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Wednesday, August 02, 2006
MCWD board to probe graft charges
To see if allegations of corruption hold water, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) board will review all the documents and testimonies of the complainants against top managers of the utility firm.
If the evidence warrants, they will forward the case to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for a formal investigation.
MCWD board chairman Juan Saul Montecillo said they met behind closed doors last Monday with Antonio Tompar, president of Mactan Rock Industries Inc., who reiterated his complaints under oath.
The others who also gave their statements under oath are Lito Maderazo and James Cook, Mactan Rock vice president and consultant, respectively; and Luis Unchuan, owner of the land in Cordova town where Mactan Rock sourced the water being supplied to MCWD.
Montecillo refused to divulge the contents of their sworn statements. Their complaints and testimonies were heard away from the MCWD’s premises, to prevent them from being intimidated, he added.
In a special board meeting last July 27, the MCWD board passed a resolution to convene as a fact-finding body to investigate complaints about alleged irregularities.
What triggered that move was a letter from Tompar, who alleged that the MCWD managers want to terminate Mactan Rock’s contract this year or early 2007, without waiting for its expiration in 2008, because they have their own financiers for a bulk water supply contract.
Tompar insisted that Mactan Rock won the bidding for the bulk water supply from Minglanilla town and was issued a notice to proceed with the project. It offered to sell at P13.85 per cubic meter.
MCWD managers, however, chose another company that offered P19 per cubic meter, Tompar complained.
According to Montecillo, the board will also invite the management group to answer the complaints, before they come up with a report and conclusion.
General manager Armando Paredes denied that MCWD’s top managers want to terminate Mactan Rock’s contract because they’re interested in getting the deal for themselves.
“I don’t know where he got that perception. If he is talking about our personal capacity, that’s impossible. But if he’s talking about MCWD, well, that’s part of our mandate to look for additional sources of water. That is nothing unusual. In fact, that is our obligation,” Paredes said.
Paredes said that Unchuan was approached by a manager for a possible bulk water supply deal because that’s part of their exploration work. (EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 2, 2006 issue)
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