Probe of COWD contract with Metro Pacific begins

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Two witnesses said that some provisions of the contract entered into by the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) and THE METRO PACIfiC WATER (METRO PAC) WERE disadvantageous to the consumers.

Rachel Beja, former general manager of COWD, admitted this to the committee created to probe the contract at the start of the marathon hearings on Tuesday, March 12.

Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando Uy signed Executive Order 109-2024, dated March 6, 2024, creating the Cagayan de Oro Special Task Force for Water Supply and Distribution.

Uy issued the EO after the Metro Pac-owned Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI), which supplies more than 100 million liters of water daily to the city’s more than 300,000 consumers, threatened to cut the daily water supply to COWD for the failure of the water district to pay more than P400 million in debt.

The four-man committee chaired by city councilor James Judith opened the investigation by reviewing and examining the contract executed between the COWD and MetroPac.

Beja and former city councilor Eric Salcedo were the first two local executives invited to shed light on the COWD-Metro Pac water contract.

Salcedo told the committee that during his incumbency, he and two other city councilors filed three resolutions to get a copy of the contract.

He said the first resolution was sent to COWD asking for a copy of the contract, the second to the Commissions on Audit (CoA), and the third to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

“All the resolutions that we sent to CoA, COWD and NEDA did not get a reply,” Salcedo said.

Judith said that the hearings will end on Thursday.