MIWD turns over watershed financial assistance to Maasin
Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), headed by its chairman of the Board of Directors, Celso Javelosa, turned over to the local government of Maasin its financial assistance for the maintenance and development of the watershed within the Maasin area.
The financial assistance is part of the agreement which MIWD and the LGU Maasin came into terms in lieu of the LGU share which the Water District has suspended payment in the wake of two opinions issued separately by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) in 2006.
The assistance was sealed through a memorandum of agreement signed by Mayor Mariano Malones, Jr. representing the local government of Maasin and Ernesto Caberoy, officer-in-charge of MIWD.
The MOA provides that the MIWD shall “make available and deposit in the Trust Account of the LGU-Maasin the amount of Php1,000,000.00 for 2008 and thereafter on a yearly basis an amount maybe more but not less than P 1 million to finance/fund the protection, maintenance and other development efforts, with emphasis on vegetation and structural measures within the perimeter of the Maasin watershed, including the maintenance of the perimeter road.”
On the other hand, the local government is required to “prepare a program of work and financial plan for the amount of P 1million for the rehabilitation, improvement, protection and development of the watershed area in accordance with sound engineering practices.”
It is also obliged to submit a copy to MIWD of the duly audited financial statement by the Commission on Audit.
It was further agreed that the MOA “shall not prejudice the right of the LGU-Maasin to collect the LGU share from the MIWD should this issue be resolved in favor of the former.”
The agreement was reached in a meeting among Rep. Arthur Defensor of Iloilo Third District, Board Member Mariano Malones, Sr. and top officials of MIWD.
It can be recalled that MIWD deferred payment of the share of the local government of Maasin from the former’s gross sales of water for fiscal years 2005-2008 pending the opinions of the OGCC.
This came in the wake of a query made by then Mayor Malones Sr., now a board member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Iloilo, requesting “opinion on the rightful treatment of the 35% share allocated to Barangay in the utilization of national wealth in accordance with the Local Government Code of 1991.”
The OGCC, however, opined that “local water districts are exempted from payment of share to the LGUs in the utilization of water” as provided for in OGCC Opinion No. 043, series of 2002 addressed to the general manager of Tagaytay City Water District and OGCC Opinion No. 150, series of 2003 addressed to the General Manager of Iloilo Norte Water District.