Group slaps criminal charges vs MWSS execs

(UPDATE)A CONSUMER group filed criminal and administrative complaints on Friday against eight incumbent and former officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the construction of the P12-billion New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project.

Named respondents in the complaint filed by the United Filipino Consumer and Commuters-Water for All Refund Movement (UFCC-WARM) were incumbent MWSS Administrator Leonor Cleofas and her predecessor Reynaldo Velasco.

Also included in the charge sheet were MWSS deputy administrators Jose Dorado Jr. and Walter Patrosa, and 2018 Bids and Awards Committee members Annabella Altuna, Jocelyn Toledo, Ronald Abrigo and Ramon Fabul.

GRAFT COMPLAINT A consumer group files a graft complaint against former and present officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System involving the P12 billion construction of the Kaliwa Dam project. The complaint was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on May 31, 2024. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN

In its 10-page complaint affidavit, the UFCC-WARM, led by its national president Rodolfo Javellana Jr., alleges that there are irregularities surrounding the multibillion-peso project that the MWSS awarded to foreign contractor China Energy and Engineering Corp. (CEEC) in July of 2018.

«This transaction entered into by the MWSS and CEEC was grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine government and prejudicial to the interest of the consumer sector in general,» said Javellana.

He said that CEEC bagged the contract allegedly under questionable circumstances, from the bidding stage up to the time when the project was awarded.

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«Apparently, laws were violated and regulations were set aside to favor a specific bidder. To sum it up, this was the story of the biggest anomaly in the history of MWSS that we are trying to unearth,» Javellana said.

The complaint arose from the release of advance payments to CECC amounting to P1.828 billion, and standby costs amounting to P309.840 million.

In the complaint, Javellana said that the «improper and rushed entry into the Kaliwa Dam Project contract with CEEC, and the approval of