To:

Office of the Ombudsman

Thru: CBCP Monitor From: COWD concerned employee October 17, 2011

An Open Letter to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales

Dear Mam, Peace in Christ The undersigned is a concerned employee of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District who has meet President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino - III during his visit here in the City of Cagayan de Oro last March 23, 2011. I have told him about COWD BOD who have continuously abused of alleged graft and corruption and perks that the Cagayan de Oro City Board of Directors has received I have given the President the said supporting documents of what the COWD BOD had received. I also furnish the President a copy of the COA partial report dated November 09, 2009 regarding the anomalies and irregularities of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District Board of Directors. I was gratified that he made an action by requesting LWUA to answer my complaint. To be frank, I disagree with Mr. Daniel I. Landingin claim that what the COWD BOD is receiving is within the law. These are the following points that I would like to raise: 1. The honorarium/per diem per meeting is Php 150.00 as stated in PD 198 and an amendment has been made that it can be increased by LWUA. With that, LWUA requested to submit the list of perks the COWD BOD has been receiving. In other words, that is the basis of LWUA to integrate the COWD bonuses/allowances to the honorarium. The said perks had been disallowed by COA-Reg X (from 1994-2009). Why do they continue receiving the COWD bonuses aside from their honorarium when in fact it is already integrated in their honorarium (Please request LWUA the basis of the rate of honorarium per WD). As of February 23, 2011 the COWD BODs received Php 47,000.00 each (YEFA - Php 42,000.00 + cash gift - Ph 5,000.00). 2. The Administrative Order (AO) No. 103 stated, reduced the combined total of per diems, honoraria and benefits to Php 20,000.00 as concurred by the Former LWUA Administrator Lorenzo H. Jamora. This is the COA-Region X has been reiterating in their audit finding of the COWD BODs honorarium. Furthermore, the COA partial report dated November 09, 2009 has enumerated the series of events that started from the Bulk Water Supply Project (BWSP). It probed the

anomalies and irregularities of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District Board of Directors actions, to list; 1. The bidding for the contract of Bulk Water Supply Project (BWSP) was persistently awarded by the COWD BOD to Rio Verde Water Consortuim, Inc. (RVWCI), a nonresponsive bidder, despite the recommendation of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for failure of bidding in violation of RA 9184.

2. The contract for BWSP was crafted and awarded apparently for the benefits and undue advantage of the contractor, the RVWCI. The provisions substantially deviated from the model contract and turned onerous in favor of RVWCI. We hope you could come out on this matter and we strongly believe that lavishness of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District Board of Directors will come to an end.

Very respectfully yours, Emmanuel C. Mulawan COWD Employee e-mail: emmanuelmulawan@rocketmail.com Mobile Phone No. 09053234691

Cc: Heide L. Mendoza Commissioner-II Commission of Audit Central Office Fairview, Quezon City