Mulawan told us so

Herbie Gomez

I WORRY that Rio Verde Water Consortium Inc. has cut down on its spendings for operations and the maintenance of its facilities and equipment at this time when it’s about to divest itself of its responsibilities as the bulk water supplier of the Cagayan de Oro Water District. No one knows exactly how much money it raked when it decided to sell to the Manny V. Pangilinan group but insiders in the COWD say it could be something around P3 billion, more or less.

I also worry that the water crisis that has been gripping western areas of the city up to Opol town in Misamis Oriental starting last week was a result of Rio Verde’s pre-exit cost-cutting measures. This is not unthinkable, really. Why should Rio Verde owner Jose Alvarez want to shell out moolah to fix what needs to be repaired and improve the firm’s bulk water supply operations when it already sold out to MVP? Unless specified in the deal, you don’t really expect the car owner to bother buying a new battery for the used vehicle that has just been sold. Chances are, he’d even replace the battery with an older one.

The problem with that is that half the city and parts of Misamis Oriental — in this case, western Cagayan de Oro and Opol town — are being incovenienced as a result of what appears to be Rio Verde’s neglect, insensitivity and inconsideration.

Last week, while water consumers were demanding answers from COWD, and while COWD was demanding answers from Rio Verde, the bulk water supplier’s operations manager Joffrey Hapitan was nowhere to be found — he was “out of town” like there was no emergency situation here. And so, everyone was left hanging in mid-air, uncertain if Rio Verde was really doing something to fix the problem.

This should be the case: Rio Verde is answerable to the COWD, and COWD is answerable to the water consumers. But it looks like Rio Verde doesn’t really feel accountable to anyone.

Can COWD sue Rio Verde for damages? Ideally, it should except that, according to COWD assistant general manager Bienvenido Batar Jr., there is something terribly wrong with the COWD-Rio Verde contract. “Bikil,” Batar told me last week. And then it hit me: This is one of the things that COWD draftsman and whistleblower Emmanuel Mulawan Sr. has been warning everyone about, and only few cared to really listen.

And where is Mulawan now if I may ask?

“Still in the Cavite jail,” said COWD chairman Ed Montalvan of the man whose life as an ordinary citizen and freeman was disrupted by what looks like trumped up rape charges because he dared to speak up and expose the onerous deal between the Alvarez-owned firm and former officials of the COWD. Pastilan.