MCWD seeks to get back its frozen funds

The management of Metropolitan Cebu Water District wants to get back its frozen funds in eight collecting banks that are subject for garnishment because of the case between the water firm and its supplier.

MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said garnishment of their funds in the banks should be stopped as the Supreme Court has already ordered a status quo on the case involving MCWD and Mactan Rock Industries Inc.

If the freezing of their accounts continues, Paredes said that their operations and projects might be affected. The money, which was collected mostly from MCWD consumers, amounts to more than P19 million.

"We ask the banks to stop collecting for us because if we don't do it, the money will get bigger as the freezing continues. More and more funds will be tied up as it keeps on increasing. Eventually, our operational expenses and services would be affected," Paredes explained.

With this, he said that they advised collecting banks to temporarily stop their collection for the water district so the frozen funds will not increase.

Paredes said that MRII caused the garnishment of MCWD's accounts in different depository banks even if there is still a petition for review on the certiorari filed by the water firm before the Supreme Court.

The water district has also filed a temporary restraining order before the High Court to stop the Construction Industry Arbitration Board from implementing the order directing MCWD to pay MRII its foreign exchange recovery costs.

MRII president and chief executive officer Antonio Tompar said the case is now with the Supreme Court and "let us just wait for its decision."

He said that although there were negotiations prior to the implementation of the garnishment, the decisions were not yet final unless they are signed.

Tompar refused to give further comments but said he is hoping that the MCWD board will investigate and come up with a decision on his letter soon.

Last week, Tompar said he wrote a letter to the MCWD board on the case with some concerns and issues that need to be investigated. "Let's just wait for the decision of the board and the Supreme Court."

In June, after MCWD received the Supreme Court's decision, its legal counsel sent a letter to the sheriff of the court to inform them of the status quo with request to lift the garnishment of accounts.

However, Paredes said that the garnishment of their accounts remained until now, and since the garnishment did not specify an amount, MCWD's funds in eight banks are untouchable.

"For now, it's good that we have funds for our operating expenses. But our additional projects were disapproved because we have no funds," he said.

"If we spend for operating expenses alone, we can survive but we can't improve our services like improving our distribution pipelines."

With its back pushed against the wall, Paredes said that he wrote a letter to MRII informing it that starting next month, MCWD will be imposing penalties on short deliveries as well as deducting 50 percent from the remaining bill until the P14 million penalties incurred by the supplier since their contract started are fully recovered.

Paredes said MRII resorted to "hostage tactics" when it announced that it would shut down operations and stop supplying water to MCWD because it knew that water consumers on Mactan Island will be affected.

"We don't want our consumers to suffer," he said, adding that if MRII pushes through with its threat to shut down, they will find means to continue serving the people of Mactan Island.

Even without MRII's threat to shutdown, Paredes said that MCWD is preparing to solve the impending lack of water on Mactan Island as the contract between MRII and MCWD will expire by the end of 2008.

"It's our obligation to look for additional sources of water to be able to serve our customers," he said. - Wenna A. Berondo