MAYOR IS MAD

Mabilog vows to get back at MIWD management, LWUA

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

HELL hath no fury like a mayor betrayed.

Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog said he will get back at the management team of Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) for stirring up conflict at the firm once more.

Mabilog said the MIWD management is responsible for prodding LWUA to meddle once more in the water district by questioning the authority of the city mayor in appointing members of the board of directors.

“That has reached my attention before I went to the US and I have referred that to the legal office. We already have plans on what to do with LWUA and the management which I will announce when I return from the US,” Mabilog told Don Dolido of Bombo Radyo-Iloilo.

Mabilog will return to Iloilo November 14 after a two-week trip in the US to receive awards for the city and seek help from Ilonggo expatriates.

The mayor said he disdained the latest move by LWUA in cahoots with the management team which they timed when he left the city.

“They waited for me to leave then they made their moves. In my view, this was instigated by the management team like thieves in the night. Gin patulog ka lang then gin pasulod ang makawat,” he added.

Mabilog also said the management team and LWUA will find themselves in an unfortunate predicament “because they waited for me to leave town then stirred the situation”.

“I assure that we will do something about this. They will regret what they have done to the city,” the mayor said.

Mabilog had told The Daily Guardian via text messages from the US that he will take drastic actions against MIWD for breaking the peace within the water district instead of working on solutions for the water crisis.

Citing data sent by MIWD general manager Le Jayme Jalbuena, LWUA administrator Daniel Landingin said the provincial governor, not the city mayor, has the power to appoint the MIWD board.

Landingin cited Presidential Decree 198 which states that the city mayor is the appointing authority if 75% of the water district’s total service connections are located in the city. Otherwise, the governor will appoint the directors.

LWUA has ordered the management and corporate secretary Hans Sayno to start the process of selecting the new directors as the present board is void from the beginning.

The City Legal Office twitted LWUA on the issue saying it has no power to designate the appointing authority of the water district’s board.

A mere letter from LWUA also cannot authorize the general manager to begin the selection of the new directors.

The MIWD management and board have been at odds over policies, particularly on the proposed bulk water supply scheme seen to augment water supply in MIWD’s service area next year.

LWUA chairman Prospero Pichay had threatened to takeover the MIWD board because of the conflict.