CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) said on Tuesday, January 16, that water supply in barangays in the western part of this city may be affected once the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI) cuts allocation due to a P400-million debt.
THE Cagayan de Oro City Water District office on Corrales Ave. (Franck Dick Rosete)
Engr. Antonio Young, general manager of COWD, said they received a notice from supplier COBI ordering them to settle their obligation within 30 days from date of receipt on December 15 and non-payment would result in the immediate halt to supply until full payment.
If the water supply is cut, Young said all barangays in the first district may be affected, but not all households would experience low pressure to no water connection during peak hours. In the second district, if COBI stops water supply, only Barangays Camaman-an and Lapasan would be affected.
“We have ways because we already encountered that during typhoons ‘Sendong’ and ‘Vinta,’ where the supply was lost, only our own,” Young said in a press conference. “We can install public faucets, water delivery, and water rationing,” he added.
The COBI has been supplying 80,000 cubic meters or almost 50 percent of this city’s water supply and has a 70 percent supply capacity in the first district.
COWD said COBI increased its rate from P16.60 to P20.57 per cubic meter in 2021 but they requested non-implementation of the measure by invoking force majeure due to the pandemic.
They are still paying COBI P16.60 per cubic meter. The over P400 million billed to COWD is composed of the accumulated amount from the price difference of COBI’s P20.57 increase per cubic meter from 2021 to 2023 which is more or less P360 million, including COWD’s bill for September and October last year.
CAGAYAN de Oro City Water District General Manager Engr. Antonio Young answers questions from the media during a press conference at their office on Corrales Ave., Cagayan de Oro City on Tuesday. (Franck Dick Rosete)
Young said that they already paid their September and October bills last December and they are now targeting paying their November payables which they received in mid-December, before the end of this month.
COBI’s rate adjustment was not illegal since this was stated in their contract with COWD where they can adjust their tariff every three years based on the average consumer price index. The COWD’s invocation of force majeure was also based on the Bulk Water Supply Agreement.
Young said that both parties shall resolve the notice of dispute within 20 business days. If such dispute is not resolved within the time frame from the date of its referral to the chief executive officers of the parties, the dispute shall be resolved by arbitration.
However, this has not escalated to arbitration, he said, despite being beyond the time frame as they are still negotiating. But it was not continued because of the limited movement during the pandemic.
Young said they will still continue their negotiations with COBI and tapped the city government to help them ask the water supplier not to implement a disconnection as COWD believes that the one-month arrears were not grounds for the measure.
Both parties conducted a meeting on January 12 and he said they are awaiting COBI’s official reply and hoping for a positive response.
Mayor Rolando Uy here said in an interview on Monday, January 15, that he will try to ask COBI not to stop their supply once he gets further details about the COWD’s payables as this could affect consumers.