By Jing Villamente/Manila Times
Calls for the resignation of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) administrator Gerardo Esquivel grew louder yesterday after anti-crime group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) vowed to help agency workers pursue their cases against their boss.
VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez said his group is willing to assist MWSS employees in prosecuting Esquivel, adding that President Benigno Aquino himself “at the very least, should look into the charges being levied against his appointee.”
Jimenez backed MWSS Labour Association leader Napoleon Quinones who said that Esquivel’s stay at the water agency has become untenable since his own employees have charged him with graft.
“We hope the president will keep his word when he promised genuine reforms in his administration, and that if his allies are doing things that are not in line with his reform agenda, the president should not hesitate to hold them accountable,” Quinones said.
“We are calling on the president to remove administrator Esquivel and revamp the MWSS leadership because his own people have lost trust and confidence in him because of his anomalous actions. Even if Esquivel is a friend and an appointee of the president, this should not make him any less accountable,” he said.
The MWSS labour group has filed at least 11 graft complaints against Esquivel and the agency’s board of trustees before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The latest was filed last week for the alleged anomalous hiring of 21 students under the MWSS’ Special Programme for Employment of Students or SPES last year.
Aside from Esquivel, who is the vice chairman, the MWSS board of trustees is composed of Ramon Alikpala Jr as chairman, along with members Emmanuel Caparas, Raoul Creencia, Hermogenes Fernando, Ma Cecilia Soriano, Jose Ramon Villarin and Benjamin Yambao.
The labour group earlier challenged Esquivel to step down but he brushed aside such calls.
The group earlier drew the support of militant group Mamamayan Laban sa Katiwalian (MLK) as well as the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), which is the umbrella organisation of state workers.
MLK spokesman Zeny Guillermo said Esquivel was clinging to power because he contributed P10mn to President Aquino’s campaign fund during the 2010 elections. Courage National President Ferdinand Gaite said it was appropriate for the president to crack the whip on Esquivel and the board of trustees.
The group, which has been demanding the scrapping of the concession agreement (CA) between the MWSS and water concessionaires Manila Water Company and Maynilad Water Services Inc, described the abuses committed by the firms as “endemic.”
Water for All Refund Movement (WARM) president Rodolfo ‘RJ’ Javellana said illegal billings and income tax liabilities were being passed on to water consumers by the two concessionaires.
