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HomeOpinionMetropac-COWD-COBI contracts smell ‘fishy’

Metropac-COWD-COBI contracts smell ‘fishy’

There is a clamor among water concessionaires in Cagayan De Oro City to review the contract entered into by the Cagayan De Oro Water District (COWD) and the Pangilinan owned Cagayan De Oro Bulk Water Incorporated (COBI).
    
Under the contract, the Pangilinan group owns 95 per cent of the COBI operation.
    
Whether the review would be conducted by a government national agency, like the Local Water Utility Authority (LWUA), or the local government unit (LGU), the water concessionaires cum consumers never-care-less.
    
What is important is that an investigation into the alleged “suspicious” contract must be carried out, in line with President Duterte’s directive to review all contracts involving Government Owned and Control Corporations (GOCC).
    
Many sensed that something is “fishy” in the COBI-COWD contract considering that the former is 95 percent owned and managed by the Metro Pacific Water Investment Corporation (Metropac). Initially, the Metropac and the COWD entered a contract for the former to engage in the “bulk water supply” business in the water district.
    
The COBI is now initially supplying the water needs of the city’s eastern sector at 40 million liter per day. The contract mandated COBI to supply 100MLD.
    
Without the more than 70,000 water concessionaires knowing about the contract, reportedly negotiated and approved in principle in 2015, the COWD officially made public the agreement during the signing of the contract in 2017.
    
Present during the signing of the contract was City Mayor Oscar Moreno, who denied any knowledge of the agreement, but were around as a “witness” to the contract signing. Baloney!
    
Every Peter, John and Mark Doe knows that Moreno controls the COWD. Every cockroach at the City Hall knows that Moreno appoints the member of the COWD’s Board of Directors. In other words, Moreno controls COWD, as a quasi-government institution, in a “de facto” capacity.
    
In fact, there is this popular belief that Moreno has reportedly appointed only members of the COWD board of directors who could be trusted and are willing to scratch his back. There was an assumption that it was Moreno, who whispered the “dismissal” of the COWD Manager Rachel Beja.
    
Beja, an engineer who rose from the ranks, might have stepped on swollen toes when she sent the COBI-COWD contract for “legal opinion.”
    
The new COWD Chairman of the Board, Antonio Montalban, said that the BOD “dismissed” Beja out of mistrust and lack of confidence. Of course, Montalban knows that Beja’s appointment with the COWD is governed by the Civil Service Commissions (CSC) laws.
    
No one could blame Montalban, believed to have acted only, with a directive from an “unseen” hand who must have been threatened that the “legal opinion” between the COBI-COWD contract turns out unfavorable.
    
Anyway, what makes the COBI-COWD contract suspicious? A chronicle of the Metropac-COWD contract revealed that the COBI-COWD contract was perfected also on the same day the Metropac and COWD signed the contract on Aug. 14, 2017 in Manila.
    
As discussed earlier, the Rio Verde Water Consortium, Inc. (RVWCI) could not make improvements in the delivery of the bulk water supply because the Commissions on Audit (COA) has “disallowed” an increase from the RVWCI original water rates of P 10.00 per c.m. to P 16.00 per c.m.  A case, reviewing the COWD-Rio Verde contract, reportedly pending in court has prevented Rio Verde to implement improvements of its water facilities.
    
Sometime in 2013, the Moreno administration might have started to scout for a new bulk water supplier of the COWD.
    
Perhaps, the Metropac find a window to offer an “unsolicited” proposal to the COWD when the water district’s relationship with Rio Verde is locked in a court battle. With the proposal, the COWD invoke the 2013 NEDA Revised Guidelines on Joint Ventures paving the way for the signing of the COBI-COWD contract.
    
At a glance, it seems that the COBI-COWD contract is flawless. However, a closer look would cast suspicion on the timing of its signing. Why signed it on the same day the Metropac and COWD signed the contract? On the agreement, it was understood that Metropac delivers the bulk water supply to COWD. However, it turned out that Metropac has to find enough water supply to be able to comply with the spirit of the contract. Of course, part of the agreement was for Metropac to implement a “scalable” water rates without the benefit of a “public hearing.”
    
Generally speaking, the Metropac-COWD contract was done “haphazardly.” It was done post haste, probably to carry out the directive of an “unseen” hand who could have a stake in the agreement, now and until the Metropac-COWD-COBI contract remains active. -0- Email reactions/comments: [email protected].

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