Balilihan mayor Pureza Veloso-Chatto is asking for fairness and let the town operate its waterworks system in the face of the recent developments.
She also questioned the way the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) cancelled the town’s conditional water permit (CWP), while giving the chance to a water distributor to explain why its CWP should not be cancelled.
The mayor aired her sentiments in a Facebook post on July 18, 2022.
The CWP of Balilihan was cancelled outright due to a problem on the diversion point, according to the mayor.
The mayor continued that the NWRB has ordered Richli Water to explain, following a show cause order, why its CWP should not be cancelled even there is an alleged error in its diversion point as indicated in its water permit application (WPA).
“While the CWP of Balilihan was cancelled outright by NWRB for an “error” in exact location of diversion point of our water source, Richli was issued a Show Cause Order to explain why their CWP in Bugwak Spring should not be cancelled given the fact that their diversion point is kilometers far away from Bugwak. Ngano kaha?” the mayor stated in her post.
As this developed, she reiterated to continue working for the dream of the people of her town to have a reliable waterworks system.
“We have all the reason to remain steadfast in fighting for what is due to our people!”
Moreover, the mayor called for fairness when it comes to resolving issues as she insisted that she is not looking for trouble with Richli Water and urged the water company to finally develop its water project in the said town and finally provide the people the option of which water service to subscribe to.
“Ang Balilihan, dili gustong makig-away sa Richli. Fair play lang ta. Sunod lang ta sa proceso sa gobyerno. Gamita lang ng inyong water permit and give the water consumers the option to choose kun pribado ba ilang gusto o gobyerno ba.,” she said.
Likewise, the mayor ended her post requesting all those involved to refrain from hindering the progress of Balilihan’s centralized bulk water supply project, which is funded by the National Government for P90 million and nears completion.