Ordinance to avoid repeat of Balili case

The reason the Cebu Provincial Board wants to  require detailed progress reports and pass a supplemental ordinance for the Carmen Bulk Water Project is to prevent a repeat of the Balili scandal.

Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale explained  this amid today’s scheduled signing of the joint investment agreement between Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and representatives of the Manila Water Consortium for the water deal.

Magpale said the supplemental ordinance will ensure transparency and accountability in all transactions of the  Capitol.

She said the board wants to keep track of how  the P700 million bulk water project is being  managed.

“There were several questions left unanswered in yesterday’s PB session but for lack of material time, we considered to pass it,” she said, referring to the ordinance passed on Monday authorizing the governor to enter into a joing investment  agreement witth Manila Water.

“The ordinance states that the PB will have a say in the appointment of the board of directors that will sit in the joint company,” she said.

A condition was also made  that the PB would pass a supplemental ordinance on Monday next week, this time to  add safety nets such as requiring quarterly status reports to the board and the governor.

Their caution is partly due to a pending graft case, whose resolution is expected anytime this year.

Several  Capitol officials are named respondents in a  case filed in 2010 by the Visayas Deputy  Ombudsman’s Office for allegedly entering into a “grossly disadvantageous contract” in the purchase of lots in the Balili beach estate in Naga City for P98 million which turned out to be mostly underwater or classified as public land.

A verdict is still pending.

The governor and several PB members, along with the Bailli heirs, were named respondents in the case.

For the Carmen Bulk Water Project,  the province would pay P124 million as its initial investment in a joint investment company to be formed with Manila Water having 51 percent control and the Province of Cebu with 49 percent.

PB Member Arleigh Sitoy said those who sit in the joint investment company (JICO) that will be formed must be “qualified and accountable.”

The board also agreed to let Sitoy draft a supplemental ordinance to spell out who would sit in the five-member board of the company.

Manila Water and the Capitol will have two memers each.  The choice of the fifth member will be mutually agreed by both parties.

Sitoy said his draft ordinance will spell out the qualifications of those who will represent the province in the JICO.

The Capitol set aside P300 million in its Annual Investment Plan (AIP) for the water project, said Engr. Adolfo Quiroga, head of the Capitol’s provincial planning and development department.