THE joint venture agreement entered into by the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) and Primewater Infrastructure Corp. (PIC) is clearly regular, valid and legal, Baciwa Board Chairman Lorendo Dilag said in a statement Thursday, October 8.
"In OGCC Opinion No. 126, Series of 2020, the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) entered into by Baciwa with PIC Corp. shall constitute legal, valid, and binding obligations and are enforceable according to its terms and conditions. Baciwa has also complied with all the suggestions and recommendations of the OGCC in its contract review as affirmed by GCC Elpidio J. Vega on his August 6, 2020 letter to me," Dilag stated, adding "the JVA is advantageous and beneficial to the employees."
The Joint Venture Agreement will start on November 1.
"Contrary to the claim of the union, the JVA provisions took care of the Baciwa employees under this project. All employees who are not included in the Baciwa workforce needed for the remaining functions of the water district shall be absorbed by Primewater without diminution of salaries and shall carry with them the length of service rendered in Baciwa. Most of the employees shall receive an increased basic pay and additional benefits especially those hired by Baciwa after December 31, 1999. Retiring employees shall also be given appropriate gratuity pays as agreed in the JVA," he said.
"Aside from the series of employees' assemblies and orientations, the process was individually explained to each employee, however for those who refuse to listen or understand, no amount of explanation can satisfy them. Every employee shall be assured security of tenure just like in government service. No employee can be dismissed from work except for a just or authorized cause, and only after due process," he added.
"As what Mr. Ernie Cecilia of Manila Times wrote, incumbency, seniority and longevity used to be the norms in the job market. Today, the market has rendered these irrelevant. Workers must now have the right competencies -- knowledge, skills, attitudes, aptitudes. The real security of tenure consists of one's ability to develop relevant skills that allow him or her to perform a variety of work, even as he or she moves from one position, department, company or country to another," Dilag noted.
"In reiteration, the joint venture of Baciwa with Primewater is primarily aimed to improve the services of the water district to its consumers, without abandoning its interest and that of its employees. We cannot please everybody but we also cannot be held captive by the minority who merely don't want to be removed from their comfort zones. As what the Indian motivational speaker Sukant Ratnakar said and I quote, 'Resistance to change is our fine ability to create reasons to crib and criticize'", the Baciwa official said.
