Garcia: ‘I’m still confident with the MCWD Board’

Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia wants Lawyer Jose Daluz III and the current Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) board to stay despite the MCWD Employees’ Union (MEU’s) appeal for Daluz to step down.

Garcia told reporters on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, that the union and the employees should give Daluz and the entire board of directors an opportunity to perform after overcoming challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and Typhoon Odette that hit Cebu and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

“Ang akong message ni Chairman Daluz and ang board is pabilin… I think that they should really be given a chance, considering the fact nga number one, during the pandemic tanan man intawn nga negosyo ang dili maayo,” said Garcia.

“They were also affected badly so mao ng makasabot ta. And secondly, murag nahug nga full year sila tingali, and not even now, nga two and a half years na g’yod ang pandemic, so wala jud sila ka take off bitaw sa ilang programs. Wala sila kahunat ba,” he added.

Garcia said the pandemic’s challenges have made it difficult for MCWD authorities to carry out the projects and programs they had planned for the water district.

More than a hundred MCWD employees and MEU members staged a protest rally in front of the MCWD last August 19, 2022, in protest of the board’s alleged declining operational performance, alleged questionable procurements and contracts, intervention and giving of unwarranted benefits in the hiring process.

READ: Employees Union asks Daluz to step down as MCWD chair

Garcia also noted that the current MCWD Board also has some of its milestones even with the challenges it encountered over the past few years.

He mentioned the recent report of the MCWD to the City Council on the water district’s project in Barangay Lusaran, Cebu City.

“According to them, kanang mga hard areas, kanang mga difficult areas nga makatubig, naa nay tubig,” he said.

“I am very happy with their performance that despite the pandemic nga wa g’yod sila nakahunat, naa na silay mga milestone nga ato nang ma feel in the coming months,” he added.

/bmjo