ILOILO City – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. is not appointing any director to the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) Board anymore. He is leaving the task to this city’s Mayor Jose Espinosa III.
One MIWD director is about to complete her term on Dec. 31 – Josephine Abad-Caram representing the business sector.
According to Defensor, he received a certification from MIWD General Manager Imelda Magsuci that majority of the water district’s concessionaires now come from Iloilo City.
With this fact and Section 3 (b) of Presidential Decree 198 (Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973), said Defensor, the authority to make appointments to the MIWD Board had shift from him to Espinosa.
Under Section 3 (b), “if more than 75 percent of the total concessionaires are found in the city, the appointing authority shall be the city mayor. If the total number of concessionaires in the city is below 75 percent, however, the appointing authority shall be the governor.”
According to Atty. Dennis Ventilacion, chief of the Provincial Legal Office, MIWD’s Magsuci certified that only 36 percent of the water district’s concessionaires were from Iloilo province while the rest were from Iloilo City.
“The city mayor will appoint basta sundon lang ang proseso,” said Defensor.
Last month, MIWD corporate secretary Atty. Cyril Regalado submitted to both Defensor and Espinosa a list of nominees to replace Abad-Caram.
The nominees were Felicito Tiu of the Philippine Chambers of Commerce and Industry; Angela Abenir from hotels and restaurants group; Francis Chung of the Philippine Retailers Association; and Chelen Regalado from the association of bankers.
The current MIWD directors who each have a term of six years are Dr. Teodoro Robles (chairman), Atty. Juanito Acanto, Dr. Jessica Salas, Ramon Cua-Locsin, and Abad-Caram.
While Abad-Caram’s term would expire by the end of this month, those of Robles and Cua-Locsin would expire in 2020 yet. Those of Acanto and Salas, in 2022.
They were all appointed by Defensor.
Aside from Iloilo City, MIWD serves the municipalities of Cabatuan, Leganes, Maasin, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara in Iloilo province./PN
