3 man’amko slam CUC for two-year water leak

Three senior citizens, including one who acted as Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director during the last Man’amko Month celebration, are tired of CUC’s alleged inaction on their complaints of a leaking water pipe in their area on Lower Navy Hill.

Worse, apparently due to the leak problem, CUC billed two of them—a couple—$1,883 for a one-month supply of water.

Teodoro Guiao, 65, Ernesto M. Castillano, 85, and Lilia Castillano, 60, all U.S. citizens and residents of Publiku Street on Lower Navy Hill, told Saipan Tribune yesterday that they have been reporting to CUC the leak problem in their area for two years now.

Guiao and Mr. Castillano are former construction workers. Mrs. Castillano used to be a saleslady at the former La Fiesta Mall.

“It’s really a waste of water! Can you imagine, since last Liberation Day, the water kept overflowing into the road. The overflow only stopped now (Tuesday) at 9:30am because the water supply was cut,” Guiao said.

Saipan Tribune contacted CUC Water Division manager Mariano Iglecias for comments, but he was not available.

CUC Water and Sewer Division deputy director Bruce Megarr, however, called Saipan Tribune and said they are addressing the problem and that in fact they just repaired one leak in that area last week.

“I know the problem on this road. It’s an old line and in my opinion the material that was put in was mismatched with conditions. We’re working on this as part of our capital plan to replace that whole line,” Megarr said.

With respect to the $1,883 water billing, the deputy director said he would look into that and have an answer today, Wednesday.

In an interview, Guiao said that during last May’s Man’amko Month celebration, he was appointed to be the CUC executive director for one day.

He said CUC staff toured him around the different offices then gave him an award for his contribution to the utility agency.

Guiao said as the “executive director” he informed an engineer at CUC about the leaking pipe in their area, but that no action was taken until now.

“I can’t even show CUC’s award to my neighbors and friends because I am embarrassed that I became an ‘executive director’ yet I failed to do something about the leaking problem in our place,” he said.

Guiao said the overflowing water has damaged the road, posing a danger to motorists.

Mrs. Castillano said CUC actually fixed the leak in February to March 2006 after repeated calls, when it began to look like there was a small creek in their area.

It took CUC crew one month to fix the leak. But after two to three weeks, water started overflowing again almost at the same spot.

After the repair, around April 2006, Mrs. Castillano and her husband were stunned when CUC billed them $1,883.28 for the water they allegedly consumed in 29 days.

Including the electric power billing, the Castillano couple, who were with four other family members, were charged a total of $2,060.90 in that April 2006 billing period.

“I couldn’t eat and sleep and was crying for a week thinking about our billings. I have been jobless for 10 years now and my husband has been relying only on his monthly support from SSI (Supplemental Security Income) in the amount of $600,” she said.

The Castillano couple complained to CUC about the excessive water billing. After their complaint, CUC did not ask them to pay the $1,883.28 billing. However, according to Mrs. Castillano, CUC has yet to remove that big amount from their monthly billings.

As a result, as of July 6, 2008, although their metered water was only $16.20, the past due amount has boosted their power and water billings to $2,484.76.

“CUC should have removed that overcharged water billing from our utility billings. I don’t know if they are charging us interest because of that. We are old now and we don’t have jobs to pay that big amount,” Mrs. Castillano stressed.

Saipan Tribune learned that there are three other waterpipe leaks located along Publiku Street.

Besides the leak problem, which has worsened the road’s condition, the ravine next to the road itself doubles the danger to motorists. Guiao had taken the initiative to trim the bushes along the shoulder of the road to alert motorists to the ravine. He even planted coconut trees on the shoulder to prevent motorists from falling into the ravine.

A few years ago, Guiao’s van, with his wife and daughter inside, nearly fell into the ravine.He said if not for a big tangan-tangan tree, his van would have plunged into the ravine.

A few months ago, a Korean motorist also fell into the ravine near their house.