Tom, MCWD have 15 days to answer Gwen’s petition

The court has directed Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District to answer within 15 days the petition of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia seeking to give her full power to appoint members of the MCWD board.

Likewise, Regional Trial Court Judge Bienvenido Saniel has reminded Osmeña and MCWD to observe "restraint" in filing a possible motion to have the case dismissed.

"You are hereby required within 15 days after service of this summons upon you to file with this court and serve on the plaintiff your answer to the complaint... you are reminded of the provision in the IBP-OCA Memorandum on Policy Guidelines dated March 12, 2002 to observe restraint in filing a motion to dismiss and allege the grounds thereof as defenses in the answer," Saniel said in his summon.

The court further said that should Osmeña and the MCWD fail to answer within the time given, "the plaintiff will take judgment by default and may be granted the relief applied for in the complaint."

Garcia filed the petition for declaratory relief last week and further asked the court to prohibit Osmeña from appointing members of the MCWD board.

Garcia anchored her petition on MCWD records, which state that the total active water service connections of MCWD within Cebu City are now below 75 percent. The governor had raised this argument last year, but opted to temporarily settle the issue by agreeing that the province and city both sign the appointment papers.

In the petition, Garcia cited Section 3 (b) of the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973, which governs the creation and operation of MCWD. The section provides that the person empowered to appoint the MCWD board members "depends upon the geographic coverage and population make-up."

"In the event that more than 75 percent of the total active water service connections of a local water district are within the boundary of a city, the appointing authority shall be the mayor of that city or municipality, as the case may be, otherwise the appointing authority shall be the governor of the province within which the district is located," the law states. Osmeña had since insisted his authority to appoint the members of the board, saying Garcia’s claim could only be true if Cebu City is still under the province.

December last year, both Garcia and Osmeña signed the appointments of Leo Pacaña and lawyer Adelino Sitoy as MCWD board members. However, Sitoy is running for Cordova town mayor and his automatic resignation as board member has left a vacancy at the MCWD board. — Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV