By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – 60 employees of the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) were allegedly barred from entering the utility firm Monday after their posts were declared “redundant” by the Board of Directors.
Baciwa Employees Union President Leny Espina told reporters the news came as a surprise.
Espina claimed that no termination order was issued at all.
This, she said, is an offshoot of the joint venture between Baciwa and PrimeWater which took over the water utility firms operations last November 16, 2020.
Earlier, Baciwa acting general manager Michael Soliva issued an office order that the 60 employees have been declared “redundant” by the Baciwa board via a resolution on December 23, 2020 and terminated effective December 31, 2020.
In a statement, the Baciwa Employees Union said, “We are not leaving, we will not give up.”
The statement added that the employees who opted to remain employed by Baciwa were declared redundant after they declined two options offered to them – apply for employment by PrimeWater as a private entity or accept the early retirement incentive plan.
“We stand firm in our belief that the grounds cited by the Board of Directors for our supposed ‘redundancy’ have no basis in fact and in law and relies on the opinion of an agency which, because it was party to what, for all intents, was the surrender of public service to private interests, can hardly be relied on to undertake a sober and unbiased assessment of the situation,” the union said.
It further said that “while we acknowledge that the Board is the policy-making body, it is our conviction that it does not possess the authority to dictate our terms of employment, which are subject to and protected by the Civil Service.”
They further declared: “We resolve to remain true to our vows as public servants: we are not leaving, we will not give up!”
