The news reports about the death of four (4) people and the hospitalization of 200 more in Tondo, Manila due to contaminated water are greatly saddening and extremely alarming. Doctors who attended to the victims suspect a cholera outbreak via the water system in the area—an outbreak that could easily extend to other localities that are part of the same deteriorating pipe network.
Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI) is directly to blame for this disaster. Its officials have been quoted in a radio interview as saying that its pipe networks in Tondo are indeed old, but that their company does not have funds to repair them. This lack of funds has been Maynilad’s perennial excuse for its terrible performance ever since it took over the concession in 1997. Its record over the last six years will show how it has failed to comply with nearly all the standards set forth in the original concession agreement: it has raised prices by 400%, failed to expand to target areas, failed to ensure 24-hour water supply to service areas, failed to reduce leaks, spillage and water theft, failed to increase water pressure and improve water quality. In December 2002 it terminated its contract, and has withheld investments since then. As a result, the conditions in its service areas in the west zone have deteriorated even further.
Yet even its clients die, fall ill, suffer water shortages, pay onerous rates and endure other abuses, Maynilad refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for the general breakdown of its operations. The closed-door arbitration process between government and Maynilad continues, still unable to establish Maynilad’s obvious role in the decline of Metro Manila’s water situation to this pathetic state.
The levels of water quality, water pressure and the extent of pipe damage are not merely technical details in the concession agreement; these are critical issues that pose grave dangers to public health. Breaches in the pipe system also have security implications in this post-9/11 era. (The unfortunate drowning of a man in a major Manila Water pipe last May illustrated the dangers of a vulnerable pipe network.) The disaster in Tondo underscores a basic reality: we cannot live without safe, clean and adequate water to drink and use.
BANTAY TUBIG condemns this reprehensible tragedy and takes Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI) to task for the deaths and illness of the victims. We call on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Health, local government units in Maynilad areas and the Metro Manila Development Authority to act immediately to avert a public health crisis. The national government, the MWSS and other architects of the water privatization policy must make Maynilad accountable for its gross neglect and impunity, and prepare to take over Maynilad areas to safeguard public welfare.
BANTAY TUBIG Network
(Philippine Water Vigilance Network)
BANTAY TUBIG Network: AKBAYAN Party-list, Alliance of Progressive Labor, CIBAC Party-list, Focus on the Global South-Philippines, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Institute for Popular Democracy, Tambuyog Development Center, Ma. Teresa Diokno-Pascual
Showing posts with label Maynilad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maynilad. Show all posts
Jan 22, 2003
SUSPEND WATER RATE HIKES, REVIEW WATER PRIVATIZATION POLICY!
As the New Year begins, we are bombarded with a multitude of crises that further impoverish the poorest among us and serve as added burdens to the rest. The PPA makes a comeback, gasoline prices are about to rise again, and as expected, waterrates are shooting up. Manila Water is raising its water tariffs to P17 on a staggered basis, while Maynilad’s rates climb to P26, also on a staggered basis. The move to raise water rates incrementally is a tactic devised to ease the impact of the actual amount of increases. When consumers review their bills in February and in the following months to come, they will find that their water rates will have increased, despite the two concessionaires’ claims that they have conducted “public consultations”. In truth, Manila Water held consultations in urban poor areas where the residents still do not have water connections and would have consented to any price proposal only to gain access to water. Maynilad flatly refused to hold any consultations at all. They simply walked away from the contract after being refused their desired tariff level. They have filed a P21 Billion claim with the International Arbitration Panel (IAP) due to be deliberated in February.
Is Maynilad really leaving? Then why is the government still raising water rates in the West Zone to P26? Does that mean that MWSS plans to maintain that rate as it takes over the concession? What is the status of re-bidding plans? When new bidders come into the picture, will they be allowed to make bids lower than P26 per cubic meter?
While we do not blame President Arroyo for setting the prices of commodities and utilities, we wish to point out that all these excesses take place amidst her vow to focus her energies on economic and political reform.
If President Arroyo is serious about putting together a comprehensive economic reform package, she should include a thorough review of the government’s privatization policy for the water sector in the light of unrelenting price hikes and inefficient service by the private concessionaires, as well as weaknesses in the current regulatory set-up. In particular, we ask the Arroyo government, through the pertinent agencies, to 1) suspend the water rate hikes until further study (in Congress, there is House Resolution 926 to this effect) and until the IAP deliberations are settled 2) marshal the MWSS and its economic team to defeat Maynilad’s IAP bid 3) expedite the establishment of an independent water regulatory commission in the mold of the Energy Regulation Commission, where consumers have a legal personality to contest increases and other water-related issues and 4) craft a long-term water policy beyond privatization whose priority is water access for all Filipinos, especially the urban poor.
We appeal to the new DPWH Secretary Bayani Fernando, in his capacity as chairman of the MWSS Board of Trustees and the MMDA, to review the performance of the MWSS, the Regulatory Office and the concessionaires and see for himself the grave problems that Metro Manilans experience with regards to water service. We appeal to Sec. Romulo Neri of the NEDA to facilitate the review of the water privatization scheme and the implementation of an old NEDA proposal to establish an independent regulatory commission for water. We challenge the Arroyo administration to hold its own against Maynilad and the Lopezes: Maynilad must go and it must be penalized. We consumers will not pay P21 billion for the failure of this company and for the failure of the water privatization program.
Alliance of Progressive Labor AKBAYAN
Is Maynilad really leaving? Then why is the government still raising water rates in the West Zone to P26? Does that mean that MWSS plans to maintain that rate as it takes over the concession? What is the status of re-bidding plans? When new bidders come into the picture, will they be allowed to make bids lower than P26 per cubic meter?
While we do not blame President Arroyo for setting the prices of commodities and utilities, we wish to point out that all these excesses take place amidst her vow to focus her energies on economic and political reform.
If President Arroyo is serious about putting together a comprehensive economic reform package, she should include a thorough review of the government’s privatization policy for the water sector in the light of unrelenting price hikes and inefficient service by the private concessionaires, as well as weaknesses in the current regulatory set-up. In particular, we ask the Arroyo government, through the pertinent agencies, to 1) suspend the water rate hikes until further study (in Congress, there is House Resolution 926 to this effect) and until the IAP deliberations are settled 2) marshal the MWSS and its economic team to defeat Maynilad’s IAP bid 3) expedite the establishment of an independent water regulatory commission in the mold of the Energy Regulation Commission, where consumers have a legal personality to contest increases and other water-related issues and 4) craft a long-term water policy beyond privatization whose priority is water access for all Filipinos, especially the urban poor.
We appeal to the new DPWH Secretary Bayani Fernando, in his capacity as chairman of the MWSS Board of Trustees and the MMDA, to review the performance of the MWSS, the Regulatory Office and the concessionaires and see for himself the grave problems that Metro Manilans experience with regards to water service. We appeal to Sec. Romulo Neri of the NEDA to facilitate the review of the water privatization scheme and the implementation of an old NEDA proposal to establish an independent regulatory commission for water. We challenge the Arroyo administration to hold its own against Maynilad and the Lopezes: Maynilad must go and it must be penalized. We consumers will not pay P21 billion for the failure of this company and for the failure of the water privatization program.
Alliance of Progressive Labor AKBAYAN
Nov 22, 2002
MAYNILAD: FAILED SERVICE, FAILED BUSINESS
Beginning January 2003, consumers in the Maynilad areas will be billed 25 pesos per cubic meter from the current 15.46, while those in Manila Water areas will be billed 17 pesos from 6.75. While both rates are burdensome,Maynilad’s case is especially appalling because of the following reasons: 1) It has failed to comply with its expansion and service targets. Many of its target areas remain waterless, while those with connections suffer from low water pressure and have to make do with only several hours of water supply each day. On top of these, it has failed to lower the volume of non-revenue water (NRW) while incurring astronomical operating costs, probably for the huge salaries of its executives. 2) It has refused to pay concession fees to the MWSS since last year and threatens to withhold further payments until 2007. 3) It is asking the national government for a bail-out in terms of loan guarantees to the tune of P14 billion! Aba’y talagang abusado! Palpak na nga, humihingi pa ng premyo! Manila Water has numerous transgressions, too, but Maynilad takes the cake for inefficiency and greed.
The water system was privatized with the aim of improving service, expanding connections and maintaining reasonable rates. Metro Manila was divided into 2 sections assigned to two separate concessionaires to encourage competition by checking one’s performance and prices against the other. There was a Concession Agreement—a purportedly inviolable document setting the parameters re pricing and performance for the two concessionaires. There is a Regulatory Office (RO) tasked to regulate the utility, and a residual MWSS office mandated with enforcing the contract. All these instruments have been useless in preventing dramatic price increases and in bringing about improved service in the water utility, especially in Maynilad areas. The Concession Agreement was changed via Amendment Number 1 last October 2001 to accommodate the “requests” of the two companies in the form of drastic jumps in water rates and lower expansion/service targets. The RO, under different leaderships, appears all too eager to justify the demands of the concessionaires. And now, it looks like even the Arroyo administration is going to bow to the wishes of the Lopez group by funding Maynilad’s loan restructuring requirements despite its rotten record.
As in the case of Meralco, there is the implicit threat that the economy will suffer greatly and services will be disrupted with the bankruptcy of a public utility firm such as Maynilad. Even Malacanang has said that it will support Meralco because it runs a public utility. That is the greatest irony of privatization: the government ends up supporting a lousy private company to run a utility whose control it could have retained. E kung popondohan din pala ng gobyerno ang Maynilad, bakit pa isinapribado ang MWSS? E di ganoon din pala!
It is plain to see that Maynilad cannot run the water utility decently. As such, its contract should be terminated by the MWSS Board and its areas returned to MWSS control. Government should not be in the business of salvaging badly-run businesses at the expense of consumers and taxpayers.
MAYNILAD: BULOK SERBISYO, TAAS PRESYO! MAGSARA NA KAYO!
GMA: LUGI NG MAYNILAD, HUWAG SA TAUMBAYAN IPABAYAD!
The water system was privatized with the aim of improving service, expanding connections and maintaining reasonable rates. Metro Manila was divided into 2 sections assigned to two separate concessionaires to encourage competition by checking one’s performance and prices against the other. There was a Concession Agreement—a purportedly inviolable document setting the parameters re pricing and performance for the two concessionaires. There is a Regulatory Office (RO) tasked to regulate the utility, and a residual MWSS office mandated with enforcing the contract. All these instruments have been useless in preventing dramatic price increases and in bringing about improved service in the water utility, especially in Maynilad areas. The Concession Agreement was changed via Amendment Number 1 last October 2001 to accommodate the “requests” of the two companies in the form of drastic jumps in water rates and lower expansion/service targets. The RO, under different leaderships, appears all too eager to justify the demands of the concessionaires. And now, it looks like even the Arroyo administration is going to bow to the wishes of the Lopez group by funding Maynilad’s loan restructuring requirements despite its rotten record.
As in the case of Meralco, there is the implicit threat that the economy will suffer greatly and services will be disrupted with the bankruptcy of a public utility firm such as Maynilad. Even Malacanang has said that it will support Meralco because it runs a public utility. That is the greatest irony of privatization: the government ends up supporting a lousy private company to run a utility whose control it could have retained. E kung popondohan din pala ng gobyerno ang Maynilad, bakit pa isinapribado ang MWSS? E di ganoon din pala!
It is plain to see that Maynilad cannot run the water utility decently. As such, its contract should be terminated by the MWSS Board and its areas returned to MWSS control. Government should not be in the business of salvaging badly-run businesses at the expense of consumers and taxpayers.
MAYNILAD: BULOK SERBISYO, TAAS PRESYO! MAGSARA NA KAYO!
GMA: LUGI NG MAYNILAD, HUWAG SA TAUMBAYAN IPABAYAD!
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