WATER CRISIS AVERTEDFlo Water backtracks, MIWD agrees to pay

BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA

ILOILO City – Flo Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. has dropped its threat to cut off Metro Iloilo Water District’s (MIWD) water supply on May 12.

Officials of the bulk water supplier and the city’s lone water distributor decided to meet halfway yesterday in a meeting arranged by Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

“All’s well that ends well,” declared the visibly relieved Defensor after the meeting, telling the media that the two parties managed to reconcile their figures.

Flo Water chief, Dr. Rogelio Florete Sr. initially wanted MIWD to pay P111 million for their contracted volume of water delivered since last year. Yesterday, he agreed to lower the amount equivalent to the volume of water that MIWD’s smaller water pipes only managed to take in.

MIWD chairman, Dr. Danilo Encarnacion said Flo Water agreed that the water district will pay only P15 million in arrears on a staggered basis.

However, MIWD must make an initial downpayment of P5 million before this week ends.

The cash-strapped MIWD may secure a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to pay Flo Water.

If not from DBP, a government-owned bank, MIWD may ask for an exemption from the Monetary Board so it could secure a loan from private banks, Encarnacion said.

MIWD will pay Flo Water immediately upon the release of the loan, he added.

MIWD corporate legal counsel Roy Villa the other day said should Flo Water decide to stop delivering water, the water district will take over the supplier’s treatment plant. He said MIWD’s 10-year contract with Flo Water provides for this.

Encarnacion said the loan would be used not only to pay the arrears with Flo Water. It will also be used to settle the water district’s other financial obligations accumulated in past years.

He, however, did not say how much loan MIWD will secure.

Encarnacion said they will settle their arrears with Flo Water within 12 months.

Assuring water concessionaires of continuous service, he also said Flo Water will keep on delivering water to MIWD from 5,000 to 6,000 cubic meters daily – the most that MIWD’s small water pipes can take.

In their 10-year water supply contract, Flo Water is supposed to deliver 15,000 cubic meters of water to MIWD daily.

Encarnacion also said MIWD will get an additional 6,000 cubic meters of water from another bulk water supplier, Prime Water Ventures Corp., on top of their initial contracted volume of 10,000 cubic meters.

Last week, “alarming” was how Councilor Plaridel Nava, chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Ways and Means, described Flo Water’s ultimatum to MIWD.

“Should Flo Water cut off the supply, what would happen to the residents of Iloilo City,” Nava asked.

Aside from Iloilo City, MIWD’s franchise area also covers the Iloilo municipalities of Leganes, Oton, Cabatuan, Maasin, Pavia, Sta. Barbara and San Miguel.

In a previous report, Florete said the situation – MIWD’s nonpayment – had become untenable and must not be tolerated.

MIWD was established in 1926. In 2010, the World Bank came out with a study showing that the water district was providing low value-for-money service relative to other cities of similar size in the Philippines./PN