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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Editorials: Mayor Osmeña’s sniping
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is once again in a sniping mood, this time not at the Cebu City Council but at the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), whose board is peopled by his appointees.
Osmeña is calling for a revamp of the MCWD management and raised the suspicion that the water firm is “killing all opposition” to favor “the Ayalas.”
That should be a welcome statement for Mactan Rock Industries Inc., which has threatened to stop supplying water to Mactan Island after receiving a letter from MCWD demanding P14 million as penalty for falling short on deliveries.
Conflict
What is immediately apparent in the mayor’s actuation is that the MCWD management has fallen out of his favor and that his sniping is his way of pressuring the board to finally act on his call for a management revamp.
This effectively splits the MCWD leadership into two factions, the management on one side and the board of directors on the other, which is bad for its operation.
It is interesting to find out how both the MCWD management and the board will respond to Osmeña’s sniping, whether they can restore unity and persuade the mayor not to rock the boat further or management will be kicked out or voluntarily resigns.
Serious allegation
But how MCWD will deal with the mayor’s sniping should be secondary to his allegations about favoritism, which is a serious one considering the sensitive nature of the service provided by the water firm.
When MCWD messes up with water supply contracts with private firms, the loser will be the consumer who will have to bear the burden of paying for its misdeeds.
Because Osmeña has raised it, the issue on favoritism will hound MCWD as it irons out its conflict with Mactan Rock and while it is deliberating on the Carmen bulk water supply proposal by the Ayala-led consortium.
Explanation
This development places the ball in the hands of MCWD---management and board alike---which will now have to explain its actions not only to the mayor but more so to the consumers who want to be assured they are not being had.
The worst thing to happen is when consumers doubt MCWD’s intentions, making it difficult for the water firm to impose water rates hikes or implement new projects.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 20, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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