Legal basis for Primewater rate hike in Pampanga already invalid — COA
BY PETER TABINGO
THE water rate hike implemented by Primewater in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga starting November 2021 no longer has any legal basis following the recall by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) of its 2019 opinion that the application for tariff adjustment should be filed with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).
State auditors pointed this out in its 2023 audit report on the City of San Fernando Water District (CSFWD) released last February 28. The report can be downloaded from the official website of the Commission on Audit (COA).
Primewater Infrastructure Corp. took over the financing, development, rehabilitation, expansion, operation, and maintenance of the city’s water system after signing a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the CSFWD on October 14, 2016.
Although the JVA provided that applications for rate adjustments would be filed with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) pursuant to Section 63 of Presidential Decree No, 198, Primewater submitted its application instead to the NWRB after getting the nod of the OGCC.
On January 6, 2021, the NWRB executive director granted Primewater provisional authority to impose a 25 percent water bill increase.
An initial 15 percent increase took effect starting November 2021, with the remaining 10 percent supposed to be imposed by April 2022. The additional 10 percent did not push through in the absence of a detailed review.
The direct effect was an increase of the 10 cubic meters of consumption from P207 to P238.
However, on July 25, 2023, the OGCC issued Opinion No. 144 stating that it is the LWUA that has the “primary jurisdiction and authority” to review water tariff rates, effectively invalidating Opinion No. 150 issued on July 5, 2019 which assigned such authority to the NWRB.
On August 8, 2023, the LWUA also issued Memorandum Circular No. 006-23 reminding all water districts that under existing laws, it has primary jurisdiction and authority to review water tariff rates “including those with existing JVAs.”
Based on these recent issuances by the OGCC and the LWUA, the COA recommended that the CSFWD management and Board of Directors submit the water rate adjustment being implemented by Primewater to the LWUA for an ex-post facto review.
The report said the management and the BOD agreed to initiate the review “as soon as possible to protect public interest.”
GOCC eyed for abolition since 2008 still in limbo: COA
BY Peter Tabingo
THE Commission on Audit has urged the management of the National Development Company (NDC)-Philippine Infrastructure Corp. (NPIC) to specify its plans for the inactive government firm, noting that plans for its dissolution have been shelved for the past 15 years.
In a report released February 28, 2024, state auditors noted that on May 9, 2008, the NPIC Board of Directors had passed a resolution to shorten its corporate life following years of posting losses due to expenses outpacing its income.
The NPIC was created in 2005 as a subsidiary of the NDC with the primary mandate to “develop, package, structure, and manage investments in infrastructure and commercial ventures” of its parent company.
However, from 2005 to 2007, the NPIC reported earnings of only P11 million while incurring P28.816 million in expenses or net losses amounting to P17.81 million.
In 2009, it applied with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for tax clearance preparatory to its dissolution, cessation or registration, and cancellation of its Tax Identification Number (TIN).
However, when the Aquino administration declared the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as a priority agenda, the NDC decided to defer the planned dissolution of NPIC in the hope that it could be a vehicle for the implementation of PPP projects.
But in 2013, the Governance Commission for GOCCs recommended the dissolution of several government corporations to the Office of the President, including the NPIC.
At the intercession of the NDC, however, the OP did not bring down the axe on the NPIC.
“The NPIC, however, was neither tapped as a vehicle in the implementation of PPP projects nor any infrastructure projects of the government. In 2018, the GCG classified the NPIC as a non-operational/inactive GOCC,” the audit team said.
A plan to start a Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) in 2018 breathed new life into the dormant firm after the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) endorsed the project.
The following year, a memorandum of agreement was executed between the NDC and the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute to collaborate in the establishment of the GIF.
To date, however, no other significant development has been reported about the proposal.
Auditors noted that between being declared inactive in 2008 to 2023, the NPIC continued to incur expenses totaling P47.24 million although it reported income of P30.9 million for a net loss of P16.34 million.
Without any immediate potential for reactivation, the COA said the NPIC should be merged with another GOCC or simply abolished to preserve its remaining assets and transfer them for more efficient use by another government agency.
“The assets and resources of the said corporation have been practically sleeping/dormant for the past 16 years. Had NPIC been reactivated and used or, if abolished, the recipient of its assets and resources would be able to utilize and it should have generated profit …for the best interest of the public,” the COA pointed out.
El Niño damage to agriculture now at P941.73M — NDRRMC
BY VICTOR REYES
THE National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported the EL Niño weather phenomenon has caused P941.73 million in damage to the agriculture sector as of yesterday.
In a situation report, the NDRRMC said Western Visayas incurred more than half of the damage at P564.05 million, followed by Mimaropa (P319.75 million), Ilocos region (P54.45 million), Calabarzon (P2.75 million), and Zamboanga Peninsula (P.71 million).
The NDRRMC said the El Niño’s agricultural damage on Wednesday was only at P865.16 million.
The increase in the cost of damage was due to the one-day additional losses in Western Visayas reported at P76.57 million.
The NDRRMC said the El Niño has affected 14,854.86 hectares of crops and 16,709 farmers and fisherfolks.
The El Niño weather phenomenon increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions that may lead to dry spells and droughts.
In Oriental Mindoro, the municipality of Bulalacao passed a resolution last Monday declaring a state of calamity due to El Niño.
The Philippine Air Force on Wednesday said it conducted cloud seeding operations in Cagayan and Isabela last Sunday and Monday to help mitigate the effects of El Niño.
Air Force spokeswoman Col. Maria Consuelo Castillo said the operation was conducted in coordination with the Department of Agriculture-Cagayan Valley and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management.
“Utilizing a civilian Piper Navajo aircraft, personnel of the 900th AFWG (Air Force Weather Group) successfully dispersed over 800 kilograms of sodium chloride onto cloud formations across southern Cagayan and northern Isabela on February 25 and 26,” said Castillo.
“Cloud seeding operations are being conducted to supplement crop water needs during periods of low rainfall,” she added.
Meanwhile, the city government of San Juan yesterday pushed for the creation of water catchment systems in the city to mitigate the impacts of the phenomenon to city residents.
Mayor Francis Zamora, who is the chairman of the Metro Manila Council (MMC), also proposed that local government units (LGU) in the National Capital Region pass ordinances regulating the use of inflatable pools or other activities that use a lot of water. — With Christian Oineza
Lawyers group accused of sowing disinformation
BY VICTOR REYES
THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) yesterday accused the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) of distorting facts on the death of five communist rebels in Bohol last week.
NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr said the pronouncement of NUPL that the five New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were arrested, tortured, then killed by government troops is an attempt to cover up the fact that one of the slain communist rebels was a member of the NUPL.
“Such disinformation being peddled by the group to the media and therefore the public not only violates the lawyer’s code of ethics and professional responsibility but also a deliberate travesty of justice,” Torres said in a statement.
Leftist groups have raised the same line as the NUPL. The military has refuted the claim, saying the five died in an encounter with government forces in Barangay Campagao in Bilar, Bohol.
One of the five slain rebels was Hannah Jay Cesista who passed the bar exam in 2022. She finished law at the UP-Lahug Cebu campus.
The military said Cesista was a member of Anakbayan-Cebu and a representative of the NUPL-Cebu before joining the NPA’s Bohol Provincial Party Committee (BPPC) in 2020.
Torres maintained that soldiers and policemen clashed with the rebels during an operation to serve an arrest warrant against NPA leader Domingo Compoc, BPPC secretary.
Compoc, Cesista, three other NPA rebels, and a policeman died in the encounter.
“We challenge NUPL to explain to the legal community, in particular, and to the Filipino people, in general, why one of its members was a communist terrorist. The burden of proof rests on them,” said Torres.
“There is no amount of disinformation and deception to obfuscate the evidence that one NUPL member died during a legitimate encounter between government troops and the NPA,” he added.
Torres asked how many more lives will be wasted in the “obsolete and senseless protracted war” being waged by the communist movement.
3 suspects in killing of 6 Chinese face charges
BY Ashzel Hachero
THE Department of Justice has recommended the indictment of three persons allegedly involved in the abduction and killing of six Chinese and three Filipinos in Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City last October.
In a resolution dated February 15, the DOJ panel of prosecutors held that Edgar Catapang Abarca, Eduardo Catapang Abarca and John Oliver Villanueva, also known as Carlo Acero, be charged before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court with “four counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide, four counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, one count of slight illegal detention and one count of carnapping.”
Based on the complaint filed before the DOJ by the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group Luzon Field Unit last December 29, the three were allegedly behind the October 30 abduction of the victims and the subsequent killing of the Chinese.
They were identified based on the statements of the three Filipinos released by the suspects in Calauan, Laguna a day after the abduction.
Armed with the information provided by the victims and CCTV footage showing the abduction, police were able to apprehend the three in a series of operations.
Only the remains of four of the six Chinese were recovered in different places in Rizal and Quezon provinces while the two others — a mother and her 11-year-old child — are still missing.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he had already directed state prosecutors to ensure they have an “airtight” case against the suspects.
“Assure airtight cases are filed and show no mercy in prosecuting those behind these senseless crimes,” Remulla said.
“Let’s bring to justice those responsible for these crimes,” he added.
706 inmates freed
By ASHZEL HACHERO
THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) yesterday released 706 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) as of the government’s ongoing program to decongest prison facilities across the country.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said this brings to 12,053 the total number of inmates released since President Marcos Jr. assumed power in 2022.
Catapang said the inmates came from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and the other prison and penal farms under BuCor supervision, namely the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City; Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan; Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte; and the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte.
A simple ceremony for the release of the prisoners was held at the NBP’s Social Hall in Muntinlupa City.
The released persons deprived of liberty who came from various operating prison and penal farms have been acquitted, served their maximum sentence, granted bail, granted probation and parole, and thru writ of habeas corpus,” Catapang said.
He said the release of qualified inmates is part of the agency’s overall strategy to address congestion in its prison facilities, which also includes reduction in admission, and construction and rehabilitation of new and existing jail facilities.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said more qualified inmates will be released as the DOJ and BuCor continue to streamline the process that the inmates need to do to if they are seeking pardon or parole.
Remulla said the DOJ is also working with the Public Attorneys Office, digitizing over 48,000 records of inmates with the Single Carpeta System, and simplifying the parole and clemency processes.
The NBP and the six other operating prison and penal farms of BuCor hold over 50,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 310 percent.
