THE operations of Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) go on as usual after its board of directors received letters from Mayor Edgardo Labella terminating their services effective Oct. 15, 2019 for inefficient water service.
That, as Joel Mari Yu, chairman of the MCWD board, said the water crisis in Cebu is real but the board did not cause it.
READ: MCWD board chairman: There is water crisis in Cebu but definitely the Board didn't cause it
Also, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia repeated her suggestion to have a Capitol representation in the MCWD board to give households that belong to the franchise area “a chance to be heard.”
Labella has not named replacements.
The MCWD board was scheduled to meet late afternoon Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2019 to take up the termination of their services.
In a public statement sent to newsrooms, MCWD assured the public that it continues to do its best to serve the needs of its consumers especially those affected by the water supply shortage.
On her call for Capitol representation, Garcia said she will leave it to Labella to consider this. “Let’s give him a free hand,” she said.
Garcia has long been clamoring for representation for the Province in the MCWD board.
She said the water supply situation in Metro Cebu towns and cities highlights the need for Capitol to be represented in the MCWD Board so the concerns of the mayors can be raised before the body.
The MCWD is a government-owned and -controlled corporation created by Presidential Decree (PD) 198, which was issued by then president Ferdinand Marcos less than a year after he declared martial law in 1972.
In removing the MCWD board, Labella cited PD 198 that gives the appointing authority the power to appoint and at the same time the power to remove or discipline.
Labella sent individual letters Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, to MCWD chairman Yu, vice chairman Ralph Sevilla, Augustus Pe Jr., Procopio Fernandez and Cecilia Adlawan.
The five-member BOD is the policy-making body of water districts by virtue of Presidential Decree 198, the law creating water districts in the country.
It sets the direction for major programs like expansion, sourcing and policies but it is not part of the day-to-day operations of a water district.
The BOD also does not have any executive powers. (RTF)