MCWD slaps CH with P77.4M fine

CEBU, Philippines - The Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) has slapped the Cebu City government with a penalty of P77.4 million as late charges for of failing to pay promptly their obligations to the water firm for the past several years.

Aside from the City Hall departments and other government offices, the city also shoulders the water bills of public elementary schools and water hydrants strategically situated in different parts of the city.

City Veterinarian Alice Utlang, who heads the Cebu City Abattoir in North Reclamation Area (NRA), was surprised when The FREEMAN informed her that the city slaughterhouse has P9, 015, 825 in late charges as of June 26, 2012.

Utlang said every time her office receives their water bills from MCWD, her personnel will quickly prepare the required documents and forward it to City Hall so the City Treasurer’s Office would pay their obligations out of their water budget.

“Wala na ko’y kalibutan kon ngano nga dunay late charges kay andamon man dayon namo ang documents kon makadawat na mi og bills. One million pesos gud ang among water budget sa usa ka tuig, (I have no idea why we incurred late charges because we prepare the documents as soon as we receive the bills. We have a P1 million annual water budget.)” Utlang said.

She believes that those personnel in-charge of the payment of City Hall bills, possibly failed to pay the billings on time. The water firm usually imposes late charges to their clients once the bills are paid beyond the deadline.

The late charges imposed by MCWD on different public elementary schools in Cebu City have reached P36, 472, 452; City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) 547, 654; Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) P25, 920; for various offices P24, 411, 082; health centers P659, 050 and hydrants P117, 785.

Of all public elementary schools in Cebu City, the schools that still has a huge accountability with MCWD are Labangon Elementary School with P2,274,671; Carlos Gothong Memorial High School with P2,114,569; Mabolo Elementary School, with P2,119,662 and Lahug Elementary School with P2,316,412.

Meanwhile, the city’s departments and other offices that still have huge unpaid accounts are Cebu City Water Development Task Force, P3,579,689; Plaza Independencia, P3,798,813; City Government of Cebu, P2,721,536; City Health Department, P2,469,773; Narcom-Drug Rehabilitation Center in Salinas Drive, P1,683,871; Carbon Market Unit II, P3,147,392 and Pardo Public Market, P1,450,016.

Surprisingly, Carbon market unit II, whose building was razed by fire in 1998, still has P3.1 million unpaid water bills.

Although the Cebu City Sports Center is considered an independent office not under City Hall, but its P1,074,188 of unpaid accounts had been included in the city’s debt to the water district.

Jennifer Delco, manager of MCWD’s billing department, said the city’s unpaid obligation to the water firm as of June 26 have reached P82,201,019 including tax, power cost adjustment and other fees.  (FREEMAN)