TACLOBAN CITY- In a surprise turn around, the acting general manager of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) has extended his recognition to the board of directors named by City Mayor Cristina Romualdez to the said water agency.
And in doing so, Engr. Pastor Homeres was immediately appointed by the new set of board of directors to continue to hold the post he had held for more than three years now.
Homeres, who was named as the acting general manager of the board of directors appointed by Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, made known of his recognition to the new board of directors in a letter addressed to them wherein he also said that the member-consumers of the LMWD expect ‘highly’ on them.
He also issued a separate letter to the officials and members of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District Employees Union (LMWDEU) praising them for their decision in withdrawing their support to the previous members of the board.
“And with this, I am repaying you with my full support and commitment to be with you all the way,” Homeres said in his one-page letter to the workers.
The LMWDEU had also expressed their support to the board of directors named by Mayor Romualdez.
“Both the employees and the general manager have now thrown their support behind the board of directors appointed by City Mayor Cristina Romualdez,” Roberto ‘Bobby’ Muñoz, who was elected as chairman of the board of directors, said in a press conference, on Thursday said.
Aside from Muñoz, also named to the LMWD board by Mayor Romualdez were lawyers Bautista Corpin, Jr., Jenny Lyn Polistico Manibay, and Sharalee Gaspay; and Bernardita ‘Bering’ Valenzuela, concurrently the city information officer.
Polistico said that with the recognition extended to them by both Homeres and the employees, question as to their legality has been put to rest.
“We have assumed actually since December but with this recognition, there is no more issue as to who will act as board of directors but us. We are going to stabilize the situation,” Polistico Manibay said.
“People want a change and we are stepping up to that,” she added.
Polistico-Manibay also said that they are not closing the possibility that legal challenges will be hurled at them.
It was learned that the board of directors appointed by the provincial government, namely, Aldin Surpia, Teodoro de Veyra, Teresa Montubig, Alice Blas and Ilumindao Lantajo, Jr., had an emergency meeting on Friday.
As of press time, no details yet have come out as a result of this meeting.
Polistico-Manibay said that they have appointed Homeres as the acting general manager of the LMWD through a resolution they approved on January 16.
Valenzuela said that with their full assumption as members of the LMWD board, they could now help Mayor Romualdez realize her plan to provide water service to the people in the northern part of the city, particularly those residing at the various resettlement sites there.
“She has a mandate to fulfill,” she said.
The management of LMWD had been under fire mostly by member-consumers from Tacloban City due to its alleged poor service, particularly on low or lack of water service.
The assumption by these city-appointed officials was by virtue of a law giving Mayor Romualdez the authority to appoint the board of directors to the LMWD and for Tacloban having more than the majority of the number of member-consumers among its eight service areas.
Aside from Tacloban, LMWD also serves the towns of Palo, Tanauan, Sta. Fe, Tolosa, Tabon-Tabon, and Pastrana.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
