The Board of Trustees of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) has removed both its board secretaries from their posts as they were ordered to explain their alleged refusal to return a board resolution that calls for sanctions on an erring water district official.
A LWUA show cause order was issued to Assistant Board Secretary Danilo Beleno Jr. for alleged insubordination and conduct prejudicial to the LWUA Board of Trustees’ power and function.
The LWUA is chaired by Ronnie Ong, a former legislator and nominee of Probinsyano party-list group in the House of Representatives.
On Oct. 25, Ong as the chairman and the Board called an executive session to vote for the removal of Beleno Jr. and Board Secretary Stephanie Clare Rojas for loss of trust and confidence as coterminous appointees of the Board of Trustees.
Except for LWUA Administrator Vince Revil, the members of the Board voted for their removal.
On Sept. 28, the LWUA Board had passed a resolution for “partial intervention” on an erring water district official.
However, on Oct. 17, while the document was being routed for the signature of all Board Members, specifically at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Beleno allegedly pulled out the document before it could be signed without Ong’s knowledge and consent.
Ong, on Oct. 18, after being informed by the DPWH that the resolution was abruptly pulled out, reprimanded Beleno inside his office.
Instead of returning the resolution copy, Beleno told Ong that “my action was not your concern.”
After leaving Ong’s office, Beleno proceeded to the LWUA’s Human Resource Department to claim that he was assaulted several times by Ong.
Although a Notice on Submission of Documents has already been issued, the copy of the Board Resolution is still in the possession of Beleno, Ong said.
Beleno, together with Rojas, then submitted an Incident Report claiming that the signature of Ong in the routed resolution was forged. Rojas also claimed that her signature was forged.
This alleged forgery was their stated reason for pulling out of the resolution.
However, Ong and the rest of the Board of Trustees were not informed of this alleged forgery before Beleno decided to pull out the document.
The resolution in question calls for the LWUA takeover of a water district that has allegedly displayed not only underperformance but also a possible violation of public bidding laws, delayed implementation of projects, non-compliance with regulations on non-revenue water (NRW), and a strained working relationship with its own local government.
As of press time, the resolution remains untransmitted, further delaying LWUA’s overdue takeover and intervention of the erring water district.
“This would result in further delays in fixing water rates affecting the public, and addressing leakages in the area the water district covers, among many pressing issues at hand related to local water management,” Ong said.
Members of the Board also shared that previously, even their simple requests of receiving copies of Board-related documents were not duly accomplished by Beleno and Rojas.
Based on the Civil Service Administrative Code and jurisprudence, coterminous employment falls under non-career service and its tenure is limited or at the pleasure of the appointing authority/terminable at will.