The BANTAY TUBIG NETWORK has gathered information from reliable sources that points to a multi-billion deal being struck between the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Lopez family for the bailout of the financially troubled Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) and its parent company, Benpres. This company, which has provided horrendous service to its west zone clients over the last seven years, has not been paying its debts (in concession fees) to the government (represented by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System or MWSS) for the last three years, now amounting to about 8 BILLION PESOS. All the while, it has raised water prices by 400%, failed to provide 24-hour water service and universal connection and failed to reduce system losses or maintain the pipe network in its coverage area-a factor in the November 2003 gastroenteritis outbreak in Tondo, Manila which killed 7 people and sickened over 700.
Despite these grave breaches, the Arroyo government is now entering into a debt-to-equity deal with Maynilad. This means that the government will forego the 8 billion due to the MWSS from Maynilad. This 8 billion will be converted into virtually worthless shares in Maynilad, which will give government 60% ownership of a financially insolvent company. Furthermore, it will absorb an additional 10 billion of the private debt of Maynilad and its parent company Benpres. This, at a time when the fiscal deficit is already at crisis levels, being in the vicinity of 200BILLION pesos, and the national debt is already at 3.36 trillion pesos! The MWSS has in fact borrowed $220 M from various banks to cover for the unpaid loans of Maynilad, adding even more to the government's crisis-level borrowings.
This bailout, however, should not be interpreted as a "government takeover" of Maynilad. Government, while acquiring 60% of the shares, effectively allows the Lopezes and their French partner, Ondeo, to maintain control of the firm because it appointed Fiorello "Toto" Estuar as the president of this "new" Maynilad. Mr. Estuar was until recently the president of First Balfour, also a Lopez company.
We in BANTAY TUBIG would like to ask the following questions :
1) Why is the Arroyo government entering into this "amicable settlement" with Maynilad when it has every right to collect the 8 billion in Maynilad debts? The Arbitration Panel that heard Maynilad's petition to terminate its contract ruled last November 7, 2003 that Maynilad must pay its concession fees within 15 days of the decision. The Panel also authorized the MWSS to draw on Maynilad's performance bond of $120 million-a ruling that Maynilad challenged in the Regional Trial Court and is now pending at the Supreme Court.
2) Why have the MWSS and the Regulatory Office not declared a "concessionaire event" and served Maynilad a notice of termination? The Concession Agreement says that filing for receivership IS a concessionaire event, whereupon the government only has to reimburse the concessionaire 75% of its capital expenditures (around 4 billion pesos). Instead, government seems ready and willing to gift Maynilad with 8 billion pesos. Who is instructing these government agencies to pursue actions inimical to government and public interest?
3) Why is the Arroyo government giving away 8 billion pesos in taxpayers' money to a Lopez company when the national coffers are hemorrhaging from tremendous financial pressures? We wonder what President Arroyo has gotten in return for saving the Lopez firm from sure financial ruin at the expense of taxpayers? Was Sen. Noli de Castro, a known Lopez asset, the prize in this trade-off?
This deal, if finalized, would be treason of the highest order. It is clearly disadvantageous to government, to Maynilad consumers and to Filipino taxpayers, while rewarding the Lopezes for financial failure and gross mismanagement. Moreover, it subjects Metro Manilans to greater danger and hardship as the bailout will not resolve the pathetic condition of the west zone, which is now threatened with water shortages and possible repeats of the Tondo epidemic during the coming summer months.
BANTAY TUBIG denounces this bailout and demands that President Arroyo and all the government agencies involved explain this crooked deal to the Filipino public. We challenge her and her running mate, Sen. Noli de Castro, as well as all the presidential candidates and their running mates to make clear their stand on this anomalous transaction. Tell us why we should vote for those who favor big business conglomerates over the welfare of the Filipino public.
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BANTAY TUBIG NETWORK: AKBAYAN Party-list* Alliance of Progressive Labor* CIBAC Party-list* FOCUS on the Global South* Freedom from Debt Coalition* Institute for Popular Democracy* Tambuyog Development Center* Ma. Teresa Diokno-Pascual
Showing posts with label water rate increase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water rate increase. Show all posts
Feb 24, 2004
Oct 29, 2003
MAYNILAD TO BLAME FOR TONDO DEATHS DUE TO WATER CONTAMINATION
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
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
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!
Jun 19, 2002
Dagdag Presyo, Bawas Serbisyo!
June 19 - The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) picketed today the MWSS to denounce the regulatory body for conspiring with the water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water in jacking up water rates through a mysterious scheme called rate re-basing.
While the previously approved rate adjustment that more than doubled the current water prices to P15 (a whooping 135% increase compared to September 2001 level) is still being contested, the APL reminded the public that the conspirators are currently scheming to once again double the water rates to P30 by January 2003! And had it not been for the exposé of Akbayan a few weeks ago, they would have done so in complete secrecy, the labor center added.
To top it all, the MWSS, through Amendment Number 1 of the concession agreement, has allowed the water concessionaires to fleece the consumers while at the same time removing penalties for their compliance in their service obligations: Nagdagdag na nga ng presyo nagbawas pa ng serbisyo! (They have increased their prices while reducing the level of their service obligation!)
The APL blamed the government for this dismal state of affairs in the water service by explaining that when private means are used to deliver public services, the profit motive would always take precedence at the expense of the public’s welfare. The privatization of MWSS is definitely a failure.
While it was the previous governments that privatized public water services, it is the current government that perpetrates the problem by failing to put in place a strong regulatory mechanism that can enforce service obligations of the water concessionaires!
The APL asserts that water is a right and as such should not be subjected to the whims and caprices of profiteers. It believes that the water concessionaires should deliver their service obligations under the original concession agreement. If they cannot deliver, they should not be allowed price hikes, much less, allowed to stay in the business of running a public utility. The APL calls on the MWSS to publicly disclose all information regarding the water concessionaires’ petition for rate re-basing.
The APL is a national labor center that espouses social movement unionism. It embraces various forms of workers’ organizations operating in the formal and informal sector.
While the previously approved rate adjustment that more than doubled the current water prices to P15 (a whooping 135% increase compared to September 2001 level) is still being contested, the APL reminded the public that the conspirators are currently scheming to once again double the water rates to P30 by January 2003! And had it not been for the exposé of Akbayan a few weeks ago, they would have done so in complete secrecy, the labor center added.
To top it all, the MWSS, through Amendment Number 1 of the concession agreement, has allowed the water concessionaires to fleece the consumers while at the same time removing penalties for their compliance in their service obligations: Nagdagdag na nga ng presyo nagbawas pa ng serbisyo! (They have increased their prices while reducing the level of their service obligation!)
The APL blamed the government for this dismal state of affairs in the water service by explaining that when private means are used to deliver public services, the profit motive would always take precedence at the expense of the public’s welfare. The privatization of MWSS is definitely a failure.
While it was the previous governments that privatized public water services, it is the current government that perpetrates the problem by failing to put in place a strong regulatory mechanism that can enforce service obligations of the water concessionaires!
The APL asserts that water is a right and as such should not be subjected to the whims and caprices of profiteers. It believes that the water concessionaires should deliver their service obligations under the original concession agreement. If they cannot deliver, they should not be allowed price hikes, much less, allowed to stay in the business of running a public utility. The APL calls on the MWSS to publicly disclose all information regarding the water concessionaires’ petition for rate re-basing.
The APL is a national labor center that espouses social movement unionism. It embraces various forms of workers’ organizations operating in the formal and informal sector.
May 1, 2002
Thousands Marched to Celebrate the Labor Centennial and to demand the country’s withdrawal from the WTO!
GMA hounded by protesters in Cebu and Davao!
Workers vow to fight water and power rate increases, oil price hikes and added taxes!
Tens of thousands of workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) today poured into the streets of Manila, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and Cagayan de Oro to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of the Philippine labor movement, press for the strengthening of workers’ and trade union rights and called for the country’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Massive unemployment, contractualization, low wages, skyrocketing water and electricity rates, oil price hikes and added taxes… is this the government’s nasty way of thanking the labor movement after a 100 years of struggles?,” Daniel L. Edralin, APL chairperson, sarcastically said.
Ironically, while the government is bent on fast tracking trade liberalization in the country, countries of the North have increasingly resorted to protectionist measures in violation of WTO rules just so they can save their workers’ jobs. For the first quarter of 2002, 500 local firms were forced to shut down displacing more than 10,000 workers. “This situation is a complete reversal of what the government promised us before joining the WTO in 1995,” Edralin said. “The WTO benefits the rich countries, while leaving the poor countries devastated. Thus we see no reason for us to stay in the WTO any minute longer,” he added.
In Manila alone, 15,000 workers converged in Welcome Rotonda and marched to Mehan Garden. Representatives Etta Rosales (Akbayan party list) and Del de Guzman (Marikina, lone district) and a number of activist delegates from the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) from Asia and Pacific joined the marchers in protesting the evils of capitalist globalization.
Similar mobilizations were simultaneously held in other key cities. In Cebu, UP President Francisco Nemenzo joined 3,000 workers who marched from Fuente Osmeña to Gaisano South. In Davao, 5,000 workers marched around the city. The Cebu and Davao marchers also picketed President Arroyo’s visit in the two cities. At least 2,000 marchers joined the APL-led rally in Cagayan de Oro.
The Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), the Philippine Cement Workers’ Council (PCWC), the National Alliance of Broadcast Unions (NABU), Postal Employees Union of the Philippines (PEUP) and other workers’ organizations joined APL in these mobilizations. Akbayan and BISIG also mobilized their own members in support of the APL.
In its Labor Day Manifesto, the APL vowed to fight the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the Arroyo administration and to work for the strengthening of workers’ and trade union rights by reforming the labor relations framework in the country through a set of legislative measures dubbed as “Labor Centennial Bills.”
The APL is a social movement center composed of trade union federations, national unions, workers’ associations in the informal sector and workers’ community organization. It has chapters in all the major cities around the country.
Workers vow to fight water and power rate increases, oil price hikes and added taxes!
Tens of thousands of workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) today poured into the streets of Manila, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and Cagayan de Oro to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of the Philippine labor movement, press for the strengthening of workers’ and trade union rights and called for the country’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Massive unemployment, contractualization, low wages, skyrocketing water and electricity rates, oil price hikes and added taxes… is this the government’s nasty way of thanking the labor movement after a 100 years of struggles?,” Daniel L. Edralin, APL chairperson, sarcastically said.
Ironically, while the government is bent on fast tracking trade liberalization in the country, countries of the North have increasingly resorted to protectionist measures in violation of WTO rules just so they can save their workers’ jobs. For the first quarter of 2002, 500 local firms were forced to shut down displacing more than 10,000 workers. “This situation is a complete reversal of what the government promised us before joining the WTO in 1995,” Edralin said. “The WTO benefits the rich countries, while leaving the poor countries devastated. Thus we see no reason for us to stay in the WTO any minute longer,” he added.
In Manila alone, 15,000 workers converged in Welcome Rotonda and marched to Mehan Garden. Representatives Etta Rosales (Akbayan party list) and Del de Guzman (Marikina, lone district) and a number of activist delegates from the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) from Asia and Pacific joined the marchers in protesting the evils of capitalist globalization.
Similar mobilizations were simultaneously held in other key cities. In Cebu, UP President Francisco Nemenzo joined 3,000 workers who marched from Fuente Osmeña to Gaisano South. In Davao, 5,000 workers marched around the city. The Cebu and Davao marchers also picketed President Arroyo’s visit in the two cities. At least 2,000 marchers joined the APL-led rally in Cagayan de Oro.
The Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), the Philippine Cement Workers’ Council (PCWC), the National Alliance of Broadcast Unions (NABU), Postal Employees Union of the Philippines (PEUP) and other workers’ organizations joined APL in these mobilizations. Akbayan and BISIG also mobilized their own members in support of the APL.
In its Labor Day Manifesto, the APL vowed to fight the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the Arroyo administration and to work for the strengthening of workers’ and trade union rights by reforming the labor relations framework in the country through a set of legislative measures dubbed as “Labor Centennial Bills.”
The APL is a social movement center composed of trade union federations, national unions, workers’ associations in the informal sector and workers’ community organization. It has chapters in all the major cities around the country.
Apr 19, 2002
DESPITE ITS DISMAL SERVICE PERFORMANCE, MAYNILAD HAS THE NERVE TO ASK FOR WATER RATE INCREASE!
More 200 workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) trooped to the headquarters of Maynilad this morning to demand the delivery of a long-delayed promise of water service connection in their area and to protest water rate increases.
Two years ago, the protesting workers, mostly residents of Maligaya Park Subdivision that straddles Quezon City and Coolocan City, took the promotional offer of MAYNILAD to provide water service connection upon payment of P200.00. Under this offer, the rest of the installment fees would be added to the workers’ monthly bills on an installment basis. Two years later, the workers have yet to see Maynilad’s delivery of the promised water connection!
This proves Maynilad’s inability to run a basic utility service that is supposedly committed in serving the interest of the consumers. Yet despite of this, Maynilad has the nerve to ask for water rate increases. To add insult to injury, Maynilad has even applied for rate-rebasing that would peg basic water tariffs at P30 pesos per cubic meter!
“Clearly the Lopezes do not know how to run a business outside of monopoly conditions,” Josua Mata, Secretary General of APL said. “This is a clear evidence of the failure of water privatization,” he added.
MAYNILAD, owned by the Lopez Group of Companies (that also owns the Manila Electric Co.) increased water rates last October 2001 and on January 1, 2002. It will again raise its rates in July 2002. Since it was privatized, water rates have jacked up by 135% from P6.58 pcm in September 2001 to P15.46pcm this march. Maynilad’s application for rate-basing would mean another 94% increase in the price of water.
To justify the increases, it published an ad in leading newspapers last April 17 claiming that their rates are cheaper than vendors selling purified bottled water and those providing provincial water. The APL suggests that the said paid was designed to mislead the consumers of Metro Manila. Why compare the prices of Maynilad with water vendors or provincial water? Why not compare it with the price of Manila Water Company? As of March 2002, Maynilad currently charges an average tariff of P15.46 pesos per cubic meter while Manila Water Company, despite its own list of inefficiencies, charges an average tariff of P6.75 per cubic meter.
Also, It cannot simply compare their rates to water vendors since those who consume bottled waters are the people who can afford to buy it. But a workers’ community, whose employment depends on contractual and seasonal jobs, and could not afford bottled water.
Water-vending stations are flourishing. This only shows the incompetence and inability of MAYNILAD to provide safe and potable water to every household. The consumers have yet to see improvements in the delivery of potable water and yet the government and water concessionaires keep on harping on the “merits” of privatizing public service utilities such as water.
The price increases, lousy service and the flawed regulatory process all prove that the biggest water privatization project in the world is a total failure thanks to greedy and inefficient water companies like Maynilad!
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Tala Estate Settlers’ Federation (TESEFF) strongly condemn this appalling situation and demands the REPLACEMENT OF MAYNILAD AND THE REFORM OF REGULATORY BODIES. IT VOWS TO RESIST WATER PRICE INCREASES. The APL insists that the national government should review its privatization program and exclude public utilities from it since experience has shown that such will not truly serve the interest of the Filipino people.
Two years ago, the protesting workers, mostly residents of Maligaya Park Subdivision that straddles Quezon City and Coolocan City, took the promotional offer of MAYNILAD to provide water service connection upon payment of P200.00. Under this offer, the rest of the installment fees would be added to the workers’ monthly bills on an installment basis. Two years later, the workers have yet to see Maynilad’s delivery of the promised water connection!
This proves Maynilad’s inability to run a basic utility service that is supposedly committed in serving the interest of the consumers. Yet despite of this, Maynilad has the nerve to ask for water rate increases. To add insult to injury, Maynilad has even applied for rate-rebasing that would peg basic water tariffs at P30 pesos per cubic meter!
“Clearly the Lopezes do not know how to run a business outside of monopoly conditions,” Josua Mata, Secretary General of APL said. “This is a clear evidence of the failure of water privatization,” he added.
MAYNILAD, owned by the Lopez Group of Companies (that also owns the Manila Electric Co.) increased water rates last October 2001 and on January 1, 2002. It will again raise its rates in July 2002. Since it was privatized, water rates have jacked up by 135% from P6.58 pcm in September 2001 to P15.46pcm this march. Maynilad’s application for rate-basing would mean another 94% increase in the price of water.
To justify the increases, it published an ad in leading newspapers last April 17 claiming that their rates are cheaper than vendors selling purified bottled water and those providing provincial water. The APL suggests that the said paid was designed to mislead the consumers of Metro Manila. Why compare the prices of Maynilad with water vendors or provincial water? Why not compare it with the price of Manila Water Company? As of March 2002, Maynilad currently charges an average tariff of P15.46 pesos per cubic meter while Manila Water Company, despite its own list of inefficiencies, charges an average tariff of P6.75 per cubic meter.
Also, It cannot simply compare their rates to water vendors since those who consume bottled waters are the people who can afford to buy it. But a workers’ community, whose employment depends on contractual and seasonal jobs, and could not afford bottled water.
Water-vending stations are flourishing. This only shows the incompetence and inability of MAYNILAD to provide safe and potable water to every household. The consumers have yet to see improvements in the delivery of potable water and yet the government and water concessionaires keep on harping on the “merits” of privatizing public service utilities such as water.
The price increases, lousy service and the flawed regulatory process all prove that the biggest water privatization project in the world is a total failure thanks to greedy and inefficient water companies like Maynilad!
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Tala Estate Settlers’ Federation (TESEFF) strongly condemn this appalling situation and demands the REPLACEMENT OF MAYNILAD AND THE REFORM OF REGULATORY BODIES. IT VOWS TO RESIST WATER PRICE INCREASES. The APL insists that the national government should review its privatization program and exclude public utilities from it since experience has shown that such will not truly serve the interest of the Filipino people.
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