The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor (OCCP) dismissed the usurpation of authority case against Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) chairman Jose Daluz III with two others for lack of merit.

“We just received the order of the fiscal resolution that this was dismissed for lack of merit," Daluz told DAILY TRIBUNE.

The case stemmed from the allegations of MCWD board members Earl Bonachita and Danilo Ortiz that Daluz, board members Miguelito Pato and Jodelyn May Seno usurped authority for allegedly continuing to conduct business despite being removed from their positions last 31 January.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama replaced Daluz, Pato, and Seno with Melquiades Feliciano, Nelson Yuvallos, and Aristotle Batuhan on 31 October 2023.

But the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), in a letter, said that "local executives have no authority to remove the chairperson and members of the board of directors of a water district” after the Cebu City Legal Office requested a certificate of no objection to its recommendation to terminate the three members of the MCWD board.

The City Government argued that they were legally fired, saying the power of the mayor to appoint MCWD board members carries with the power to remove them.

The OCCP said it believed that its office was not in a position to shed light on the provisions of PD 198, particularly on the power to remove members.

PD 198 created the LWUA which governs water districts.

The OCCP cited disputes between government agencies and offices shall be administratively settled or adjudicated whether by the secretary of justice, solicitor general, or the government corporate counsel under PD 242, which prescribes “the procedure for administrative settlement or adjudication of disputes, claims, and controversies between or among government offices, agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations, and for other purposes.”

Section 3(b) of PD 198 says that the power to appoint was expressly established.