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BY MAE SINGUAY
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January 28, 2018
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Ramos suggests legislative inquiry into Baciwa’s fee hike
BACOLOD City – Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. has withdrawn his proposed resolution requesting the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) to explain the P13 increase in its Meter Repair and Maintenance Fee (MRMF).
The MRMF, which was renamed the Service Connection and Maintenance Fee, is a monthly fee that Baciwa concessionaires must pay starting February, according to a Jan. 16 notice that Baciwa general manager Juliana Carbon issued.
The fee originally cost only P2.
Labor group Water Watch led by its secretary-general Wennie Sancho earlier questioned the fee increase.
It called for the Baciwa management to justify the increase.
For his part, Gamboa said he pulled out his proposal before the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) after Councilor Dindo Ramos proposed a legislative inquiry.
The SP committee on energy and transportation, which Ramos chairs, will look into the maintenance fee increase.
Ramos said representatives from Baciwa and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) will be invited to the inquiry.
Ramos added that the committee must determine first the legality of the increase.
He explained that the SP approving Gamboa’s proposed resolution suggests that it “agrees with the increase.”
The legislative inquiry will be at 2p.m. on Jan. 30 at the SP session hall in the Bacolod City Government Center.
Ramos will preside in the inquiry. He said he will ask Baciwa what was their basis on increasing the maintenance fee.
As far as he knows, LWUA must approve first the increase, Ramos said.
“If there is no need for Baciwa to ask approval from LWUA, it must still show its legal basis on the increase, or any law that allows them to impose an increase,” Ramos added.
Moreover, Ramos said he will also invite in the inquiry the management of Vallacar Transit, Inc. (VTI).
VTI, the operator of Ceres buses in the province, recently imposed a fare hike.
In a statement, VTI said its fare hike was due to the successive increases in fuel prices.
Ramos said the VTI will be furthered question regarding its fare hike./PN
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