THE Cebu City Government opened its satellite office in a Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD)-owned building located across the Cebu City Hall in July; however, MCWD claims there has been no contract entered into by the parties weeks since City Hall started using the building.
City Hall announced through its Facebook page, Cebu City News and Information Office, the opening of the new satellite office on July 21, 2023.
Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell 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.
Rosell said some of the offices include the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (Dwup) and the City Hospitalization Assistance Management Program (Champ), among others.
Lessor
Rosell said MCWD is the lessor of the building.
When asked how much the City’s lease is for the building, Rosell, in an interview on July 23, said there are several options of agreement that the City and MCWD may enter into, including usufruct deed and lease agreement.
“There are many (options of) agreement. There is arrangement of usufruct. Lease is also possible. There are a lot of options,” said Rosell.
Rosell gave as an example MCWD’s septage water treatment plant in the North Reclamation Area wherein MCWD asked for a usufruct arrangement, he said.
A usufruct is a legal right accorded to a party that confers the temporary right to use and derive income or benefit from someone else’s property.
No contract However, MCWD chairman of the board Jose Daluz III described City Hall’s move as “bullying.”
Daluz, in a text message to SunStar Cebu on July 24, said their problem was that no contract had been signed.
He said MCWD had been making several demands already, hoping a formal and official contract would be signed by both parties.
“I hope soon we can enter into a contract; otherwise, we will have to bid this publicly,” said Daluz.
“That’s how bully and entitled they are now,” Daluz added.
In principle
In response to Daluz’s claim, Rosell said Wednesday, Aug. 2, that he cannot confirm or deny the claims of MCWD, adding that both parties came up with an arrangement and “it was agreed in principle.”
Rosell said it is the job of the legal department of both parties to formalize all the legalities of the matter.
“If they said that there was no contract, well, awareness and consent is the one very much important,” said Rosell.
“It’s not an issue of the said institution because once they have agreed, then formalities will just follow,” he added.
Abandoned
He also emphasized that City officials were with the management of MCWD when they conducted a site visit at the building in the first quarter of this year.
He described the building during that time as “very much dilapidated,” abandoned and littered with animal waste.
The building used to be occupied for years by a retailer.
SunStar Cebu tried to reach Daluz Wednesday for his comment, but calls and text messages were left unanswered as of press time.
Daluz has been at odds with City Hall since Mayor Michael Rama moved for his ouster from MCWD.
Last June, City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo recommended the removal of Daluz and two other persons from the water district’s board of directors, citing the Sept. 21, 2022 petition for their removal filed by the MCWD Employees Union and its Executive Board before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas over the falling income of MCWD and their failure to meet the water needs of customers, among other things; as well as the Feb. 27, 2023 opinion of Government Corporate Counsel Rogelio Quevedo that the MCWD board’s approval of three bulk water supply projects in Mactan, Cebu was “irregular.”
Daluz, however, said the real reason they were being eased out was their opposition to MCWD’s privatization that Rama is promoting.