By CRIS DIAZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Local legislators refiled the case against Metro Pacific Water Investment Corporation (Metropac), with the Philippine Competitions Commission (PCC) in Manila amid the water crisis in the city of Cagayan de Oro.
Lawyer James Judith, the lead counsel of former city councilors who originally filed the case with PCC sometime in 2017, said Thursday that the PCC failed to act on the complaint because of the absence of contract between Metropac and the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD).
“The PCC did not act on our complaint because neither Metropaca nor COWD furnished us (complainant) copies of the contract,” Judith told The Manila Times.
Judith said that they were able to get copies of the contract at the height of the controversy between Meteopac and COWD regarding the P426 million water bill that the water district owed to Meteopac.
Judith, now an incumbent city councilor, said that City Mayor Rolando Uy created a fact finding committee to probe into the contract between Metropac and the COWD in aid of legislation.
Metropac and COWD entered a joint agreement on August 15, 2018 where Metropac supply bulk water to COWD through a newly created corporation, the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water , Inc. (COBI) where COWD is part of with only five percent share.
According to Judith, the fact finding committee found out that the contract between the Metropac and COWD was “grossly disadvantageous” to the city and its residents, which prompted the refiling of the case with the PCC.
He said that the PCC was created in 2016 as a quasi judicial body primary to regulate anti-competition to ensure fair and healthy market competition.
Judith said that the findings of the PCC will serve as basis in the filing of appropriate charges against those involved in the drafting and signing of the Meteopac-COWD contract.
The water crisis in Cagayan de Oro heightened after COBI ordered the cutting of off water the bulk water supply that would feed major pipelines to bring water to more than 800,000 people in Cagayan de Oro at about 12:01 early the morning on May 1, 2024.
The cutting off of the water supply was averted after Mayor Rolando Uy ordered the local police to guard the main water pipelines to prevent any attempt to cut off water supply in the city.
