THE Commission on Audit has recommended that the Metro Lipa Water District (MLWD) enforce disconnection against delinquent consumer accounts, mainly government offices, after accumulated unpaid bills reached P3.95 million as of yearend 2021.
In the 2021 audit report released last May 5, government auditors said the failure of government entities to pay their bills has deprived the water district of necessary resources to improve its services and upgrade its equipment.
The COA stressed that the MLWD is empowered by law to cut off the water service of any consumer that fails or refuses to pay its obligations despite having enjoyed the convenience of its service.
Section 7 of MLWD’s Utility Rules states that the bill is due and payable after the customer is served the bill reading.
The account is deemed delinquent and may be disconnected after 30 days if it remains unpaid although a five-day grace period is given to the consumer to settle the bill once a field personnel has made a house call with final notification.
Auditors said their review of the unpaid bills showed 154 delinquent accounts belong to government offices.
From the same list, the 10 biggest unsettled bills were in the names of: the Public Market Building CR 2F (P685,869.04), municipality of Balete (P301,557.24), Kolehiyo ng Lunsod ng Lipa (P279,697.60), Lipa Community Park (P180,869.84), Ospital ng Lipa (P173,708.83), Maraouy Brgy Multi-Purpose Center (P164,734), BJMP — Lipa City (P155,207.70), Maraouy Barangay Health Center (P130,427.84), PNP-Lipa City (P127,493.70), and Lipa City Government Building 3 CR (P124,722.68).
Based on this list, the Lipa City PNP has failed to pay for a total of 45 months while Lipa City Government Building 3 CR and Public Market Building CR 2F have arrears dating back 25 months.
The MLWD told the audit team that it has sent out collection demands to 34 government offices with the biggest unpaid bills of more than P20,000 but not one of them bothered to reply.
