THE negotiations between Cebu City Hall and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) on the City Government’s use of an MCWD-owned building may have been stalled by their disagreement on the monthly rental rate for the building, with the City’s proposal of P200,000 a far cry from MCWD’s proposed rate of P700,000.
In a statement sent to the media on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, MCWD also claimed that City Hall started occupying and initiating repair works on the building last January without the consent of the government-owned and –controlled corporation.
MCWD said its legal department has been asking for a meeting with the City Government’s lawyers but has not received any positive response from the City yet.
In a text message to SunStar Cebu last July 24, MCWD chairman Jose Daluz III had branded City Hall a “bully and entitled” for its use of the building without a contract.
The City is occupying the MCWD-owned building located across the City Hall for its satellite office which opened on July 21, 2023.
Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell earlier said all offices under the executive department which are not policy-determining offices, but were located in the Legislative Building, were transferred to the satellite office, including the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, and City Hospitalization Assistance Management Program, among others.
Weeks since the satellite office opened, however, MCWD said Thursday that there was still no contract signed by both parties.
Approved in May
After the MCWD board of directors passed a resolution on May 18 approving the rental rate proposal to the City amounting to P700,000 and authorizing the MCWD general manager to negotiate with the City about the lease, MCWD sent the proposed lease contract to the Office of the Mayor on May 26.
MCWD said its proposed rate to the City was computed based on the standard set by the Commission on Audit Circular 88-282-A, or the Uniform Standards/Guidelines to Determine the Reasonableness of the Terms and Rental Rates of Lease Contracts for Private or Government Buildings/Spaces.
In its statement, MCWD said it made three written follow-ups to the City dated June 2, June 3 and June 23.
MCWD said the City responded on July 5 with lawyers Luigine Christi Chan and Lyndon Bernardo Basan stating that “the terms and conditions in the Draft Contract of Lease are in accordance with the law, morals, public policy and good customs.”
However, MCWD said it received an email from the mayor’s office on July 24 containing the City’s counterproposal of the P200,000 rental rate made through lawyer John Michael Lequigan.
Since the water district intends to stick to its proposed lease rate of P700,000, MCWD said its legal department has been making attempts to meet with the lawyers of the City to discuss the matter, but it has not received any response to its request.
SunStar Cebu tried to reach City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo for comment but was told that Castillo would hold a press conference on Friday, Aug. 4, to address this concern.
Last Aug. 2, Rosell told SunStar that both parties had come up with an arrangement and “it was agreed in principle.”
Rosell also said formalities would just follow once the agreement had been made.
The MCWD building was previously occupied by a retailer for 15 years, but its contract was not renewed when it expired in September 2021.
The management of the water district intended to repurpose the building and use a portion of it for its customer care and teller offices, but decided not to implement any refurbishing works yet since the retail store that previously occupied the building had an existing claim to restore the building as stipulated in its contract.