Friday, October 19, 2007 Water district, supplier refer rate case By Danilo V. Adorador III
SEEKING an end to controversies hounding the bulk water supply contract, Cagayan de Oro's water utility and its water supplier agreed to raise their disputes to higher authorities.
Officials from both sides confirmed that the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) have been holding talks with the Rio Verde Water Consortium Inc. (RVWCI), which is demanding a P1 adjustment to the current P10.45 per cubic meter rate.
RVWCI supplies 40,000 cubic meters of water to COWD everyday at P10.45 per cubic meter.
An outright increase would prompt the financially beleaguered water utility to pass it on to consumers -- a complicated process since water utilities adjust their rates only after series of public consultations.
Partly at the urging of its wary employees union, COWD has rejected RVWCI's adjustment notice.
RVWCI based its demands on the bulk water supply contract signed in 2004, which allows it to adjust rates on "extraordinary cases."
Deadlocked on that issue, the Local Utilities Water Administration (Luwa) has already stepped into the matter to participate in the talks, said Engineer Joffrey Hapitan, RVWCI senior vice president for operations.
Through Luwa's intervention, the two parties have agreed to let the Office of the Government Corporate Council (OGCC) resolve the issue, Hapitan said during Thursday's media briefing at the firm's water treatment plant in Bukidnon town of Baungon.
Soc del Rosario, member of the COWD board of directors, said the parties have already submitted their respective positions to the OGCC and that a second round of talks will be expected any time soon.
Aside from the pricing mechanism, del Rosario said other issues arising from the supposed conflict between the model and the signed contract will be tackled.
Flow, the COWD employees union, has demanded the review of the contract, saying some of its provisions -- such as RVWCI's right to arbitrarily increase rates -- were onerous on the part of the water utility and the consuming public.
And while COWD and RVWCI appeared to have taken steps to iron out differences through national agencies, Flow wants the matter settled in court.
Engineer Antonio Young, the union leader, said the court can better appreciate whether the bulk water supply contract benefits the public.
