BARANGAY Iponan is looking at another company to service their water needs while Barangays Bulua and Patag voiced anew their complaints on low water supply, an administration councilor said Wednesday.
“In Barangay Iponan, the barangay officials suggested that a water service provider named South Balibago Resources Inc. be allowed to service their area. Since there’s no representative from SBR yet, we invited them to attend the next (public utility committee) meeting, the date of which will be announced later, to determine if they have the capacity to serve Iponan’s water needs,” Councilor Romeo Calizo said.
Calizo, who chairs the 20th City Council’s public utilities, energy, and transportation committee, said this in an interview after the committee discussed the special report by Councilor Roger Abaday in the March 27 City Council session.
Abaday cited a complaint that went viral on social media concerning the low water supply affecting Cambridge Subdivision, Villamar Subdivision, and Regency Subdivision, all in Iponan.
During Thursday afternoon’s committee meeting, barangay chairmen Al Legaspi and Eric Abaday of Bulua and Patag respectively also complained about the low water supply in their areas.
“I hope that the Cagayan de Oro Water District will resolve our problem considering that Bulua has 10,000 households,” Legaspi said in Visayan.
While Councilor Malvern Esparcia said the COWD should present ‘the real situation’ on the status of its deep wells in the city — some of which he said were depleted — Councilor Yevonna Emano urged Calizo to do a special report in the City Council’s April 17 session on the low water supply of COWD service areas.
“We should also invite the COWD to answer these complaints,” she said.
“In Barangays Bulua, Iponan, and Patag, (we’re receiving more complaints) on low water supply. We want to know from COWD what’s their plan to solve their problems. We’re inviting them to shed light on the problems and to answer questions from the City Council…and in the next council session, I will submit a special report (on the issue),” Calizo said.
With the summer season now prevalent in the country, Calizo said the El Niño phenomenon will ‘only aggravate the water supply problems in Cagayan de Oro City.’
In a previous statement, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy said the city will entertain proposals from water service providers to cover the rising water needs of Kagay-anons. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
