Defer water rate hike - lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker asked the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) yesterday to postpone next month’s water rate increase until previous increases reaching 700 percent are fully explained and justified.

Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy said any further increase should not be allowed while the House of Representatives investigates alleged irregularities in the fixing of previous adjustments.

“The MWSS and its concessionaires should explain why they have been collecting rate adjustments for projects that have not been started or completed,” she said.

Herrera-Dy identified some of these projects:

•The P4.13-billion earthquake contingency fund, which has been part of water bills since 2008;

• The P732-million Wawa dam project, for which water concessionaires have been collecting fees since 2003; and

• The P5.4-billion Angat water reliability project; and the P45.3-billion Laiban dam, for which collections have been started in 2008.

“The public should be spared from shelling out a centavo more until MWSS and its concessionaires are able to deliver the projects,” she said.

“Non-delivery of services already paid for is tantamount to large scale estafa.”

Herrera-Dy said the public must be informed how much has been collected, where the money has gone, and the status of the projects.