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[av_heading heading=’LEGAL SHOWDOWN MIWD Board deemed terminated – Espinosa ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Mayor Jose Espinosa III is not anymore recognizing the current composition of the Metro Iloilo Water District’s (MIWD) Board of Directors (BOD).
He is bracing for a possible legal showdown with the city’s water provider.
In a letter to the MIWD yesterday, Espinosa directed the directors “to henceforth cease and desist from further performing the powers and functions of the members of the BOD…such as but not limited to your rumored plan to award a P12.349-billion contract to a private water distributor, MetroPac Water Investments Corp. (MIWC).”
Citing a recent Supreme Court ruling on Metropolitan Cebu Water District, Espinosa said the appointments of the present MIWD directors were void.
“Their existence there has been terminated by the decision of the Supreme Court that the law on which their appointments were based is void from the very beginning,” Espinosa said in a press briefing.
As such, “they could not bind MIWD (to any deal) because their being there is now under question,” he stressed.
Espinosa, a lawyer, warned the MIWD directors against defying his “cautionary/cease and desist notice” to avoid the rigors of court litigation.
MIWD’s joint venture partner MIWC was also furnished with Espinosa’s letter.
The water district does not have the authority to award a P12.349-billion water distribution contract to MIWC, said the mayor.
The city government would take legal action if the deal pushes through, he warned MIWD.
“I don’t want to be accused of sleeping on the rights of Iloilo City consumers. Ako na ‘ya karun mabasulan kon ano mahinabo,” Espinosa told city hall reporters.
In a decision dated Dec. 6 on the Metropolitan Cebu Water District case, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 (b) of Presidential Decree (PD) 198 for being unconstitutional as “it thereby utterly disregarded the clear policies favoring local autonomy enshrined in the 1987 Constitution and effected by the 1991 Local Government Code and related and subsequent statutory enactments, and for being violative of the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 1987 Constitution.”
Under Section 3 (b) of PD 198, if less than 75 percent of the total concessionaires are found in the city, the appointing authority shall be the governor.
The present set of MIWD’s BOD was appointed by Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo province.
Espinosa confirmed he intended to appoint a new set of MIWD directors.
“Kon ano gid man ang plano sang MIWD, indi anay mag-act because it might prejudice the city of Iloilo. I have to protect the city and its residents. We should be consulted. We should know and be properly advised sang plans dira,” said Espinosa.
The current MIWD directors, who each have a term of six years, are Dr. Teodoro Robles (chairman), Atty. Juanito Acanto, Dr. Jessica Salas, Ramon Cua-Locsin, and Atty. Josephine Abad-Caram. They were appointed by Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo province.
Abad-Caram’s term will end in December 2018. Those of Robles and Cua-Locsin will expire in 2020 while those of Acanto and Salas, in 2022.
On Dec. 12, MIWD general manager Imelda Magsuci said they would defer to the opinion of their legal counsel regarding Espinosa’s call for them to refrain from taking actions or making decisions while he seeks clarification on who really has the authority to appoint the water district’s directors.
But she insisted that the appointments of MIWD directors were valid and had legal basis.
“Ang bal-an ko the application of the law is prospective, indi retro(active). At the time nga na-appoint ang mga board (of directors), wala pa ang latest ruling (of the Supreme Court),” said Magsuci who used to manage the water district in Davao City.
According to City Administrator Hernando Galvez, Espinosa’s his “cautionary/cease and desist notice” was hand-delivered to MIWD yesterday by the City Legal Office./PN
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