BY CRIS DIAZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Interim officials of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) assured the city”s more than 100,000 water consumers of continued water supply.
Fermen Jarales, the COWD interim manager, said that the assurance was in compliance with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., instructions that water supply must continue while the dispute between the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Inc. (COBI) and the COWD is being resolved.
During his visit here on May 16, 2024, Marcos directed LWUA to intervene to make sure that the water crisis here is resolved at the soonest
In an interview, Jarales said that the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) appointed him as interim general manager together with five interim board of directors.
The LWUA appointed an interim COWD official led by Jarales as interim general manager together with six other interim board of directors on May 29, 2024 to a “full intervention” of the COWD operations.
The interim COWD officials are tasked to resolve the dispute between COWD and the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water, Inc. (COBI) in six months, Jarales said.
Aside from resolving the COBI-COWD dispute, the primary task of the interim officials is to carry President Marcos directive that water supply for the Cagayanon and the business sector is not cut off.
The interim officials will also look into the alleged non-payment of COWD’s more than P 428 million water bill to COBI, Jarales said.
He said that the interim officials will seek the recommendation of the multi-sectoral group on water security on a short, middle, and long term solution.
According to Jarales, the problem of the COWD could be traced in the absence of a framework that would anticipated problems like the Non Revenue Water (NRW) issue confronting the water district.
“If the interim LWUA officials could not solve the COWD problems in six months, the framework on water security will serve as guide to COWD management in addressing future water problems,” Jarales said.
