The 60 terminated employees of the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) were barred from entering the premises of the utility firm this morning, January 4.
The employees, whose positions were declared redundant by the Board of Directors following the joint venture agreement (JVA) between BACIWA and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. (PrimeWater) owned by the Villar family, were supposed to report for duty on the first day of the year.
Leny Espina, president of the BACIWA Employees Union, said they were shocked with the decision to terminate them, and that they went to the utility firm today, January 4, to work.
She maintained that their termination was illegal and that the terms of their employment were protected by the Civil Service Commission.
The union earlier said that the terminated employees declined the two options offered to them – apply for employment with PrimeWater as a private entity or accept an early retirement incentive plan.
PrimeWater took over the operations of BACIWA on November 16.
The affected employees were separated from BACIWA effective December 31.
The terminated employees asked to meet with BACIWA acting general manager Michael Soliva this morning, who was unavailable.
They then proceeded to Police Station 1 to have the incident recorded. They also consulted with their lawyer on what to do next.
Soliva said the employees were officially separated from BACIWA and that they can only go to the office to turn over their accountabilities and process their clearances, and not to report for work.
He stressed that the termination of the employees was not illegal.
He also said that his office is always open to them, but he discouraged the mass gathering.
Only five of them per day will be allowed to enter BACIWA to turn over their accountabilities and process their clearances, he said.*