Cabanlas slams LWUA over COWD management fiasco

Majority Floor Leader Edgar Cabanlas has the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to blame in the aggravating management friction between the regular and interim officials of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD).

The internal conflict of the city’s water utility firm escalated after the LWUA-appointed officials hold fort of COWD and claimed that their term of office has been extended until August 31, this year.

COWD regular board, however, maintained that the interim management has already ended on February 28, and thus their appointment of assistant general manager Edna Najeal as the acting general manager.

This, Cabanlas believes, instigated the confusion and disorder in COWD.

“This is not anymore about COWD and LWUA. This is about LWUA and the people of Cagayan de Oro, who suffer from this issue,” Cabanlas said.

He further argued that the interim officials have been given temporary management powers over COWD’s operations to provide solutions to problems left by the sidelined regular board, but the status quo seemingly remains the same even after their 12 months of takeover.

Extending for another six months without even consulting the city government is not only a grave abuse of authority but also undermining the authority of the city mayor who appoints the regular board, Councilor Cabanlas further pointed out.

“When we are made to suffer, I think it is our sovereign duty to act on this,” the majority floor leader concluded. (FDCalotes/SP)