Duterte reshuffles MWSS board

By Arjay L. Balinbin
Reporter

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed retired Army General Ricardo C. Morales as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), replacing the Board’s Vice Chairperson Reynaldo V. Velasco.

Meanwhile, Franklin J. Demonteverde, the current Board chairman, will “become a member of the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council),” according to Mr. Velasco in an interview with Palace reporters.

Mr. Duterte signed on May 27 Mr. Morales’s appointment paper, which Malacañang released to reporters on Tuesday.

Mr. Morales will serve the unexpired term of office of Mr. Velasco which “began on 01 July 2018 and will end on 30 June 2019.”

Mr. Velasco said he “will become chairman” of the MWSS Board of Trustees, and Mr. Morales will become the new administrator of the MWSS once the Board appoints him as vice chairperson.

“May proseso ‘yan (There is a process for that). He has to take his oath of office and at the same time he has to be accepted by the Board. The Board will be the one to appoint [him]…. Ino-nominate siya (They will nominate him),” he said.

Mr. Duterte announced last month that he was going to replace the chairperson of the MWSS.

The announcement came after the water supply crisis hit Metro Manila in March.

The President told MWSS officials and water concessionaires on March 20 to “shape up or ship out” and even threatened to terminate the concession agreements.