An outraged President Rodrigo Duterte berated officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and its two concessionaires, Maynilad Water Services Inc and Manila Water Co Inc, for the water shortage in parts of Metro Manila and Rizal.
Duterte also threatened to fire the heads of the state-run MWSS and terminate the concessionaires’ contracts, Malacanang said yesterday.
In a statement, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the president told MWSS officials to “shape up or ship out,” during a 40-minute meeting in Malacanang on Tuesday night.
“The Chief Executive told them he was not going to listen to their explanation as to why there was a water shortage as such would be just plain excuses. They simply did not do their job. All they care about is get profit from the water of the people and to their sufferance as well,” Panelo said. “The president told them they could have simply anticipated such shortage and could have done something about it. They had to wait for him to threaten them with personally rushing to Manila from Davao to grapple with the crisis before they moved to end it. The Chief Executive bluntly told them to ‘shape up or ship out!’” he added.
MWSS officials were told to submit a report before April 7.
Elaborating further on the meeting, which he described as more of a “monologue” by the president, Panelo said: “In a stern message delivered without even once looking at the officials, the obviously outraged president threatened to fire the MWSS officials and terminate the concessionaires’ contracts.”
He said the president would decide “whether heads will roll or whether the contracts of the concessionaires will be terminated” after the submission of the report. “He (Duterte) said the officials knew of the problem leading to the stoppage of the flow of water but they did not resolve to prevent it from happening,” Panelo said.
Manila Water, the east zone concessionaire, had been implementing water interruptions in several areas in Metro Manila and Rizal to ensure that water supply would last until June or the rainy season.
MWSS officials received another long sermon from lawmakers yesterday morning after it was revealed that the agency was getting about P1bn in annual fees from water concessionaires, partly to repay debts.
During the public inquiry of the House Committee on Public Accounts, panel Chairman Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said the MWSS budget should come from the General Appropriations Act (GAA) instead of Maynilad and Manila Water, which had been paying at least P400mn each year to the government agency.
“We have been suggesting that MWSS budget should come from the GAA. They perform their job as a regulatory office. The operations and expenditures of MWSS is being paid by the two service concessionaires. So the regulator is being paid by the regulatee,” Suarez said.
Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph Estrellado explained: “We pay concession fees to MWSS. In my own understanding, part of that goes to payment of debts. That is comprised of cost of operations of MWSS, where their expenses are coming from. It’s now P400mn for operations, from Maynilad and Manila Water per annum.”
Manila Water Chief Executive Officer Ferdinand dela Cruz gave a different figure and said MWSS receives P522mn from each of the water concessionaires annually, factoring inflation.
MWSS Corporate Office Deputy Administrator Moro Lazo said part of the concessionaires’ fees goes to the salaries of over 150 personnel of the agency.
Lawmakers questioned the regulatory capability of the MWSS amid these hefty fees.
“To the MWSS Regulatory Office, I think you have failed in your regulatory function. We cannot expect the concessionaires to police themselves,” said Nueva Ecija Rep. Rosanna Vergara.
MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty reiterated to the panel that instead of administrative fines, they could only impose rate rebasing on the two utilities.
Rate rebasing is a process of adjusting water rates every five years based on performance, and is a way for the government to ensure that utilities do not accumulate profits and losses. The next rebasing is set in 2022.
For Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, the MWSS should not wait five years to charge Manila Water.
Buhay party-list Rep. Jose “Lito” Atienza said Maynilad and Manila Water should be reminded of their obligation of completing its coverage of wastewater facilities to address the shortage, before imposing hefty service fees on the public.
“I demand a refund here of all that you have paid for. People are very angry and I’m delivering the anger of the people in this committee. You have failed…and we cannot take your ‘sorry,’” an angry Atienza noted. The committee backed proposals to get water from the Kanan River Bulk Water supply and the Sumag River diversion project to address the shortage. “Why are we going to compete with the private sector just because we have an offer from the Chinese that they are willing to lend you money?” Suarez said, referring to the China-funded Kaliwa Dam in Quezon Province, to be built by the government starting July.
Senator Grace Poe, the committee chairman, said she would await submissions of the MWSS administrator who vowed to forward to senators a copy of the financing for Kaliwa Dam, which was sealed when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the country in November last year.
“We will look into that so that it could be included in our committee report that should serve as a public record that everybody can scrutinise,” said Poe, who led an inquiry into the water shortage on Tuesday.
Duterte: seeking accountability
