No deal, Rody tells water firms
If there are those who believe that money and profit are more important than the lives of Filipinos — who we have vowed to serve and whose rights we have pledged to protect — we will be standing on different sides this time
President Rodrigo Duterte will not enter into any compromise with the Ayala-owned Manila Water Company Inc. that is servicing over six million people in the East Zone of Metro Manila, telling newly-promoted military officials on Monday that he will not surrender the country’s
sovereignty to the big capitalists like two presidents before him did.
The Chief Executive also disclosed before the AFP officials that he had received feelers from the company, which he said is seeking to meet with him to iron out the lopsided deals that favor the water firms.
“You know, they said let’s agree on a compromise. No, that’s the money of the people,” Duterte said, referring to the P7.4-billion compensation a Singapore arbitration court had ordered the Philippine government to pay Manila Water recently.
The amount is supposed to cover for the Manila Water’s supposed losses between June 2015 to November 2019 for non-implementation of water rate hikes upon orders by the Philippine government. The President called this provision in the government’s contract with the water firms onerous.
“We surrendered our sovereignty to them. I can’t imagine two administrations allowing it to be bargained away,” he said, referring to former Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
In a late breaker, Aquino was rushed to the Makati Medical Center on Monday. His spokesman Atty. Abigail Valte said Aquino only had a regular medical procedure as she denied the former president had suffered a heart attack.
The Philippine government also lost another arbitration case filed by Maynilad, the other water firm servicing the other half of Metro Manila, amounting to P3.4 billion.
“How can I tell the people, let’s allow the compromise?” the President asked. “That’s plunder!”
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, meanwhile, sought the renegotiation of the concession agreements entered into by the government with the two major water suppliers.
In a privilege speech, Go said the government needs to chaffer with the firms to eliminate or neutralize the disadvantageous provisions in the agreements and align the governmental and public interests with those of the two companies.
The neophyte lawmaker said the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System should explore the possibility of terminating the extension of the concessionaire agreement that lasts until 2037, hinting that President Rodrigo Duterte might ask the agency to do so.
“I heard these big private concessionaires would like to seek an audience with the President. Before you talk to the government, finish your obligation first by helping our countrymen who are in need, give medicine to the sick, assistance to those who are victims of the calamities or support to policemen or military personnel and their families who were abandoned,” he said.
He also urged the Department of Justice, along with the Office of the Solicitor General, to ensure that they protect the interest of the Filipinos.
“We do not need companies which are just profiting from our countrymen. Let us protect the rights and welfare of our nation and our countrymen,” Go told the agencies.
Go, who served as a long-time aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, said he will stand with the Chief Executive’s decision to demand accountability from the water concessionaires.
“If there are those who believe that money and profit are more important than the lives of Filipinos — who we have vowed to serve and whose rights we have pledged to protect — we will be standing on different sides this time,” Go said.
“It is amazing how the private water concessionaires see this. They do nothing but to abuse not only the water that the Filipinos own but the trust of their consumers,” he added.
The neophyte senator slammed anew the supposedly unpaid corporate income taxes by the water distributors, the continuing increases in water rates, and the absence of wastewater treatment facilities which is part of the “environmental charges” paid for by consumers.
“Aside from that, they should also be charged not only for failing to deliver to the terms of their contract but also for the billions — if not trillions — worth of environmental damage caused by their failure to construct a sewerage and wastewater system. This is aside from the almost P1 billion fines that they were told to pay by the Supreme Court last August 2019 because of violations in relation to the Philippine Clean Water Act,” Go said.
In a separate speech, Sen. Francis Tolentino said the water crisis has been affecting the daily lives of Filipinos living in Metro Manila.
“The water crisis has affected not only the national economy or the productivity of students, workers and everyone in society but it ultimately puts the health of the people, especially children, at serious risk and threatens the country’s attainment of sustainable development,” Tolentino said.
Sen. Koko Pimentel supported Go’s call when he opined that the Chief Executive can disregard the extension of the water contract granted by the past administration.
“The original lifetime of the contract is on 2022. In the middle of that, they agreed to the expiration of 2037. That agreement is not yet effective because the first one has not expired yet,” Pimentel said.
The House of Representatives is also poised at looking into the issue, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said.
It is amazing how the private water concessionaires see this. They do nothing but to abuse not only the water that the Filipinos own but the trust of their consumers.