CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: The interim officials of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) complied all requirements of the Commission on Audit (COA, the interim general manager said on Monday.
Interim General Manager Fermin V. Jarales made the statement in respond to the COA’s observation memorandum dated Feb 12, 2025, about the delay of the submission of 390 disbursement vouchers for checks amounting to P 253,960,124.68 as of Nov. 30, 2024.
Jarales also said that contrary to reports, after complying the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) periodic performance ratings, he renewed the appointments of COWD’s 301 casual employees.
“Unlike in the local level, complying the requirements, particularly the COA, takes rIme because all the reporting are done and cleared the LWUA in the national level,” Jarales said.
The legal controversy in the management of the city’s water utility here flared up again this week following the extension of the full intervention of the LWUA’s interim general manager and board of directors.
In Resolution No. 19, series of 2025, LWUA’s Board of Trustees, signed and approved on Feb 28, 2025, to authorize the extension of the full intervention of the interim general manager and board of directors of the COWD for a period of six months effective March 1, 2025 to August 30, 2025.
On May 17, 2024, the LWUA’s Board of Trustees approved Resolution No. 34 for LWUA’s agency’s “full intervention” of the COWD.
In contesting the LWUA’s full intervention, the regular manager and the board of directors said that the take over was without legal basis because the COWD has never defaulted itxs monthly loan payments with the LWUA.
LWUA said that the takeover was in line with its regulatory powers over all water districts in the country, based on Presidential Decree No. 198.
