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Govt gives CUC 650K advance payment
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Posted on Feb 23 2005
This time the Department of Finance paid its monthly dues to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. a month ahead of the deadline.
Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig said yesterday that following a meeting between Gov. Juan N. Babauta and CUC officials Tuesday, his office remitted a total of $650,000 yesterday, representing the government’s March 2005 payment.
“What we did was to advance the payment because they wanted money upfront to pay their outstanding bill to Mobil,” said Atalig.
Authorities said that CUC has reached its $10 million credit limit with its lone fuel supplier, Mobil Marianas.
Failure to settle at least $4 million immediately would reportedly force Mobil to stop providing the utility firm with fuel.
As of Feb. 15, CUC needed to pay up $3.6 million upfront but it only settled $1.6 million.
On Tuesday, CUC reportedly paid an additional $600,000.
This developed as acting speaker Timothy P. Villagomez asked the governor to save CUC from its financial obligations with Mobil to ensure continued supply of fuel and avert a power crisis.
“Mobil will not supply CUC with additional fuel unless the government agency has paid down its debt. CUC, however, does not have the funds to reduce its liability to Mobil,” said Villagomez in a letter to Babauta.
