"Chanting 'Tubig! Tubig!,' the residents, mostly wearing white shirt with text 'Tubig na naging bato pa' marched from the village church up to a park near the headquarters of United BF Homeowners Association Inc. (UBFHAI) on Banzon Street.
“'We are all dismayed by how a court was being used to deprive us of our basic right,' said Dianna Quiros, officer of the UBFHAI, referring to the order issued by the Las Piñas Regional Trial Court to restrain the Maynilad Water Services Inc. from laying down the water pipes in the subdivision.
"Calling the protest as “Walk for Water,” the residents aim to call the attention of the media, higher authorities, and the subdivision developer BF Homes Inc. (BFHI), Quiros said.
“'By seeing the huge crowd, the BFHI officials might change their mind or at least have a second thought,' she added.
"BF Homes, the largest private subdivision in the country with some 12,000 residential homes, encompasses three southern Metro Manila cities – Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Muntinlupa.
"Its homeowners have been complaining about the lack of potable water in their homes. For over two decades, they depended on water costing P90 per cubic meter being rationed by the BFHI through the water system of the Philippine Waterworks and Construction Corp. (PWCC).
Quiros said the PWCC used to supply BF Homes with water in the ’60s but stopped after 10 years when its deep wells dried up.
"Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe told reporters in a press conference that the local government will intervene by initiating the digging and pipe laying.
“We just need a request from the Maynilad and homeowners before we proceed,” he said.
He added that in two weeks’ time after a few deliberations, the city council could issue a resolution on the city government’s intervention.
"The city council of Parañaque had earlier issued a resolution authorizing the local government to exercise police power in allowing Maynilad’s construction of the water system. The BFHI responded by securing a temporary restraining order from a Las Piñas court."
(Source:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20090816-220508/Paranaque-folk-hit-TRO-on-water-project)
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