Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Ponce slams water utilities administrator By Rimaliza Opiña
A BOARD member of the Baguio Water District (BWD) whose appointment was nullified has accused the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) of orchestrating his removal from his position.
BWD Board of Director Napoleon Ponce in a motion for reconsideration alleged that LWUA Administrator Orlando Hondrade usurped and committed grave abuse of authority when he cancelled his and the appointment of two other directors.
The cancellation of the appointment was on the account of Ponce's nomination by the Baguio Association of Retired Personnel (Barp), which is not an accredited professional organization by the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC).
The nominations of Dominador Rojas and Gina Romillo-Co were cancelled by Hondrade.
Ponce was appointed by former Mayor Braulio Yaranon to represent the professional sectors.
Ponce argued that the cancellation of his appointment was done in bad faith because he was not accorded the right to due process and Hondrade who signed his "disqualification" does not represent the LWUA Board of Trustees, thereby usurping the authority of its other members.
He claimed that the cancellation was due to his opposition to contracts entered into by the BWD and for his refusal to bow to certain "policies" of the BWD.
He alleged the BWD is selective in choosing institutions, which could submit nominations for board members.
"The BWD has adopted practices inimical to the representative spirit of nominations to the Board. In truth, nominations were solicited by the management, not by the secretary as required by law and the BWD Board at that time has been practically politicized and corrupted, that it had become the enclave and exclusive preserve of some directors who had been directors for a long time" Ponce claimed.
