City Engineering Office (CEO) head, Engr. Teodoro Estoque admitted that there was indeed lack of feedback coming from his office to a Tagbilaran resident/complainant regarding the issue of the damage caused by the excavation done by PLDT.
Estoque made the statement in a follow-up telephone interview on Aug 3, 2022 after conducting a probe regarding the inability of the said office to provide feedback on its action taken regarding the accidental damage caused by the excavation of the telecoms company PLDT and provide such information to the Tagbilaran resident/complainant.
The city engineer said that he assigned a certain Engr. Joseph Balatero to check on the report logged by The Bohol Tribune’s columnist and section editor Gloria Araneta on July 28, 2022 stating that water supply in her area was halted after the PLDT allegedly damaged a water pipe.
Reports say that the water supply in the said area was suspended because of the alleged damage of the water pipe of Bohol Water Utilities Inc. (BWUI).
City Engr. Estoque said he was told that Balatero went to the site and Balatero saw indeed that the PLDT excavation damaged the water pipe of BWUI.
The City Engineer explained further that his office’s action was limited to the coordination between BWUI and PLDT and Balaterio reportedly coordinated with the 2 companies to fix the problem.
However, Estoque said that Balatero failed to inform him (Estoque) of his (Balatero) action, thus leading to the inability of the office to provide feedback to Araneta regarding the issue, whether or not it was resolved.
Estoque said that he is looking at issuing a warning to Balatero so that this incident of failure to provide feedback shall not happen again.
Moreover, the City Engineer is also inclined to suspend PLDT’s excavation permit if the latter continues to cause damage of the water pipes to the detriment of the water consumers.
The issue stems from PLDT allegedly causing damage to the water pipe of BWUI on July 28, 2022 and the matter was reported by Araneta to the CEO. The CEO through Estoque assured Araneta that a team will be immediately dispatched to the affected area and feedback regarding the matter will definitely be relayed to Araneta.
However, there was no feedback provided by the CEO to Araneta so the latter, due to the urgency of the matter, decided to get a private plumber to fix the problem.
Araneta’s decision was arrived at after she learned that BWUI didn’t have anything to do with the damage of the water pipe and after realizing that her water meter was shut down leaving ample water endlessly oozing after turning the water meter valve on. This led to a conclusion that there was damage caused to the water pipes.
Moreover, an employee of BWUI on July 28, 2022 told Araneta that there was nothing wrong with her water connection.
Likewise, Araneta was waiting for a feedback from Estoque as she (Araneta) was informed that there was nothing wrong with the water connection.
As Araneta failed to receive any feedback/action taken regarding her plight, she decided to hire the services of a private plumber.
The sad part is that Araneta’s home suffered another zero water pressure on Aug. 1, 2022 when another incident of damage on the water pipe allegedly took place.
The latest incident led to the shut down of 3 pumping units causing no water service to barangays Dampas, Poblacion 1, 2, 3.