BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Cong. Jerry Treñas has called for a thorough financial audit of the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD).
It would be prudent for the present Board of Directors to ask the Commission on Audit (COA) for a special audit on the spending of MIWD funds by the past water district officers, he stressed.
Dr. Danilo Encarnacion, reinstated chairman of the MIWD Board, recently said the P100 million-plus that the water district used to have in bank deposits had been spent by the previous officers.
“We no longer have a hundred million pesos in the bank,” Encarnacion said.
Just this March, Treñas led a congressional investigation on MIWD’s inability to deliver adequate water to consumers.
“A special audit is needed so they will be cleared from any probable anomaly that might be found,” Treñas told Panay News yesterday.
It will also determine whether there is malfeasance under the management of ex-general manager Le Jayme Jalbuena, the congressman added.
Drawing from information relayed by regular MIWD employees, Encarnacion said that while part of the P100 million could have been spent by the interim board for replacing pipes, digging deep wells and re-categorizing employees, the previous board had not been frugal with the district funds.
“Kadamu sang activities ang board nga ato. Kon diin-diin lang sila ga-meeting. Madamu in such a way nga wala ma-program maayo. Gasto lang sila nga gasto,” he said.
Due to financial constraints, MIWD would have to borrow money from the bank to pay its P15-million debt to water supplier Flo Water Resources Iloilo, Inc.
Meanwhile, Treñas said he does not plan to hold another congressional inquiry on MIWD.
The basis of the previous probe was MIWD’s refusal to pay its bulk water supplier, Flo Water.
“I think they have already met halfway,” Treñas told Panay News.
On May 5, Flo Water Resources announced it had dropped plans to cut off MIWD’s water supply.
Officials of the bulk water supplier and the city’s lone water distributor decided to meet halfway in a meeting arranged by Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.
Flo Water chief, Dr. Rogelio Florete Sr. initially wanted MIWD to pay P111 million for their contracted volume of water delivered since last year. He later agreed to lower the amount equivalent to the volume of water that MIWD’s smaller water pipes only managed to take in.
Flo Water agreed that the water district will pay only P15 million in arrears on a staggered basis.
Aside from Iloilo City, MIWD’s franchise area also covers the Iloilo municipalities of Leganes, Oton, Cabatuan, Maasin, Pavia, Sta. Barbara and San Miguel.
MIWD was established in 1926. In 2010, the World Bank came out with a study showing that the water district was providing low value-for-money service relative to other cities of similar size in the Philippines./PN
