Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI) has committed to immediately restore water supply to Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) as soon as the latter returns to the negotiating table and shows seriousness in resolving the issue on unpaid bills and rate adjustments.
In a statement on Friday, COBI said after painful deliberation, it decided jointly with Rio Verde to cut off water supply to COWD “because we felt that is the only way COWD would take the matter seriously.”
“The decision to cut-off supply of water to COWD is something that we do not take lightly. This is why we exhausted all possible means to resolve the issue, including requesting mediation by LWUA,” COBI said.
COBI added it invested on the premise that COWD will make true on its promise to comply with its contractual obligations, which sadly they did not.
COBI said it expressed willingness to accept settlement of payment in tranches so the parties can then proceed to amicably discuss the disputed portion of the claim.
The latest attempt to amicably settle in a meeting scheduled April 30 failed due to lack of quorum.
Instead, the city council issued on May 1 Resolution 2024-723 urging the management of COBI , Metro Pacific Water and Andrew Pangilinan, COBI president,
to explain why they should not be declared as persona non-grata in the City of Cagayan de Oro for its decision to cut off the bulk water supply to COWD.
“We are surprised to learn that we are now being asked to explain why we should not be declared persona non grata when: (a) we are the ones who are exerting all efforts to resolve the dispute amicably, and it is COWD which impeded discussions through lack of representation, and this decision to cut-off supply to COWD was made together with Rio Verde, and we invested heavily and is legally operating in CDO.
“We fully agree with statements made by some members of this Honorable Council that water security is very important. However, this comes with a cost as treating and supplying water requires massive investments, which we did for the sake of the Cagayanons,” COBI said.
