THE issue that has beset the city now is the threat posed by COBI on Kagay-anons which is the discontinuance of COBI’s delivery of bulk water to the COWD. It has become imminent today, May 1, 2024, one day after the extended deadline has lapsed, except that there are claims that no official communication has yet been received by the COWD.
True to his being a “watchdog” of the people’s welfare, Mayor Klarex Uy issued an executive order which, among other matters, urges the City Council to pass legislation declaring a state of emergency in the city. This, on top of all other prior precautionary measures Mayor Klarex and his team, have prepared to ensure that water supply to Kagay-anons would continue to flow to our homes.
Some camps say that an eventual discontinuance by COBI of its delivery to COWD would also mean the termination of the bulk water agreement between the consortium and the water distributor. I say it does not necessarily mean so. The threatened discontinuance is but to pressure the COWD to pay up extrajudicially.
But the bigger question may be: is the discontinuance of bulk water delivery the only option available to COBI? No, it’s not.
If COBI insists on collecting the unpaid billings of the COWD, it should seek redress through the courts of law. Water is a life-support commodity and having its flow to Kagay-anons disrupted will not earn the ire only of COWD but of the entire City. This is certainly the reason the City Government is taking the cudgels for the lowly Kagaya-anon.
The right to a clean source of potable water revolves around the right to life which COBI should seriously consider. The right to life, needless to state, takes precedence over the right to the enjoyment of one’s property.
There is no doubt that COBI possesses the right to protect its interest, to collect what is due to it based on a contract which unless declared invalid by competent authority should also be respected. After all, that bulk water contract between the COWD and COBI is the law between them. But since that contract also affects the basic human right to life of Kagay-anons, then that law between the parties should take the back seat.
As pronounced by the Klarex Uy administration, clean potable water will surely continue to flow in our faucets.
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