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FDC urges Davao communities to assert right to water


MANILA, Philippines - Debt watchdog group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) urged communities in Davao over the weekend to assert their right to water amid a squabble between water providers there. FDC said the squabble of Hydro-Electric Development Corporation (HEDCOR) and Davao City Water District (DCWD) over water rights in Tamugan River threatens to deny residents of such right. "Our right to water ends where privatization of water distribution begins. We should never let these corporations and other entities curtail and violate our rights by controlling this basic service, imposing loans and transactions, and implementing projects in the name of public service while passing-on the burden of loan repayments to poor taxpayers and consumers who will bear the brunt of increased water rates," FDC Davao chairman Salvador Feranil said in a statement on the FDC website. Recently, the Aboitiz-owned hydroelectric company plans to build a P7-billion 34-MW hydroelectric plant in Tamugan, which will get in the way of DCWD's P1.3-billion pipe-laying project. On the other hand, DCWD applied for a P100-million loan for the maintenance of water distribution lines and watershed rehabilitation in the said river. HEDCOR argued they can also provide water while answering the anticipated power crisis for the next two years, but DCWD said they will not surrender on their authority since the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973 says that water is always given priority over power. The FDC said communities surrounding the river are reluctant on the plans of the two clashing entities. Tom Villarin, executive director of SIAD Initiatives in Mindanao–Convergence for Asset Reform and Regional Development (SIMCARRD), an FDC board member, backed up this reluctance. "Communities should speak up; their right to water must be prioritized in any circumstances, more so in these times wherein big companies are eyeing basic services such as water distribution and power generation," he said. Feranil also lamented that basic service such as water distribution should not be put in the hands of private corporations and instead should remain state-managed wherein the consumers have better chances of putting their concerns in the forefront. Partido ng Manggagawa Davao Jong Pacanot, another FDC Davao board member, added that "we neither take side with HEDCOR nor DCWD." "FDC Davao is on the side of approximately 30,000 waterless households in the affected district and roughly a million consumers in the city who will feel the costs of these projects through water rate hikes," he said. Also, FDC Davao suggested that a community-based water distribution system could be an option for a democratized water service in the city. It said this will serve more to the public interest and will slim-down the chances of privatization of water utilities which will kill the peoples' right to water. - GMANews.TV
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