ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Thousands of residents have become waterless since Saturday after bulk water suppliers cut off water to the lone distributor over disputes in unpaid arrears.
The move of the consortium of FLO Water Resources Iloilo Inc. and Prime Water Ventures to stop supplying to the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) affected mostly residential areas in Jaro District.
Dr. Danilo Encarnacion, MIWD chair, said negotiations were ongoing with the bulk water suppliers to resolve the crisis.
“We are hoping that we can resolve [the crisis] this [Monday] or Tuesday. It is unfortunate that this happened while we were still negotiating,” he told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Monday.
The MIWD supplies water to at least 31,000 subscribers in Iloilo City and the towns of Oton, Pavia, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan, Maasin and San Miguel.
Under its contract with the MIWD, the consortium provides 25,000 cubic meters of water daily through injection points. Another 29,000 cu. m are supplied by the water district’s own sources.
But only 15,000 cu. m coming from the bulk water suppliers are utilized because of limitations in the MIWD’s transmission pipes. This has led to disputes in the volume of water consumed by the MIWD and the computation of arrears.
In a letter to the MIWD dated June 9, Rogelio Florete, chair and president of FLO Water Resources, said his company was discontinuing its supply due to continued losses because of the failure of the water district to settle at least P100 million in accumulated arrears.
Florete said the water district had paid P11.43 million since March this year. The MIWD had also not complied with an earlier agreement that it would pay the suppliers P5 million monthly while the dispute over the volume of consumption was being resolved, according to him.
This month, he said, the water district paid only P2.43 million.
But Encarnacion said the MIWD’s total arrears to the suppliers was at P6 million after it settled about P9 million of the total balance of P15 million.
He said the water district was willing to pay P2.7 million immediately to restore the water supply.
The MIWD would also settle the remaining amount once a P50-million loan is released by the Development Bank of the Philippines in the next few months, according to Encarnacion.
The arrears of the MIWD accumulated last year under the previous management.
The management, led by Encarnacion, took over this year and revealed that the water district had a deficit of at least P39 million when they assumed their posts.
The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in the Panay region condemned the water supply crisis, blaming the government for allowing private firms to “control” a vital and basic service.
“The government should have ensured adequate and affordable water supply by investing in and looking for additional sources, and improving its distribution instead of allowing business firms to take control,” said Bayan-Panay chair Hope Hervilla.