THE homeowners of a subdivision in Lapu-Lapu City plan to file a complaint against the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas for its alleged failure to act on their request for an investigation on the high price of water that their subdivision developer is charging them.
Engineer Antonio Dosado, one of the complainants who sought the intervention of the DHSUD in Central Visayas, told SunStar Cebu Monday, April 10, 2023, that the department did not act on or even reply to the letter they sent about 20 days ago.
“Murag natulog lang ang DHSUD. Wala gyud gihimo, bisan lang unta pag-reply sa among request for assistance,” said Dosado, who considered the matter urgent.
(It’s as if the DHSUD is just sleeping. It did nothing at all, even if just to reply to our request for assistance.)
Intervention
Around 63 homeowners of Sunberry Homes Sudtonggan in Barangay Basak had sought the housing agency’s intervention over the rate that Sunberry Homes Inc. is charging them for water that they said was 2,200 percent higher than the water rate of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), for supply that is intermittent as well.
The homeowners sought the following interventions from the DHSUD on March 21: Conduct a general inspection of the subdivision’s water system, drainage system, and window chimney of the restroom in every household to check if the developer followed the minimum guidelines set by the DHSUD on the construction of the houses; verify the issuance of the project’s development permit despite the absence of a stable water supply; inspect the appropriateness of the deep well containing the distributed water among the homeowners; and investigate the P350 per cubic meter “disproportionate amount” billed to the homeowners for the provision of water from a third-party water distributor.
DHSUD’s Public Assistance Service, in a text message on March 27, said they already acted on the requests of the homeowners but stressed that they “could not give further comments on the ongoing complaint.”
But Dosado said they had not yet received any information or undertaking from DHSUD to address the matter.
SunStar Cebu reached out to DHSUD on Monday, April 10, to get updates on the requests of the homeowners but the agency had yet to respond as of press time.
Based on their March to April billing, Dosado said Sunberry Homes Inc. continued to charge them P350 per cubic meter of water.
Apart from that, the homeowners are also suffering from the scheduled daily water interruption, which Dosado said now goes beyond the 2 to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. schedule which started last March 15.
This, even if the management informed them that it is already connected to or sourcing water supply from MCWD.
He noted that the MCWD started its work on the pipelines on March 29, or two days after Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan said the City Government will intervene on the matter once he receives the letter that homeowners sent to his office and the DHSUD.
“Na-connected na kuno. Og unsa pag kaagiha nga nitaas man nuon nga mapalong ang tubig. Unya naghatag na sad og bill P350 lang gihapon per cubic,” he said.
(They said it was already connected. Yet the water interruption even became longer. And they gave the bill again still at P350 per cubic meter.)
The homeowners are scheduled to meet with Chan to discuss their complaints this week.
An official of Sunberry Homes Inc., who asked not to be named, explained last March 22, that the P350 per cubic meter rate was billed to the homeowners since the developer had no choice but to get clean water supply from third-party suppliers.
She said they initially applied for water supply from MCWD; however, the latter said it had no available water supply or source yet in that area.