Liquidity problem

Sometime in March, President Rodrigo R. Duterte summoned officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), Manila Water Company Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. to the Palace after the private concessionaries announced rationing of the life-giving liquid in the metropolis.

The President threatened to fire MWSS officials and terminate the contracts of its two water concessionaires if they failed to properly explain the reason for the water shortage problem in delivering a 40-minute monologue.

He was obviously outraged, according to presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo.

Much later on, in his speeches, Mr. Duterte would reveal that there was no shortage in reality as he recounted that water started to flow when he released unprintables against the MWSS and executives of the private water firms.

“Somebody told me that there was water, so I told them if there’s no water that will flow out of the faucet, the contracts are canceled. Then the next day there was water,” according to the President.

The President also lashed out at the many provisions in the deal with the water firms that proved onerous to the government and the public.

Squeezing water out

The following is the chronology of the exchange between the government and the water service providers amid the water supply problem that hounded Metro Manila:

· 25 June — Manila Water advised customers in the National Capital Region’s East Zone to brace for longer water interruptions due to the declining water level of Angat Dam.

· 6 August — The Supreme Court turned down petitions filed by Maynilad and Manila Water appealing the P1.8 billion imposed by the government for non-compliance with the Clean Water Act.

· 28 October — The President warned he may resort to “drastic action” against the concessionaires if they fail to prevent the looming water crisis.

· 29 October — The government mulled taking over the operations of the water concessionaires should the looming water crisis gets declared as a national emergency.

· 3 December — Malacañang may soon announce irregularities uncovered in the concession agreement entered into by the government with water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday.

· 4 December — Mr. Duterte threatened to sue the two water firms for economic sabotage over irregularities in the concession agreements the firms signed with the government in 1997.

· 5 December — Malacañang said the government has no intention of paying billions of pesos worth of compensation ordered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the government is exploring its options in provisions found within the agreements.

· 6 December — Solicitor General Jose Calida said his office “will exhaust all available remedies” against the award recently made by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore in the water concessionaires’ case against the republic. The President said the Philippines “lost” its sovereignty when the government entered into alleged onerous water concession agreements.