in the improvement of the BACIWA operations, as stated in the JVA, only P40,000,000 has been reportedly realized. He likewise pointed to the alleged corruption behind the worsening water crisis, involving local politicians.
“Generally, the JVA is essentially a privatization and therefore disadvantageous to the government and the public interest, more so that Presidential Decree 198 grants the local government unit the right to operate the water district,” the lawyer said.
Manila Standard learned that in the Negros Island Region (NIR), three other cities had been taken over by PrimeWater, the Bago City, and Himamaylan City in the south of Occidental, and Dumaguete City Water District.
The consumers of said cities have also reportedly been raising concerns over the poor services and increasing water rates of PrimeWater.
