MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino yesterday said that a “super body” will be created to take over the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and manage the country’s water resources along with several other concerned agencies.
“The bottom line here is that we will create a super body that will manage the entire water supply in the country,” he told reporters in an informal briefing at Pier 13, South Harbor where he attended the arrival ceremony for the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the government’s newly-acquired warship intended to boost the maritime capabilities of the military.
The concept is to do away with the involvement of several other agencies involved in water distribution, like the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, National Water and Sewerage Authority, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Authority, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“Water is a very important resource, if it is not managed properly there will be shortages,” Aquino noted.
Members of the President’s economic team proposed the creation of the super body on water, which can be a committee or just one agency.
“This will be a comprehensive and coordinated plan, where the idea of water districts would be done away with,” Aquino said.
The President also does not want the utilization of deep wells that are “not sustainable in the long term.”
Malacañang had earlier ruled that the dismissal order by the Office of the Ombudsman against former LWUA chairman Prospero Pichay for alleged misused of funds is final and executory.
“He can still file an appeal before the courts, but the decision of the ombudsman that carried the penalty of dismissal is immediately executory even if his appeal will remain pending,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.
Valte said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has already informed Health Secretary Enrique Ona about Pichay’s dismissal since LWUA is an attached agency of the Department of Health.
The former Surigao del Sur congressman plans to question before the Court of Appeals the dismissal order issued against him by then acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Pichay and two other LWUA officials, Daniel Landingin and Wilfredo Feleo, for acquiring a troubled thrift bank in 2008.
Casimiro said the three were liable for grave misconduct for their alleged unlawful disbursement of P780 million in LWUA funds to invest in the Laguna-based thrift bank Express Savings Bank Inc. (EXSBI).
Pichay vehemently denied the accusations, saying they were baseless.
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By: Delon Porcalla
Source: The Philippine Star, Aug. 24, 2011
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