SC rejects Capitol’s motion on MCWD board appointments

CEBU, Philippines — For lack of merit, the Supreme Court has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Province of Cebu, which questioned SC’s jurisdiction over the issue of who has the legal authority to appoint members of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the Metro Cebu Water District.

In his five-page penned resolution, Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin denied the motion for reconsideration filed by then governor and now Cebu 3rd District Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia and RTC Judge Gilbert Moises, in his capacity as presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 18.

Garcia and Moises claimed the City of Cebu and other petitioners disregarded the principle of hierarchy of courts. They said the petitioners should have appealed the decision of RTC before the Court of Appeals and not directly to the SC, which is a court of last resort.

Though SC has often insisted on the strict application of the principle of hierarchy of courts in numerous cases, Bersmain said the application has not been absolute.

"When the issues involve the constitutionality of a statute or law, or when the issues involved are those transcendental importance, procedural technicalities should yield in accordance with the well-entrenched principle that rules of procedure are not inflexible tools designed to hinder or delay, but rather to facilitate and promote the administration of justice," reads the resolution.

Since the issue involves constitutionality, Bersamin said, the SC has "full discretionary power to take cognizance of and assume jurisdiction over the special civil actions for certiorari and mandamus filed directly with it for exceptionally compelling reasons."

With the concurrence of other associate justices, Bersamin declared Section 3(b) of Presidential Decree No. 198 as unconstitutional as it violates the 1987 Constitution on local autonomy, among others.

In his decision dated December 6, 2016, Bersamin granted the petition for certiorari filed by the City of Cebu through the Office of the Mayor for setting aside the decision of the RTC Branch 18.

RTC Branch 18 ruled that the governor has the appointing authority, and the appointment of Joel Mari Yu in 2008 as a member of the MCWD Board of Directors made by Mayor Tomas Osmeña was illegal and void.

Background

MCWD was created in 1974 through Presidential Decree 198 or the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973.

MCWD has distributed water and sold water services to the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay, and the municipalities of Liloan, Compostela, Consolacion, and Cordova.

From 1974 to 2002, the mayor of Cebu City appointed all the members of the MCWD BOD in accordance with Section 3(b) of PD 198.

In July 2002, then Cebu governor Pablo Garcia asserted his authority to appoint members of the MCWD BOD, saying that he has the appointing authority since the active water connections in Cebu City had been below 75 percent of the total active water service connection of the MCWD.

Garcia based his argument on PD 198, to which the MCWD itself filed a case for declaratory relief before the RTC, seeking to declare the Cebu City mayor as the sole appointing authority of its BOD.  But the court dismissed the petition for declaratory relief filed by MCWD.

In its December 6, 2016 decision, Bersamin ruled that the appointing authority remains the mayor of Cebu City based on the number of water service connections of 61.28 percent. (FREEMAN)