The sacked Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) employees are demanding that the utility firm give them their jobs back.
At a press conference Monday, August 30, Leny Espina, BACIWA Employees Union president, said they will continue to “pursue what is just and right.”
“We demand for our immediate reinstatement. The longer we are denied our right, the more this comes at the expense of the consumers,” she said.
The employees were separated from BACIWA effective Dec. 31, 2020.
Earlier, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in Western Visayas ordered BACIWA to reinstate the terminated workers and to pay their back wages.
The CSC resolution came eight months after the positions of the 60 workers were declared redundant by the BACIWA board after its joint venture agreement (JVA) with PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. (PrimeWater), which is owned by the Villar family.
PrimeWater took over the operations of BACIWA in November 2020.
The sacked employees were given options to either re-apply with PrimeWater or avail of the early retirement package, which they refused.
Espina said they are calling the attention of the BACIWA board “to take responsibility for the consequences of their previous self-serving exploits.”
It is about time that they are held accountable for the damages that they have caused the employees, the water district, and the people of Bacolod City, she added.
She stressed that is a God-given natural resource that should be utilized and preserved for the people, not a commodity to be profited from by vested interests.
They also called for the intervention of local officials, especially Mayor Evelio Leonardia, on their reinstatement as it involves the future of Bacolodnons, as the members of the board were his appointees.
BACIWA, in a statement, said that they intend to avail of the appropriate legal remedies provided in the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in Civil Cases of the CSC and that the CSC decision is not yet final and executory.
“BACIWA also stands firm with its decision to declare the positions of the former employees redundant through BACIWA Resolution No. 172,” it said.
BACIWA also explained through a series of consultations, and general assemblies with the terminated employees that they have the option to be absorbed by PrimeWater or avail of early retirement benefits. Almost 400 employees chose to be either absorbed by PrimeWater or retire with benefits, the statement said.
It added that some of the terminated employees have already availed of their retirement packages.
BACIWA reiterated it complied with opinions from the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, its statutory legal counsel, in declaring the redundancy.*