MAYOR Eric C. Codilla told Lide Management Corp. (LMC) to close down its pumping sta-tions in Salvacion and Sto. Niño, this city if it continues to refuse to pay water extraction fees imposed by the local government unit (LGU). The mayor’s mood switched into a fighting stance when he talked about the LMC problem in his State of the City Address last Feb. 23.
Mayor Codilla was referring to the P80 million back payments owed by LMC based on Ordinance No. 149 passed on Sept. 25, 2008 which imposes regulatory fees on water extraction. But LMC wouldn’t pay pending the outcome of a case it filed in February 2009 at the Court of Appeals (CA) questioning the legality of the ordinance.
As the operator of Leyte Industrial Development Estate (Lide), LMC provides water to the entire 425-hectare special economic zone in Isabel town. It sources its water supply from Ormoc and in the process also distributes water to barangays passed by the 47-km. pipeline.
What got Mayor Codilla’s goat is LMC’s apathy on its ultimatum. The company first set a meeting with the LGU last Jan. 24 which it moved to Feb. 1. The LGU was asked for another postponement, this time on Feb. 6, only to be told the day itself that LMC officials still have to meet.
LMC in its petition to the CA dismissed the ordinance as a money-making venture for the LGU. To this Mayor Codilla gave out a message to LMC in his speech: “Ayaw na lang na bayri ang P80 million, hawa na lang diha sa Salvacion. Wa ta mag-apas sa kuwarta.”
The mayor said the money is only a secondary issue and his primary concern is the protection of Salvacion and Sto. Niño (where LMC operates eight pumping stations) from ill-effects of over-extraction like soil subsidence and saltwater intrusion in the aquifer.
LMC claims it draws out 13,000-14,000 cu.m. of water a day. But the LGU suspects the figure is downscaled by more than half and believes 28,967.40 cu.m. a day are being extracted based on projections made by DKK, the water consultant hired by LMC itself which reported that the company sucked 20,000 cu.m. a day during the mid-‘90s.
(West Leyte Weekly Express issue of Feb. 20-26, 2012)
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