The Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. has denied it has endorsed the privatization of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) in a statement posted Tuesday, March 27, 2018, on its Facebook page.
The statement reads as follows:
“This is to inform everyone that there is no official board endorsement or statement pertaining to the privatization of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD).
Oro Chamber Board of Trustees with Mindanao Development Authority Sec. Abul-Khayr Alonto. (photo courtesy of Elmer Francisco)
The published article was drawn-out from the open forum that we had with the keynote speaker last March 23, 2018, during the 1st General Membership Meeting. The views expressed by the panelists during the discussion do not represent the stand of the chamber on the matter.”
The articles referred to were published in Mindanao Daily and BusinessWeek Mindanao last Monday, 26 March 2018.
“We have taken cognizance of the Oro Chamber’s statement and we apologize to them and our readers about this oversight,” said Dante M. Sudaria, CEO and Publisher of both newspapers. “I have advised our editors to be more circumspect in how the news is presented and trust this mistake will not be repeated.”
During the Oro Chamber’s 1st GMM held last Friday, March 23, keynote speaker Bernardo Villegas brought up the privatization issue for the COWD which was supported by some panelists.
The Oro Chamber Board of Trustees and other officials with President Rodrigo Duterte and Mayor Oscar Moreno and PCCI officials during last year’s Mindanao Business Conference. (Oro Chamber photo)
As a matter of policy and procedure, public statements emanating from the Oro Chamber, especially those concerning topics such as the proposed privatization of the COWD, are first discussed by the Board of Trustees before any pro or con stance is issued in the name of the business group.
The Oro Chamber is the largest business organization in Northern Mindanao and considers itself “The Voice of Business in Northern Mindanao”.
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