by Mike Baños
In the future, July 23, 2024, could be remembered as just another stepping stone in the quest of a visionary Filipino who seeks to bring cheaper, safe and sustainable drinking water to every Filipino home.
Barely 13 years after they started, his company JE Hydro and Bio-Energy Corporation, commissioned and turned over its 20th Design and Build Water Treatment plant to the local government of Dagohoy, Bohol.
“My dream is to bring safe drinking water to millions of households in the Philippines,” said Engr. Joffrey E. Hapitan, Chairman and CEO of the trail blazing company. “ And my mission is to bring down the cost of drinking water from its current price of One Peso per Liter (P1.00) to Five Centavos per Liter (P0.05). I am committed to pursue my mission of providing access to safe drinking water to our countrymen.”
As President of Rio Verde Water Consortium, Hapitan has offered to distribute potable water directly to Kagay-anon households with no minimum charge which allows them to only pay for the actual volume of water they use.
He compared the current practice of most households in the city where they buy filtered water from water refilling stations at P1/liter, or P1,000 per cubic meter. In contrast, Rio Verde will have no minimum charge and will only charge for the actual consumption at the rate of 3.5 centavos per liter or P35 per cubic meter.
“You don’t use any water, no charge. Why don’t people complain about the expensive price they are paying for from refilling stations and not complain about any price increase whenever COBI or COWD apply for a rate increase? So let the people decide where they will buy their drinking water from.”
On June 18, JE Hydro broke ground for a 5MLD water treatment plant (WTP) in Barangay San Roque, Iligan City which will process raw water from the Mandulog River into potable water for the Level-III Potable Water Supply project.
“The project aims to supply ready-to-drink potable water sourced from the Mandulog River from its water treatment plant to the northern barangays of Iligan City : San Roque, Sta Filomena, Acmac, Dalipuga and Kiwalan, all of which currently lack an adequate and reliable potable water supply,” said Peachy G. Hapitan, JE Hydro President & COO. The project is expected to start supplying potable water to 10,000 households in Iligan City by April 2025, with an additional 10,000 households by end of 2025.
“At JE Hydro and Bio Energy Corp., we’re on a mission to ensure that access to safe drinking water is not just a luxury, but a fundamental human right. Together, we’re transforming communities, one drop at a time,” the company said in a statement.
Gifted with impeccable business acumen, charisma, and boundless knowledge and technical expertise, Hapitan disrupted the landscape of the Philippine water industry in a span of just 13 years, with JE Hydro’s 20 completed water treatment facilities producing a total volume of 206.5 million liters per day.
With the desire to improve the lives of millions of Filipinos as his north star, and believing that access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right, Hapitan established JE Hydro in 2011 to provide a holistic approach to solving the water crisis in the country. These include the design, build, operation and maintenance of water treatment facilities, pipe laying, and water distribution operations supported by proprietary home-grown technologies.
In 2022, he completed his P1.2 billion legacy project, the 30 MLD (million liters per day) Water Treatment Facility in Barangay Lusaran in Cebu City, commissioned after just 150 days which supplies much needed bulk water to the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.
“Our methodology employs the latest state-of-the-art technology in water resources engineering and hydrological studies, pipeline and ortho-mapping surveys, pipe network hydraulic modelling & analyses, detailed engineering design, and proven home-grown water treatment process that meets the standards of the 2017 Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSW),” Hapitan said.
A licensed chemical engineer, he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (1975-1980) at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, and later graduated from the Management Development Program (1997) of the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City.
With more than thirty (30) years’ work experience in the field of water treatment, process design and construction, fertilizer manufacturing, plastics and caustic soda production, he concurrently serves as the President of Rio Verde Water Consortium, Inc. in Baungon, Bukidnon.
