BY CRIS DIAZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Mayor Rolando Uy declared Cagayan de Oro City under state of emergency after the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI) cuts water supply to Cagayan de Oro’s about 800,000 population early Tuesday morning.
Uy signed Executive Order No. 196-2024 dated May 1, 2024 declaring Cagayan de Oro City under the state of emergency and ordered the activation of the city’s Incident Management Team (IMT) to make sure that water supply in the city continues.
Andrew Pangilinan, the COBI President, ordered the cutting of water supply after a last minute negotiation with the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) and representatives from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) bogged down Monday night.
Pangilinan urged COWD to pay the water bill it “owed” to COBI amounting to P 426 million, which COWD denied and refused to settle.
As a result COBI finally cut off its bulk water supply past 12:00 midnight Monday, which was aborted after Uy ordered the Task Force Oro, an integrated law enforcers from the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police (PNP), to secure the bulk water pipes that distributes water to about 170,000 water subscribers in Cagayan de Oro City.
The City Council is scheduled to hold an emergency session Tuesday night (May 1, 2024) to legislate measures that would authorize COWD to get bulk water supply directly from Rio Verde Water Consortium Inc., the main bulk water supplier for COBI.
The City Council would also tackle on measures that would authorize and allow the City Mayor to exercise extra power under the state of emergency and define the duration of the state of emergency.
The water issue started when COBI insisted on collecting water rates hike as “stipulated” in the contract between COBI and COWD, which city officials found out disadvantageous to the city and its residents. -0-
