LMWD standoff resolved: LWUA confirms appointment of Romualdez-named execs

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — After barely more than a month of standoff on who is the legal board of directors—between those appointed by the provincial government (under Governor Dominic Petilla) and those by the city government (under Mayor Cristina Romualdez)— of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD), the solution finally came.

The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), in an order dated February 20, 2018 and signed by Administrator Jeci Lapus, confirmed the appointment of the four of five members of the city-appointed board of directors (BOD) of the LMWD, and its acting general manager Pastor Homeres.

It was noted that only the appointment of the four of the five BOD members were confirmed, as yet: They are Engineer Roberto Muñoz (representing the professional sector), lawyer Jennilyn Manibay (civic sector), lawyer Sharilee Gaspay (women sector), and Bernardita Valenzuela (business sector).

The four had already taken their oaths of office before Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar at the latter’s office in Manila.

The appointment of the fifth BOD member, lawyer Bautista Corpin (education sector) was still on hold, pending the submission of some required documents, the LWUA stated.

The LWUA confirmation also declared that the newly confirmed BOD members will serve the unexpired portion of the terms of office of the previous directors (provincial appointed), and “shall commence on the date of their appointment,” which was on November 29, last year.

LWUA stated that the confirmation of the appointments was anchored on the decision of the Supreme Court in Rama vc. Moises case (G.R. No. 197146), and pursuant to the mandate of LWUA under Letter of Instructions No. 744 issued on September 28, 1978.

"Upon the perusal of the documents submitted, the Board after due deliberation authorized the Acting Administrator to act … without prejudice to the final and executory decision of the court of competent jurisdiction, hence the persons appointed by Mayor Cristina Romualdez have been found qualified as members of the LMWD Board of Directors," Lapus declared in the LWUA letter of confirmation.

Corpin, in a news conference yesterday morning, and the confirmed directors appealed to the Petilla-appointed BOD members to return the documents they have illegally taken out from the LMWD main office at Nula-Tula in Tacloban, to move on, and to accept their defeat.

Three weeks ago, a robbery and coercion charges were filed by Homeres against the Petilla-named BOD and some employees of LMWD, after they forcibly entered the Finance and Billing Division of the water district’s main office, and carted off at least 20 computer sets, pertinent documents and an undisclosed amount of money at around 2:30 a.m. last February 5.

The Romualdez-appointed directors had taken over the LMWD-Nulat-Tula office last month, with the support by at least 300 employees, prompting the Petilla’s BOD—insisting they are the legal directors—to create a separate LMWD office at the Leyte Academic Center in Palo town. They followed this up with the “raid” of the computers and documents at Nula-Tula that they hauled off to Palo.

The emergence of the two offices of LMWD caused panic and confusion among water concessionaires, in Tacloban and seven towns under the water district coverage, on where they can legally transact or pay their bills.

With the standoff now resolved this time however, Homeres issued a warning to the consumers of LMWD to pay their bills at the Nula-Tula office, otherwise their water service will be disconnected for non-payment of dues.

Early last week, policemen from the regional command, securing the LMWD compound, were already pulled out, but those of the Tacloban City Police have been retained to guard the area.

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte recently downloaded from his presidential funds P600 million that will be used to finance the water system projects for the more than 12,000 families residing at the relocation site in the northern barangays in Tacloban, to be included in the LMWD coverage.