Wednesday, August 01, 2007 NWRB asked: Take over Carmen water deal talks
BOARD officials of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) will assert its claim to an exclusive distributorship in areas where they have transmission lines when it files a motion for reconsideration on a recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling.
MCWD board chairman Juan Saul Montecillo said they will beat the Aug. 6 deadline for the filing of the motion for reconsideration.
The water district will also start to negotiate with the new municipal officials of Compostela, where 14 MCWD deep wells have been lying idle for 15 years.
Montecillo said they are determined to pursue plans to operate the deep wells and they are hopeful that the newly elected officials will support them in finding ways to increase water supply in Metro Cebu.
In their meeting yesterday, the board agreed to file the motion and point out “gray areas” in the Constitution that considers unconstitutional the granting of exclusive franchise to a utility company.
While it is true that both the Constitution and Presidential Decree (PD) 198, or the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973, do not allow exclusive franchise, the latter set an exemption.
“It’s true that PD 198 says there is no such thing as exclusive franchise but there is a process that private water suppliers have to follow to be able to operate within the water district’s franchise area. Their application for a certificate of public conveyance (CPC) requires the water district’s consent for them to operate,” Montecillo said.
The SC ruled last July 4 that MCWD’s complete control over water in Metro Cebu is unconstitutional, and the firm does not have exclusive franchise to operate and maintain a waterworks system.
The SC ruling stemmed from a petition that MCWD itself initiated to stop the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) from granting Margarita Adala a permit to supply water to three sitios in Bulacao.
The MCWD petition was filed by then general manager Armando Paredes in 2003 after NWRB issued a CPC to Adala on Sept. 22, 2003.
Montecillo yesterday said the MCWD board did not give its consent for Adala to operate since MCWD was in the process of putting up transmission lines in the area.
In yesterday’s meeting, the board shelved the resolution asking the NWRB to intervene in the negotiations between the Ayala consortium and MCWD in relation to the unresolved issues of the Carmen Bulk Water Supply Agreement.
The board chairman said they are still reviewing the resolution and will approve it during their Aug. 13 board meeting.
MCWD has decided to let NWRB determine the amount for the cost of transfer of water rights. Both parties to the agreement have not reached an agreement on what would be a reasonable and acceptable amount.
Upon receipt of the resolution, NWRB has 30 days to set an amount and if it is still unacceptable to either party, it can be a ground to terminate the negotiations for the water deal and cancel Ayala’s unsolicited proposal, said Montecillo.
If it drops the Ayala proposal, MCWD will focus on developing and operating deep and shallow wells in Compostela town and in Mactan.
The board set a deadline for them to come up and enter into a new memorandum of agreement with municipal officials of Compostela for the rehabilitation and operation of 14 deep wells there.
Before the Dec. 31 deadline, MCWD will implement the rehabilitation program and reevaluation of the wells and water source by conducting pump tests.
In 2002, a Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruled in favor of the Municipal Government when MCWD asked the RTC to prevent town officials from stopping the operation of the deep wells.
The Municipal Government had raised concerns that its water supply would be depleted and its residents wouldn’t benefit if MCWD were allowed to extract water from the northern town.
The Court of Appeals upheld the RTC ruling in 2006. The case is under appeal. (LCR)
