Rama allies ‘lose’ MCWD board seats

CEBU, Philippines — The Atty. Jose Daluz III-led Board of Directors (BOD) of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) has declared two board seats vacant, following the pronouncement of lawyers Earl Bunachita and Danilo Ortiz that they would not attend their future meetings.

Last Dec. 4, Bunachita and Ortiz had declared that it is retired Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, not Daluz, whom they recognize as MCWD BOD chairman.

That was after Mayor Michael Rama appointed Feliciano as MCWD BOD chairman and Atty. Aristotle Batuhan and businessman Nelson Yuballos as BOD members last Oct. 31, replacing Daluz, Miguelito Pato, and Jodelyn Seno, while reappointing Bunachita and Ortiz.

Daluz, Pato, and Seno, though, refused to recognize the authority of the mayor to remove them, arguing that that power rests with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), which upheld the same reasoning.

This resulted to the MCWD having two BODs, with the officials and employees declaring support for Daluz’s BOD.

In a statement released to the media yesterday, Daluz said the positions of Ortiz, representing the civic sector, and Bonachita, representing the education sector are now vacant, after they expressed in a letter to Daluz that they would no longer attend future meetings.

The same letter also cited their "refusal to recognize" the present board led by Daluz as a legitimate one.

The declaration of Bunachita’s and Ortiz’s seats vacant during a board meeting last Thursday presided by BOD Cice Chairman Miguelito Pato. It was Daluz who moved for declaration and seconded by Seno.

“The civic and education sectors are disenfranchised and essentially deprived of representation in the MCWD Board,” Daluz said on why he was prompted to declare the seats vacant so they could be filled up by others.

He said the LWUA and the mayors of the eight towns and cities MCWD serves would also be notified of the declaration.

In addition to the resolution declaring the vacancies, the BOD also instructed its secretary to begin "soliciting at least 10 nominees from their respective sectors within MCWD's service area".

The secretary is expected to present the list of nominees to the board on Jan. 8, 2024. This list will be submitted to Mayor Michael Rama for the appointment of new BOD members as Ortiz’s and Bonachita’s replacements.

Ortiz and Bonachita assumed office last January, succeeding lawyers Manolette Dinsay and Frank Malilong, Jr., whose terms ended in December 2022.

Both Ortiz and Bonachita's terms are supposed to end in December 2028 yet.

Their Dec. 4 letter was in response to Daluz’s Nov. 20 show-cause order for them to explain their absences from the board meetings and their alleged “unauthorized meetings” with Feliciano at the MCWD Board Room.

The order directed them to explain in writing “why no disciplinary action should be instituted against them”.

“After the issuance of Mayor Rama’s order on October 31, 2023, we recused ourselves from your Board and attended the meetings of what we believe to be the new and legitimate Board chaired by General Melquiades Feliciano,” they said in their Dec. 4 reply. (CEBU NEWS)