LWUA’s meddling may delay bulk water project
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
BRACE for a severe water shortage next year, thanks but no thanks to the intervention of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) in the internal affairs of the Metro Iloilo Water District.
Atty. Hans Sayno, MIWD corporate secretary, said the bulk water supply project of the water district might be derailed anew after LWUA declared as null ab initio (at the beginning) the appointment of the 5-man board of directors.
Sayno said LWUA’s newest incursions in MIWD will further embolden the management team to disobey the board of directors on the ground that their appointments are illegal.
Sayno said the first casualty in the probable standoff between the board and the management is the bulk water supply which is expected to augment 20,000 cubic meters to MIWD’s existing 30,000 cu. m. supply.
“The bidding documents are almost prepared and the next step in the project is to issue an invitation to bid. We were expecting to implement the project next year so we can stave off the water shortage during the dry spell. But it is most likely that the project will be delayed by two to three months,” Sayno said.
Sayno said MIWD consumers will be at the losing end if LWUA insists in nullifying the board and attempt a takeover of the water district’s board of directors.
LWUA administrator Daniel Landingin said the board’s appointment by the Iloilo City mayor is null and void because MIWD service connections in the city have fallen below 75%.
Citing Presidential Decree 198, Landingin said Iloilo Governor Arthur D. Defensor Sr. is the appointing authority of the MIWD board.
Landingin based his pronouncements on the data sent by MIWD general manager Le Jayme Jalbuena to LWUA late last month.
The present board, which is at odds with the management team, is composed of Celso Javelosa (representing the business), Engr. Adrian Moncada (professional sector), Bernadette Castellano (women sector) Dr. Danilo Encarnacion (academe) and Sergio Gonzalez (civic sector).
Javelosa’s term will end in 2012 while Encarnacion and Gonzalez will serve until 2014.
Moncada and Castellano will end their terms December 2010.
LWUA had directed Sayno to solicit nominations from all sectors so that the entire board can be replaced by Defensor.
Sayno said they were surprised by LWUA’s move to nullify the board’s appointment from 2006-2010.
“Why is it only now that they noticed that something was wrong in the appointments of the directors?” he said.
Sayno said LWUA’s move was done in “bad faith” with the absence of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. LWUA chairman Prospero Pichay had also made previous threats to take over the MIWD board on the pretext that the board of directors and management were fighting over policies.
But Mabilog thumbed down Pichay’s takeover move saying he will take charge in ensuring smooth relations between the two warring parties in MIWD.
Sayno said the standoff could happen in the following days with the management disobeying the board and refusal to release the per diems of the directors.
Sayno said LWUA is not a quasi-judicial body which can adjudicate issues besetting a water district.
“What LWUA should do is to file cases with the appropriate office but they don’t want to do that because what they want is to get rid of the board which is making life difficult for some people in the management who have vested interests in the water district,” he added.
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