Talisay Mayor Samsam to MCWD: ‘Paasa!’

Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam”Gullas. | Photo grabbed from Samsam Gullas Facebook Page

CEBU CITY, Philippines — An incensed Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas mulled legal actions against the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) amid the continuing woes on water shortage in the city.

Gullas said his legal team is looking into “all angles on how we can get from MCWD what Talisay deserves.”

Gullas took to his official Facebook page on Wednesday, December 4, to air his grievances against MCWD after its officials allegedly stood him up for their scheduled meeting at 2 p.m. of that day, only to be told they were away on vacation to Singapore and Japan.

The meeting, which was set at the Talisay City Hall, was supposedly the first dialogue between the district and the  newly-created Talisay Water Management Council.

TWMC  is tasked to handle all water-related problems in the city and to coordinate with MCWD in coming up with solution on how to address the problems.

“Kung maayp mopaasa si crush, layo ra gyud  si crush mo paasa ni MCWD. Nisaad og 2pm meeting to address real problems of the city. Pero nang Indyan man!! Kinsay ka relate??? ” Gullas wrote.

(If your crush if wont to giving you false promises , your crush is nothing compared to the false promise you’ll get from MCWD. They promised to come to the 2 p.m. meeting to address real problems of the city. But they did not show up! Who can relate?)

“But unfortunately, no one from MCWD appeared in our meeting and I was just informed that the MCWD officials I was supposed to be meeting decided to take a vacation in Singapore and Japan. Gipahuwat pa tag pila ka oras and WalA pa gyud sila misulti nga mibakasyon sila sa mismong adlaw nga gisabotan namo [They made us wait for several hours and no one told us they were going on a vacation on the same day that we are agreed to meet]. Where is the professional courtesy?” the mayor added.

Screengrab of the Facebook post of Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas criticizing officials of the Metro Cebu Water District for their no-show in their meeting set at 2 p.m. of Dec. 4, 2019.

MCWD Information Officer Charmain Kara, this morning, December 5,  confirmed to CDN Digital that she received a call from the mayor yesterday regarding the meeting.

She said that officials from MCWD will be issuing a personal apology to the mayor today.

Gullas said that the city council, department heads and 22 barangay captains also waited for the meeting yesterday. 

“We were even ready to revisit the memorandum of agreement between the City and MCWD to coordinate and collaborate on how to find solutions to the water supply problem in Talisay,” said Gullas.

The mayor lamented that while the city is one of the water sources of MCWD, most of their barangays are experiencing little to none supply of water.

“That’s why the need to revisit MOA which is very disadvantageous to the city. MCWD gets our water resources, profits from it and in return give nothing back to the City of Talisay,” he said.

MCWD, a government-owned and -controlled entity, operates 20 wells in Talisay City’s Barangay Jaclupan and 8 wells in Barangay Lagtang./elb