THE METRO Iloilo Water District (MIWD) is prepared to take its dispute with bulk supplier FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. all the way to the Supreme Court. MIWD legal counsel Roy M. Villa said they intend to first file a petition before the Court of Appeals to contest the recent Arbitral Tribunal favoring FLO Water. An Ad Hoc Arbitral Tribunal created by both parties, in a decision on May 25, favored the take-or-pay claim of FLO Water on its bulk water supply contract with MIWD, and ordered MIWD to pay the P164.5 million in arrears covering undelivered water from Feb. 16, 2013 up to April 30, 2016. “MIWD still believes that the contract is not a take-or-pay. That has been our position ever since,” Mr. Villa said. The arbitrators also qualified that the payment must first be approved by the Commission on Audit (CoA) since MIWD is a government-owned and — controlled corporation. “CoA has the parameters to find out if the payment is unauthorized, illegal, or inconsumable. In other words, it is not just a question of the provision of the contract but on the constitution and public police,” Mr. Villa said. “Because it is not just by thousands but by hundreds of millions. So MIWD really has to fight it out,” the added. — Louine Hope U. Conserva

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