By HERBERT VEGO
WE cannot say “Roger on that” to the threat of businessman Roger Florete, chairman of Flo Water Resources, to cease supplying water to the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) just because the latter allegedly owes the former P111-million. If the threat turns real, it would only aggravate the scarcity of potable water in Iloilo City and suburbs.
And it would not solve the collection problem of Mr. Florete.
Short of admitting bankruptcy, MIWD would not pay for the contracted 25,000 cubic meters of water per day, since that is not the actual volume that Flo allegedly delivers. Why should MIWD pay for that volume when Flo is capable of generating much less?
Reported figures vary from 5,000 to 16,000 cubic meters per day.
I suppose 16,000 cubic meters is reachable only in addition to that of co-supplier Prime Water.
MIWD’s position is that it would pay only for actual Flo water delivered.
While I am not too sure it’s that minuscule, I understand that the bone of contention lies in the question: Whose fault? MIWD’s, or Flo Water’s?
Florete contends that while Flo Water is in the position to supply MIWD with 25,000 cubic meters of water daily via its 800 millimeter-in-diameter pipe, MIWD’s pipe receptacle is only 200 millimeter, thus constituting a bottleneck or restriction.
How could the two contracting parties not have anticipated the problem?
Or are they both making excuses to cover their own liabilities.
As managing editor of Panay News, I have many times assigned reporter Glenda Sologastoa to interview the MIWD Board with regard to the present financial status of the water district. So far, there has been no clear-cut finding.
Needless to say, the return of the old board chaired by Dr. Danilo Encarnacion to take over the interim board under Dr. Rolando Padilla had been so sudden that it paved no way for orderly transition.
But I remember that even before the old board had been illegally dismissed by then Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chair Rene Villa, the MIWD Board Directors were already telling me of their apprehension over what fate awaited the amount ofP100 million that MIWD still possessed in bank deposits. By then, the MIWD management under general manager Le Jayme Jalbuena was already working independently of, and against, the board.
There were heavy withdrawals which were eventually disapproved by the Commission on Audit in post-audit.
To cut the long story short, when Villa resigned from LWUA, Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. reinstated the old board, which in turn kicked Jalbuena out of office in favor of acting general manager Edgar Calasara.
If MIWD no longer has the P100 million, for what did the old board and management spend the money?
Should Flo Water and Prime Water “disconnect,” it would aggravate water lack in Iloilo City and the towns of Cabatuan, Leganes, Maasin, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel and Santa Barbara.
Before the bulk water contractors came into the picture, incidentally, MIWD by itself was supplying water to only 20 percent of its coverage areas.
The reason was because, of the average 1,250,000 cubic meters of water it was producing per month, only around 750,000 cubic meters was reaching consumer faucets. The remaining 500,000 cubic meters or 40 percent went to waste in pipe leakages and pilferages.
I wonder if that is still the true picture.
There was a time when the old MIWD board (reinstated) tried to probe the “conflict of interest” and involvement of top-level management personnel in water pilferage, but it only succeeded in reaping the latter’s hostility and animosity.
No wonder the reinstated board is now reluctant to dig deeper into the mismanagement problem./PN
