Gwen, Tomas set to fill up vacancies at MCWD board

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Mayor Tomas Osmeña have agreed to jointly fill up the existing vacancies in the Metropolitan Cebu Water District pending final determination on who has the authority to name the board of directors.

This is without prejudice to the parties' maintaining and asserting their conflicting positions in the proper forum.

"Considering that the issue is a legal one, the parties agree that the final arbiter as to the merits of the contending legal positions will ultimately be the courts," they said in a joint statement.

They said that this short-term solution has been reached in the interest of the continued and unhampered operation of the MCWD, and because the parties believe that the overriding concern of providing adequate water to Metro Cebu is paramount and larger than the personalities involved.

The province has consistently maintained that under section 3(b) of Presidential Decree 198, otherwise known as the "Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973", the Governor of the Province of Cebu has the power to fill vacancies in the board where the total active water service connections in the City of Cebu in relation to the entire franchise area drops to a level less than 70 percent.

Records provided by the MCWD confirms that the existing level of connections for the City of Cebu has dropped below 70 percent.

The City of Cebu, on the other hand, maintains that the said decree, promulgated during Martial Law, when the City of Cebu was still a component political unit of the province, is no longer applicable, considering that the city is now independent of the province.

Garcia has already asked the Board Secretary, Cynthia Barrit to furnish her the names of nominations to fill in the two vacant positions.

Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia said that as of yesterday, the governor has not yet received the names of nominees despite her request to submit it on or before today as the terms of the two directors will end on December 31, 2006.

With the agreement of the governor and the city mayor, Pablo John said that the nominations will be reviewed by both parties and to agree who are to be appointed.

Pablo John was earlier floated by Osmeña and even endorsed by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to be nominated but he declined in order not to make the issue more complicated.

Another thing Pablo John is concerned about is the possible question of his residency, which is in Barili town, outside the service area of MCWD. - Gregg M. Rubio