The Ozonized Water Story, Bais City
My Negros Oriental Tour: Bais City Center
Were you expecting me to tell about the dolphins, whales and sandbars?! No way, Jose! I’m sorry. The way I crossed from Malatapay to Apo Island a few days ago was still real cold-fresh on my mind. And this was still a rainy day. Would I dare go out to sea? Never! Dili ko, Ayaw ko, Nunca!!! So instead of ‘the usual’ dolphin watching and sandbar experience, I bummed around center of town. And I was not disappointed. This time, I can say, Bais is not all about the Dolphins (on Tanon Strait) nor is it just about the white sand bar (that is even part of Manjuyod anyway). Really!
Alright, before I regale you with the usual (church, plaza, city hall, etc) hear this… Bais serves FREE Ozonized Drinking Water to its constituents. And they don’t only have one but two water refilling stations for that! Interesting! Yes, interesting at least to me since this was the first time I have seen such a free thing in any of the places I have visited in this country. Of course, I went near to watch and witness how it happens – this is the refilling station at the town plaza called the Bais City Auditorium. The station looks like a normal commercial water station anywhere. The guys working there have uniforms and were wearing clinical masks! And I was fortunate at least 3 folks came to refill their bottles while I was there! Its not a free-for-all actually, if you were thinking that! There is some kind of qualification, organization and control. I learned that from both those who were getting their free drinking water supply and the folks who man the station.
The free drinking water is only for Bais City’s indigent families. How’d they sort that out? Well, the city’s social welfare office determined that ahead of time. Families were identified and given something like a log card for them to draw their free drinking water. So when they go to the station, no log card, no water! I asked what and why the heck for. One of the recipients who was filling up a the time told me that the two stations cannot serve all residents of the whole city and the ‘ozonization’ takes some process so the precious drinking water is not like a spring or faucet with unlimited supply for anyone anytime. Oo nga naman hehe! Then I realized… who says anyway that being poor does not have its advantages hehe! Tinarayan yata ako?! Hindi naman hehe!
There are/were issues and oh my… some are/were quite perplexing!
Okay, so you thought you were not indigent? No free ozonized drinking water – that’s automatic! You thought you were indigent and the social welfare office did not think so? No free ozonized drinking water hehe - even if you cry your eyes out with blood hahaha! You have lots of money and want to buy the ozonized drinking water? No can do, it’s not for sale and you don’t have the indigents’ log card! You have fabricated a bogus log card? You may get away with it but not for long. ‘Tsismis’ anywhere in this country is one of the most effective ways of communication. As we all say… the ground has ears and news has wings (may taenga ang lupa, may pakpak ang balita). Some have been caught and put to ridicule, so the attendant told me. You are family or friend of the folks at social welfare office? Uh well, the refilling station attendants’ lips are sealed… with a naughty smile that turns into a grin!
One interesting fact that they told me… once in the very near past (with this ozonized ek ek already operational, the city’s water supply was declared one of the most dangerous in the province due to high concentrations of the e-coli virus - the city’s water district apparently messed up their filtration processes. Guess who were most of the victims? Hahaha yes, the middle class and the rich who religiously paid their water bills for their tap that no one really knows how done! Certainly none of the indigents had a problem as they have up to 15 gallons of ozonized drinking water each week. Yep, that’s 3 bottles of those big blue transparent plastic containers that we commonly see around! Yeah, shame on the water district that I learned even sued the city government when those 2 ozone things were put up, claiming they would lose revenue blah blah whatever! Revenue mo diha… tarunga na ninyo oi!
Here’s more for the titillating fun of the story… some of these indigents who don’t consume their weekly quota have attempted to become ‘entrepreneurs’ by selling their excess to the ‘almost indigent but did not qualify’. They were successful for a few days but were quelled by the power of “tsismis” hehe! Am sure those who will attempt in the future will suffer the same fate!
See?! Who says Bais City is all about dolphins and white-sand bars?! Ah, lets stop there for I hied off back to Tanjay and Pamplona! Though I will have more of Bais, promise!
If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
Alright, before I regale you with the usual (church, plaza, city hall, etc) hear this… Bais serves FREE Ozonized Drinking Water to its constituents. And they don’t only have one but two water refilling stations for that! Interesting! Yes, interesting at least to me since this was the first time I have seen such a free thing in any of the places I have visited in this country. Of course, I went near to watch and witness how it happens – this is the refilling station at the town plaza called the Bais City Auditorium. The station looks like a normal commercial water station anywhere. The guys working there have uniforms and were wearing clinical masks! And I was fortunate at least 3 folks came to refill their bottles while I was there! Its not a free-for-all actually, if you were thinking that! There is some kind of qualification, organization and control. I learned that from both those who were getting their free drinking water supply and the folks who man the station.The free drinking water is only for Bais City’s indigent families. How’d they sort that out? Well, the city’s social welfare office determined that ahead of time. Families were identified and given something like a log card for them to draw their free drinking water. So when they go to the station, no log card, no water! I asked what and why the heck for. One of the recipients who was filling up a the time told me that the two stations cannot serve all residents of the whole city and the ‘ozonization’ takes some process so the precious drinking water is not like a spring or faucet with unlimited supply for anyone anytime. Oo nga naman hehe! Then I realized… who says anyway that being poor does not have its advantages hehe! Tinarayan yata ako?! Hindi naman hehe!
There are/were issues and oh my… some are/were quite perplexing!
Okay, so you thought you were not indigent? No free ozonized drinking water – that’s automatic! You thought you were indigent and the social welfare office did not think so? No free ozonized drinking water hehe - even if you cry your eyes out with blood hahaha! You have lots of money and want to buy the ozonized drinking water? No can do, it’s not for sale and you don’t have the indigents’ log card! You have fabricated a bogus log card? You may get away with it but not for long. ‘Tsismis’ anywhere in this country is one of the most effective ways of communication. As we all say… the ground has ears and news has wings (may taenga ang lupa, may pakpak ang balita). Some have been caught and put to ridicule, so the attendant told me. You are family or friend of the folks at social welfare office? Uh well, the refilling station attendants’ lips are sealed… with a naughty smile that turns into a grin!One interesting fact that they told me… once in the very near past (with this ozonized ek ek already operational, the city’s water supply was declared one of the most dangerous in the province due to high concentrations of the e-coli virus - the city’s water district apparently messed up their filtration processes. Guess who were most of the victims? Hahaha yes, the middle class and the rich who religiously paid their water bills for their tap that no one really knows how done! Certainly none of the indigents had a problem as they have up to 15 gallons of ozonized drinking water each week. Yep, that’s 3 bottles of those big blue transparent plastic containers that we commonly see around! Yeah, shame on the water district that I learned even sued the city government when those 2 ozone things were put up, claiming they would lose revenue blah blah whatever! Revenue mo diha… tarunga na ninyo oi!
Here’s more for the titillating fun of the story… some of these indigents who don’t consume their weekly quota have attempted to become ‘entrepreneurs’ by selling their excess to the ‘almost indigent but did not qualify’. They were successful for a few days but were quelled by the power of “tsismis” hehe! Am sure those who will attempt in the future will suffer the same fate!See?! Who says Bais City is all about dolphins and white-sand bars?! Ah, lets stop there for I hied off back to Tanjay and Pamplona! Though I will have more of Bais, promise!
If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
Great post, love it! haha Anyway, today I had a big luck and want to share it with everyone - I finally found a way to make cheap calls to my cousin Becky in Philippines:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.briing.com/cheap-calls/philippines.php
If you're in the UK like me, you can call cheaply to Philippines and all over the world! :)