MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc., the company that supplies potable water to half of Metro Manila, is eyeing to similarly fill the drinking water needs of Metro Tagbilaran including Panglao Island in Bohol. Rogelio Singson, president of the Balara , Quezon City-based company, said barring hitches the Bohol Bulk Water Supply Project will be Maynilad's first project outside of its franchise area. Singson and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado last week signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Bohol Tropics Resort in Tagbilaran City wherein Maynilad will conduct a feasibility study to supply water to the service area and submit a proposal 180 days after the signing. The MOU specified that the water should comply with the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) and will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The document also enjoins the provincial government not to entertain or accept any offer from any third party for a similar proposal relating to the project until after Maynilad has submitted its project proposal and the province has evaluated the same.

The province shall thereafter inform Maynilad if the proposal is acceptable, and if so, recognize the same as the original project proponent. Only then can the province use the terms and conditions of the proposal as bases for soliciting comparative bids from other interested parties. The parties further agreed that should the province receive offers with better terms and conditions, it shall provide the original project proponent with the opportunity to match the competitive bid. The signing capped a series of meetings between Aumentado and Singson in Manila wherein the former expressed the province's urgent need for an additional source of drinking water and that it wished to enter into a partnership with a qualified party that could design, build, operated and manage the Bohol bulk water supply system.

On the other hand, Singson expressed Maynilad's desire to partner with the province to provide the need for bulk water, construct an appropriate water treatment plant and install transmission and distribution facilities, hence the MOU. Aumentado clarified that the project will include a watershed rehabilitation component just like what Maynilad did in La Mesa – in partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation's environment arm, Bantay Kalikasan. The governor also said Maynilad initially proposed a six-month period to prepare its proposal. However, Aumentado prevailed over Singson when he explained that the need was urgent in the light of the expected operationalization of the Panglao Bohol International Airport .

“We are racing against time,” he said. Besides, he added, the province has ready data in its Provincial Development Management System (PDMS) formerly known as the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP), and the Bohol Integrated Water Supply System Master Plan prepared by Coffey International, Ltd. and Woodfields Consultants, Inc. under the Local Governance Development Project (LGDP) funded by the Australian government through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). Maynilad intends to develop the surface water of both the Abatan and Loboc rivers to supply the needs of Antequera, Alburquerque, Baclayon, Balilihan, Catigbian, Dauis, Loboc, Loay, Panglao, San Isidro and Catigbian towns and Tagbilaran City, The company will not compete with government or private water distributors but just provide bulk water to address the lack and relieve the pressure on the aquifer.