Lawyer has stepped down barely four days after getting appointed as acting general manager of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD). 

Atty. John Dx Lapid was appointed on April 12, 2024 by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) as general manager, on an officer-in-charge capacity. 

However, Lapid was barred by MCWD security guards from entering the water district office on April 15, 2024. 

On that day, Lapid posted a query as to why he was barred when he is an employee of MCWD being the head of Customer Care Division. 

A day later, he expressed of his irrevocable resignation through a post. 

“In view of what is happening right now with the rift between MCWD and LWUA. I was appointed as OIC GM of MCWD on April 12. Today I am resigning effective today, I want to have peace, my family is affected already with all that is happening. I am stressed,” Lapid’s post reads. 

Meanwhile, mayors of areas served by MCWD signed a Manifesto of Support to the Board of Directors (BOD) of MCWD. 

On April 14, 2024, local chief executives expressed their support to Atty. Jose “Joey” Daluz III, MCWD BOD chairman, and General Manager Edgar Donoso, and not to the Interim Board of Directors (IBOD) appointed by LWUA.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan, Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas, Cordova Mayor Cesar Suan, Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado, Liloan Mayor Aljew Frasco, and Compostela Mayor Felijur Quiňo expressed in a formal statement their support to the MCWD BOD. 

Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura, in his capacity as president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Cebu chapter, expressed his sentiments of support as well.

“Sugbo News,” Capitol news portal, reported that the mayors’ joint manifesto “not only denounced the supposed unlawful interventions of LWUA but also underscored the critical importance of preserving the rule of law and safeguarding vital water services for Cebu Province’s constituents.”

According to “Cebu City News and Info,” the public information arm of Cebu City Government, LWUA undertook a partial takeover of MCWD on March 15, 2024 and appointed five members of the IBOD. 

In a news report of “GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak,” Atty. Jose Moises Salonga, LWUA administrator, and LWUA Chairman Ronnie Ong met with MCWD BOD Chairman Daluz on March 22, 2024 about a six-month suspension of the members of the BOD but the notice was not acknowledged. 

A rift has ensued that led to the barring of members of IBOD from MCWD premises.

Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell and MCWD Secretary Jodelyn May Seno engaged in a heated exchange on April 15, 2024 on deemed irregularities that stemmed from the conflict.