THE Cebu Provincial Legal Office said the Provincial Government has no business interests or any motive whatsoever for its involvement in the struggle between the Cebu City Government and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) for control of the MCWD board, refuting the claim of the Cebu City administrator—and accusing him of being the one who has not been entirely truthful.
In a press conference on Monday, April 22, 2024 at the governor’s office in Cebu City, Capitol consultants Rory Jon Sepulveda and Benjamin Cabrido Jr., both lawyers, and Cebu Provincial Legal Officer Donato Villa hit back at Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell for comments he made last Wednesday on the Provincial Government’s joint venture with Manila Water Consortium Inc., the Cebu Manila Water Development Inc. (CMWDI), having a contract with MCWD.
Villa said Monday that Rosell’s comment insinuated “malice” in the Province’s contract with MCWD.
Third party?
The three lawyers presented to the media on Monday a video clip of Rosell in a press conference last Wednesday at Cebu City Hall saying that he had received a report from a third-party source about the Province’s contract with MCWD.
“Nadungog sad namo sa dihang ngadto ko sa MCWD, ilabi na katong ang mga tawo didto kay nisulti nga kining Provincial Government, supplier man diay na og tubig diha sa MCWD. Sayod siguro sad ta ana. So, kay supplier man og tubig kay tungod ang katong naa sa Carmen, ang nag uban ana, mabasa man nato kay ang Provincial Government ug ang Manila Water ug karon ambot kinsa na ang nagdala,” Rosell said in the video.
(When we went to MCWD, we also heard, especially, the people there said that this Provincial Government turns out to be a supplier of water to MCWD. I think we also know that. So, since it’s a supplier of water because for the Carmen facility, we can read that those who are together in that venture are the Provincial Government and Manila Water, and now I don’t know who is running it.)
Rosell’s statement during the press conference was made to explain the Cebu Provincial Government’s backing for the MCWD board led by Jose Daluz III in its fight against the Cebu City Government’s efforts to remove Daluz and his fellow directors Miguelito Pato and Jodelyn May Seno from the board.
Personal knowledge
Sepulveda said Rosell’s statement about hearing about the Province’s contract with MCWD from someone else was not true. Rather, Rosell had personal knowledge about it as he was a legal consultant of the Office of the Governor before he became the city administrator.
Sepulveda added that the Province’s joint investment venture being inaugurated in 2012 and the CMWDI entering into a supply contract with MCWD in 2013 has been public knowledge, and the latest update such as the termination of its contract with the local water district on Dec. 1, 2023, over a disagreement in the price of water, had been presented in Capitol’s press conferences.
“Kabalo ang tanan ana. Walay gitago, wala tanan. Pero gi-intriga niya nga morag naa kunohay nga business interest ang probinsya. Unya magpakaro-ingnon pa siya kunohay nga adunay nagsulti kaniya. Butbot,” Selpulveda said.
(Everybody knows that. Nothing was hidden. But he sowed intrigue as if to show that the Province has a business interest. And he makes it appear that someone told him this. That’s a lie.)
Cabrido said Rosell was among the legal consultants of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia when she first returned to the Capitol in 2019.
Cabrido said Rosell, an expert in real estate properties, was tasked to be part of the Technical Working Group that looked into the “anomalous and disadvantageous” contract of CMWDI with MCWD to sell 35 million liters of water per day (MLD) from CMWDI’s facility at the Luyang River in the town of Carmen at the price of P24.59 per cubic meter.
Cabrido added that Garcia might have been held legally liable over the “anomalous and disadvantageous” contract if it had not been corrected or addressed, even if it was signed by the previous administration.
Hilario Davide III, now vice governor, was the governor from 2013 to 2019.
Rosell’s opinion
Cabrido said that on Sept. 6, 2021, Rosell made a legal opinion on the matter by recommending the termination of the supply contract, which was the decision that CMWDI followed in October 2023 that took effect on Dec. 1.
Sepulveda said Rosell should have disclosed, subject to the approval of the earlier client, which is the Province, that he had prior knowledge of the matter, instead of saying that the information was from a third-party source.
Cabrido said Rosell could be held liable for breaching lawyer-client confidentiality and this may be the grounds if complaints against him will be lodged, which will lead to his suspension for three years from practicing law.
SunStar Cebu reached out to Rosell through a phone call on Monday; however, he declined to comment, saying he was in a meeting.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama fired Daluz, Pato and Seno from the board last Oct. 31, but they have refused to step down.
The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) suspended the trio last March 15 for six months and replaced them with an interim board, as the regulator sought to look into issues at the water district, including the alleged failure to comply with procurement laws and the high non-revenue water rate. But the trio ignored the LWUA too, saying they do not recognize the LWUA’s authority to suspend them.
Last April 15, Garcia and seven Cebu mayors expressed their support for the MCWD officials suspended by the LWUA. Garcia called the LWUA’s intervention untimely, saying it had created confusion among employees and consumers as the province faces the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Saying that the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel’s opinion had favored MCWD, instead of the LWUA, she threatened to invoke the general welfare clause of the Local Government Code of 1991 to ensure the status quo at the MCWD if LWUA insisted on interfering in the local water district. / EHP