The Metro Dumaguete Water (MDW) has handed over mobile phones to the heads of this city’s 30 villages under its barangay hotline project which is seen to speed up reporting and taking action on water woes, crimes, and other concerns.

MDW is a joint venture of the Dumaguete City Water District (DCWD) and Metro Pacific Water and has taken over the operations of the DCWD, upgrading and rehabilitating this capital city’s water supply system.

Kate Young Ricardo, the spokesperson of MDW, told the Philippine News Agency on Wednesday that the barangay hotline project is now up and running following the turnover of the cellular phones on Monday during the Liga ng mga Barangay meeting.

“This is a project in partnership with our sister company, PLDT-Smart Communications, who also gave the SIM cards for free plus a PHP300 start-up load per barangay,” she said.

MDW chief operating officer David Berba said the program “aims to establish an easier and faster line of communication between the barangays and MDW and other agencies, and most of all the barangay constituents.”

The barangays have each been assigned their individual hotline numbers and “we encourage them to publicize it so their constituents may know these numbers,” he added.

The MDW will also be putting up tarpaulins in the barangay halls with the hotline numbers of each village.

“The barangay hotline number will be helpful not only in terms of reporting of water leakages involving MDW but also for peace and order and anti-criminality as well as administrative concerns,” Ricardo said.
(PNA)