BACOLOD CITY – Personnel of Bacolod City Police Office have beefed up security at the Bacolod City Water District after its top official received threats from a former employee last week.  

Senior Supt. Edgardo Ordaniel, city police officer-in-charge, said they have identified the person behind the threats but he refused to reveal the name because an investigation is ongoing.

He said personnel of Police Station 1 have been instructed to monitor the BACIWA office along Galo-San Juan Streets.

BACIWA general manager Juliana Carbon had earlier said a letter from an unknown source was sent to her office, stating that one of their pumping stations will be set on fire and that their office will also be bombed.

Carbon said the letter also stated that she should tell BACIWA employees in the field to be cautions or they will be killed.

In another incident, Carbon said that she received a call from a woman using a pay phone near the Central Market. The caller told her that they should not ignore the letter or else a BACIWA personnel will die.

Ordaniel, who has obtained a copy of the letter, said the suspect’s motive is retaliation because the person lost his job.

He said they do not consider the threats as serious.

Before the police declared that a former employee is the suspect, Carbon said in a report that the person behind threats could be someone   affected by their massive saturation drive against illegal water connections.

A recent inspection by BACIWA showed that 32 out of   174 water connections in Barangay Granada are illegal.

Carbon said they want to stop the illegal water connections because BACIWA incurs losses because of these violations.*Nanette L. Guadalquiver