CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Water shoppers in the metropolis panicked as the Cagayan de Oro Drinking water District (COWD) released a public advisory urging men and women to keep h2o in circumstance its principal provider can make very good on its threat to halt supplying it with treated water because of to a disputed credit card debt assert.
The provider, Cagayan de Oro Bulk H2o Incorporated (COBI), has offered the COWD right until Friday, April 12, to shell out around P400 million for the h2o offer, which has accumulated considering the fact that 2021 – a financial debt the water district refused to accept.
Engineer Antonio Younger, COWD general manager, explained they advised drinking water shoppers in Cagayan de Oro and elements of Misamis Oriental to store faucet h2o in anticipation of a possible 24-hour provide interruption.
Younger stated the 24-hour period would give the COWD enough time to changeover and faucet other bulk h2o suppliers.
The COWD said it has ready to deliver water to specified locations of the city in collaboration with the metropolis govt, the Bureau of Fireplace Safety, and other teams.
It stated drinking water bladders and steel tanks will be set up in strategic regions.
The COWD also reported valving strategies to channel offer to affected spots will be carried out in case COBI discontinues its provide to the h2o district.
Villages identified by the COWD to be adversely influenced involve Pagatpat, Canitoan, Higher Balulang, Upper Carmen, Patag, Bulua, Iponan, Kauswagan, Bonbon, Bayabas, and parts of Lumbia.
In the city’s next district, the COWD explained the water source in the villages of Camaman-an, Lapasan, and parts of Gusa, Cugman, and Macasandig would be affected.
The COWD also reported the neighboring villages of Igpit and Barra in Opol town, Misamis Oriental, would very likely be impacted.
The advisory was fulfilled with public criticisms directed at COWD and COBI, a agency managed by company tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Water, thanks to their failure to arrive at a settlement.
COBI, which supplies some 80,000 cubic meters of dealt with h2o to the COWD everyday, has been pressuring the drinking water district to pay back a credit card debt of a lot more than P400 million, which typically signifies the amassed rate big difference due to the fact COBI applied an maximize in its water rates in 2021.
The COWD refused to accept and pay back the amount, invoking a drive majeure clause in their 2017 agreement. The h2o district argued that the COBI charge boost during the COVID-19 pandemic was unacceptable.
Mae Shanne Angelic Siglos, a h2o shopper from Barangay Bonbon, stated, “It wouldn’t be reasonable for people to suffer just because the COWD and COBI couldn’t attain an arrangement.”
She stated her loved ones has been paying the COWD on time since the very last point they preferred was a disconnection discover.
“Unya karon tungod kay wala sila nagbayad sa ilang dues sa pagkuha nila sa h2o source, kami na gyud ang magazine-antos,” Siglos explained on Friday, April 12.
(Now, because they have not been shelling out their dues to their source of h2o, we will be the ones to go through.)
She appealed to COWD and COBI to discover a option for the sake of the city’s drinking water buyers.
Attorney Roberto Rodrigo, senior authorized counsel for Metro Pacific Water, advised Rappler on Thursday that COBI has not yet made the decision to vacation resort to disconnection with finality.
“We will only vacation resort to slicing the drinking water source as our final option… That is why we would like to give the drinking water district every prospect,” Rodrigo said.
He said COBI executives have been continue to looking ahead to assembly with their COWD counterparts alongside with associates from the Regional H2o Utilities Administration (LWUA) prior to Saturday, April 13. – Rappler.com