News and Events

2024 Public Hearing for Water Rate Adjustments

The Metro Iloilo Water District is once again hitting the road for a series of public hearings on a proposed water rate increase, the first such hearings since 2018. This time, they are joined by their joint venture partner company, Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), which is now responsible for water distribution and handling the logistics for these hearings.

The Public Hearings took place from May 27-30, 2024, at the following venues around the following municipalities: Pavia (Robinson’s Place Pavia), Cabatuan (Municipal Convention Center), Maasin (MDRMO Conference Hall(, Oton (Municipal Covered Gym), Ssn Miguel (Multipurpose Covered Gym), Sta. Barbara (Sta. Barbara High School Alumni Hall), and Leganes (Municipal Session Hall). The Public Hearing road tour was kicked off at the City Proper on the first day, at the PMRC (Red Cross) Building along Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City.

Involving the public was a primary goal for the Public Hearings, as feedback and opinions from the water-consuming public were t after by the MIWD and MPIW. The long history of MIWD and its past iterations were covered, as well as the targets set by the MIWD and MPIW and the improvements , innovation and projects –both short and long term–since the assumption of duty of the MPIW were also expounded upon.

Expanded upon was also the oft-misunderstood roles of the MIWD and MPIW in the improvement and servicing of water for its concessionaires: with the public being enlightened of the division of roles of MPIWD and MIWD, as the the MPIW in sole charge of all aspects of water distribution, which included but not limited to customer concerns, installation of new pipelines and maintenance and upgrading of old MIWD pipelines and assets.

With the water distribution operations being handled on a day-to-day basis by the MPIW, the MIWD shifted its role to being the Monitoring Agency for MPIW, strictly monitoring the Joint Venture Agreement contract between the Metro Pacific Water Investments and the MIWD, reviewing and enforcing the proper service and output standards befitting the consuming public.

Present for the Public Hearing were the contingent from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) who flew in from Manila to oversee the Public Hearing. The  LWUA are the primary agency to approve of any water rate increases of water districts all over the Philippines.

Also present were all members of the MIWD Water Rates Committee, with both Engineers Ernesto Suplido and Arnel Balbares as resource persons ready to answer and clarify any concerns the public may have had about the Public Hearing, with MIWD PRO Rizandro Napone serving as presenter for the MIWD presentation section.

Serving as both presenters and key resource persons for MPIW in the open forums were Area Managers John Cañonero, Nancy Gallego, Eugenia Gertrudes del Rosario and Kathleen Sadio-Guillermo, hosted by MIWD Public Relations Head Ms Marie Joy Josue.

The


As per the Joint Venture agteement between the MIWD and the Metro Pacific Water Investments, the MPIW had been in charge of all aspects of water distribution, which included but not limited to customer concerns, installation of new pipelines and maintenance and upgrading of old MIWD pipelines and assets.