The privatization of Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) in the hands of Prime Water, the corporation owned by the Villar family, under a 25-year Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) in the name of a fraudulent and anti-people Public-Private Partnership (PPP) manifests the neoliberal policy of the Duterte regime.

According to Ka Bayani Obrero, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF) – Negros, Sen. Cynthia Villar and her family are part of Duterte’s clique running the government like a business in favor of their interests.

“The Duterte regime giving the Villar family free rein over the monopoly of public services is not to give service but to accumulate huge profits wherein according to data, 70 water utilities are already managed by Prime Water in the whole country,” said Obrero.

The 25-year JVA of the BACIWA Board of Directors (BOD) for Prime Water to manage its day-to-day operations, as stated by NDF-Negros in its statement, will only aggravate the already dire conditions of consumers when water tariff will increase on 2022 due to 12% added VAT. However, poor service quality will remain like those recorded in municipalities and cities under the control of Prime Water. Hundreds of jobs of BACIWA employees will be dislocated and they will lose their livelihood.

Obrero added that the JVA is downright questionable specially because it did not go through correct and proper public consultation. The people is weighed down by the oppressive anti-people program of the Duterte regime.

According to him, the Villar family has unsatiable greed for power and wealth. They benefitted from the Rice Liberalization Law wherein Sen. Villar herself was the principal author of the law, as they are the biggest rice importer in the country; and also their construction empire merits from projects under the Build, Build, Build program of the regime.

Obrero insisted that quality and pro-people public services will not be felt while the country is dominated by a neoliberal economic policy implemented by a corrupt, puppet, inutile and tyrannical Duterte regime along with his lackeys.

“Quality, affordable and free public service can only be achieved through advancing the interest of the broad masses of the people,” he said.

The NDF-Negros challenged the ranks of consumers and the broad oppressed masses to heighten and intensify various forms of struggle and resistance against privatization of social services especially water and the liberalization of the sugar industry, rice and other anti-people programs under neoliberal policies. Step up the raging struggle of the oppressed people to overthrow the oppressive, traitor and tyrannical US-Duterte regime.###