LWUA pronouncement unfair–Mabilog
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has expressed dismay over the pronouncement of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) that he is no longer the appointing authority for Metro Iloilo Water District directors, but Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
Mabilog, who is currently in the United States, said in a radio interview it is unfair to him that the LWUA released such statement without reviewing the legal basis in determining the real appointing authority.
The City Legal Office will counter the LWUA statement, he added.
LWUA Administrator Daniel Landingin said that based on their review and validation of the summary of service connections per municipality submitted by MIWD general manager Le Jayme Jalbuena, Iloilo City was not able to garner more than 75 percent of the total service connection in the district area of coverage.
Considering this, the appointing authority of the MIWD directors shall be the governor and no longer the Iloilo City mayor pursuant to Section 3 (b) of the Presidential Decree 198, as amended, Landingin added.
Landingin had also directed Jalbuena to proceed with the appropriate steps towards ensuring the smooth appointment of the two board members.
For his part, Atty.Giovanni Alfonso Miraflores of the City Legal Office said there is no expressed nor implied provision in PD 198, as amended by P.D. 768, P.D. 1479 and Republic Act 9286, granting the LWUA nor its administrator the power and authority to determine who shall be the appointing authority as far as appointment in the board of directors of local water district is concerned.
Miraflores said that a mere letter addressed to the MIWD general manager and not even to the board of directors or the city mayor cannot serve as a legal basis for withdrawing the power of appointment being exercised by the Iloilo City mayor since the time the MIWD was formed by the Sangguniang Panglungsod.*
