Police help sought
'TO SECURE MCWD PREMISES'
The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA)-installed Interim Board of Directors has requested local police assistance to secure the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) premises, following a similar request from removed Board of Directors Chairman Jose Daluz III, presumably against the Interim Board.
LWUA Administrator Jose Moises Salonga made the request to Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Ireneo Dalogdog in a March 19 letter, after Daluz allegedly passed Resolution No. 6, s. 2024 last March 18, requesting for the police to provide security 24 hours a day to secure the utility firm’s premises and prevent the “concealment, destruction, and/or removal of various documents.”
Salonga also mentioned that Daluz and Kilusang Bagong Pilipinas-Cebu City Chapter used MCWD’s Social Hall last March 16 without the approval of the Interim Board, in violation of the rule against the use of MCWD facilities for political purposes.
“In view of the foregoing, and in order to secure the LWUA personnel reporting in MCWD, maintain peace and order, prevent the escalation of the situation into violence, and guarantee the continued and unhampered operation and delivery of clean and safe water I am one with the Interim Board in requesting your good Office for police assistance on a 24/7 basis for MCWD main office and branches from 19 March 2024 until further notice,” read a part of Salonga’s letter.
It was last Friday, March 15, when LWUA partially took over MCWD and installed an Interim Board of Directors, namely Maria Rosan D. Perez, Engr. Anabelle C. Gravador and Engr. Noel A. Samonte.
Perez, Gravador, and Samonte were tasked “to ensure that MCWD effectively performs its duty to provide clean and safe water to Cebu City and seven other cities and municipalities” and met with MCWD officers the same day.
Yesterday, in a message to The Freeman, Daluz assailed what LWUA did.
“There is no law and order .... LWUA and the police are witch-hunting and totally disregarded due process of law. I would like to appeal to the city police to observe the rule of law.
The MCWD is a GOCC and should be respected,” he said.
“This is robbery because they removed some properties of MCWD without consent from MCWD with the aid of our police. The LWUAofficials, with the aid of the police, are acting like the Gestapo,” he said, referencing Nazi Germany’s secret police described as a ruthless political enforcer in eliminating dissent.
Three days after the takeover, MCWD General Manager Edgar Donoso issued a statement assuring the public that it is service as usual for them.
“We want to assure all our consumers and stakeholders that despite these circumstances, the operations of MCWD will continue as usual,” he said.
He said that despite the takeover, there would be no disruptions in the delivery of water services to the people.
LWUA earlier clarified that while Daluz and the rest of the five-man MCWD Board of Directors were told to “cease and desist from exercising their functions during the period of LWUA's intervention” for at least half a year, Donoso will remain in his current post.