Duterte orders shake-up at local water board, intel committee

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the
reorganization of the National Intelligence Committee (NIC) and the
Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) Board.

Under Administrative Order (AO) 7 signed on September 22, the President
amended existing AO 68 in a bid to allow NIC to "provide greater unity
and cohesion of intelligence community."

Duterte, in his AO, wanted the NIC to provide a "more focused and
clearer delineation of tasks" among agencies involved in the gathering
of national security issues.

AO 68, which was inked under Arroyo administration in 2003, organized
NIC to serve as an advisory body to National Intelligent Coordinating
Agency's (Nica) director general for coordination, integration, and
fusion of all intelligence activities relating to the preparation of the
 National Intelligence Estimate and in addressing other issues of
national intelligence concern.

Duterte's AO 7 still designated Nica's director general as NIC chair and
 Department of Foreign Affairs, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau
 of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, Armed Forces of the Philippines,
Philippine National Police as its members.

The new EO expanded its membership, which now includes the Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency, Philippine Coast Guard, and Office of
Transportation Security.

"The country's internal and external security situation necessitates
greater inter-agency collaboration in the collection, fusion, and
production of accurate, relevant, reliable and timely intelligence for
the formulation of national security policies by the President and the
National Security Council," Duterte said in AO 7.

"There is a need to provide more focused and clearer delineation of
tasks among units/agencies involved in the gathering of intelligence on
national security issues and concerns, in order to preclude unnecessary
duplication of intelligence activities, ensure complete coverage of
intelligence concerns as well as promote the judicious use of government
 resources," he added.

Meanwhile, Duterte also signed Executive Order (EO) 41, which
reconstituted the membership of LWUA Board.

Inked on September 15, the EO reverted to the general qualifications of
the members of the LWUA Board under Presidential Decree 198 and repealed
 the ex officio designation of secretaries of Finance, Public Works, and
 Health, or their alternates.

The EO mandated that all board members, composed of a chairman and four
trustees, must be Filipino citizens who have at least 10 years of
experience in banking, finance or business; possess sufficient
background in economics; have expertise in management or system
operation; must be civil or sanitary engineers with exposure to water
supply or wastewater operations.

EO 41 allowed three representations from the national government and one
 representation from the private sector, provided that no elected
official should be part of the LWUA Board.

All trustees are further required to meet the conditions outlined under
the Fit and Proper Rule of the Government-Owned or -Controlled
Corporations Governance Act of 2011.

“Pending the designation and assumption of the new members of the LWUA
Board representing the national government, the secretaries of Finance,
Public Works and Highways, and Health, or their alternates, shall
continue to sit in the LWUA Board to ensure the continuous and
unhampered operations thereof,” the EO read.