CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Rolando "Klarex" Uy assured the public that contingency plans are in place to ensure continuous water supply following a disconnection notice issued by the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI), the city's contracted bulk water supplier.
The mayor issued on Wednesday, March 6, an executive order creating the Cagayan de Oro Special Task Force on Water Supply and Delivery, which will conduct a fact-finding investigation on the conditions of the water supply and distribution in Cagayan de Oro, and study and review possible interventions by the City Government on the ongoing conflict between Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) and COBI.
The task force will also conduct an inventory of alternative water sources and formulate a contingency plan in the event of massive water supply disruption.
"Gipaningkamotan gyud namo, sa buhatan sa mayor ug sa LGU nga amo gyud buhaton ang tanan nga dili mapurwisyo, dili maputol ang kinahanglan nga tubig sa katawhan," Uy said.
(The Office of the Mayor and the local government made sure that the service won’t be cut.)
The creation of the special task force happened following a weekend water crisis where thousands of families in Cagayan de Oro and some part of Misamis Oriental spent the entire weekend without a supply of water. The water supply was restored on Monday, March 4.
The City Government, then, received a copy of a letter from COBI to the COWD demanding payment of P430 million in unpaid water bills.
COBI President Christopher Andrew Pangilinan informed the water distribution firm that unless the water district paid the bill within 30 days from the day the letter was sent on February 29, water supply in Cagayan de Oro will be cut off.
Uy said the City Government is ready with their contingency plans and they have already called other to help with the water supply problem, assuring that the city will have water with or without COBI.
Asked whether a new player will come in to supply Cagayan de Oro with water, the city mayor said that he has some potential investors though he declined to identify them.
"Dili ko katubag pa niaana kun naay bag-ong player... wala pa may findings sa atong gi-create nga task force," Uy said.
(I can’t answer yet whether there was a new player… we don’t have the findings from the task force that we created.)
"Kun aduna gyuy makita nga disadvantageous sa katawhan, dili ko magduhaduha... Kanako nag serbisyo ko sa katawhan, wala ko nagserbisyo sa usa ka tao o oligarch, ang katawhan ang akong gidepensahan," he added.
(If we see something that is disadvantageous to the people, then I won’t think twice… I serve for the ordinary people, not for the oligarchs, so I will defend them.)