City legal office reviews MOA with MCWD: Talisay to create own water district

CEBU, Philippines - Talisay City is now looking forward to creating its own water district.

Mayor Eduardo Gullas said this is to better serve the city's constituents.

 "We have to create our own Talisay Water District because look, ang MCWD (Metropolitan Cebu Water District), which is supplying Cebu City, nia na nagkuha sa ato. How many wells do they have as reported? There are 19, but actually, they have 26 already," Gullas said.

Last week, Gullas, in a letter, directed City Legal Officer Giovanni Sususco to create an organization for the plan.

Since there is an existing memorandum of agreement between the Talisay City government and the MCWD, Gullas said he will check if they would not breach anything in realizing their plan.

Gullas earlier requested Sususco to review the 22-year-old MOA with MCWD.

As per Sususco's recommendations, it was revealed that some points under the contract are not beneficial for Talisay City.

Thirty-five percent of the water supply of MCWD comes from the wells in Talisay City.

However, it was found out that there are barangays in Talisay that are not included in the services of the water agency.

Quarterly, the MCWD gives the city government a check in around P300,000 with no corresponding details as to why they come up with the amount.

Further, there is no representative from Talisay City who sits on MCWD's board of directors.

"Those are very important factors why we should have our own Talisay water district. In the first place, nia na man gud nagkuha sa atong sabakan sa atong tubig, nganong dili man 'ta mag-organize sa atong kaugalingon," Gullas said.

The mayor assured that the proposal is feasible.

For his part, Sususco said that after receiving the letter from Gullas, he immediately started to review again the existing contract.

He expressed that it is a challenge for him considering that the proposed plan needs further study and is considered as significant for all Talisaynons.

"Mag-gather pa ko'g documents as to asa kutob ang contract, like naa ba sila'y (MCWD) exclusive authority nga sila ra ba ang water district sa Talisay," the City Legal Officer said.

He added that he would also seek help from his co-lawyers in the city to assist him in creating the organization.

"Kay lisod nga diretso-diretso create unya naa diay legal impediments later on, so it needs further study," he said. (FREEMAN)