MANILA, Philippines — Government regulators are open to the possibility of terminating the concession agreement of Ayala-led Manila Water following the water shortage in Metro Manila and Rizal the past peeks.
Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System chief regulator Patrick Ty said the agency is looking into several options to hold the east zone concessionaire accountable.
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"We are studying all possible options including canceling the concession agreement," Ty said in an interview with One News' "Agenda" Thursday morning.
Under the concession agreement with MWSS, Manila Water violated its obligation to provide uninterrupted water service to its customers.
The MWSS executive said one of the options was to remove the extension of the concession agreement of Manila Water.
"There's also an option that we will just remove that extension and just focus on the 2022 (expiration) to give us time for a proper transition," Ty said.
The concession agreements of both Manila Water and Maynilad were supposed to end in 2022 but were extended to 2037.
MWSS is also looking to impose additional rebates for Manila Water customers who have experienced inconvenience during the water service interruptions earlier this month.
"The rebate, if ever we will impose it, will be on top of the bill waiver program of Manila Water. It's actually a good start but it's not the end of it. There could be an additional rebate coming," the MWSS official said.
Earlier this week, Manila Water announced that it would be issuing a voluntary one-time bill waiver scheme to its customers for their March consumption.
Manila Water President Ferdinand dela Cruz said the minimum charge for the first 10 cubic meters consumed each month will be waived.
"This minimum charge ranges for our lifeline customers of P76 but it also goes to all kinds of customers — lifeline, domestic, semi-domestic, commercial, industrial so it ranges from P76 to P656 for industrial customers, which represents the 10 cubic meters," Dela Cruz said.
Meanwhile, customers living in severely-hit areas or those who experienced no water for 24 hours for more than a week would have their whole March consumption waived.