Palace vows measures to avert water crisis

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday vowed to institute measures to address the “water crisis” in Metro Manila after National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. warned that the problem would persist unless long-term programs designed to develop new water sources are implemented.

Water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water announced rotational interruptions last week due to the drop in water levels at Angat and Ipo dams.

The decreasing water elevation, caused by lower-than-normal rainfall, forced the utilities to implement water rationing in affected areas.

“We will find ways so the crisis won’t worsen. If there is a problem, there is a solution. So I think those people responsible for that will have to do their jobs,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a radio interview.

Panelo noted that it was not the first time the metropolis experienced a water shortage.

“If you recall, it has been addressed before. Perhaps there is a new problem,” he said.

Last Friday, Esperon cited the need for the government and the water concessionaires to develop other sources of water to prevent shortages in the future.

Lawmakers, for their part, are rushing the creation of a new department that they are hoping can solve the recurrent water supply problem.

The House of Representatives expects to pass the bill creating the Department of Water Resources (DWR) in January, according to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, one of the authors of the measure.

He said the new department would be responsible for formulating comprehensive and integrated policies and programs on water, as well as managing the ownership, appropriation, development, use and protection of the country’s water resources.

“It will ensure the optimal use of water for domestic, commercial, hydropower, irrigation, sanitation, industry, navigation, recreation, fisheries and aquaculture. It will be tasked to implement Presidential Decree 1067 and Republic Act 9275 or the Water Code and Clean Water Act, respectively,” Salceda said.

He added that there would be a Water Regulatory Commission under the proposed DWR that would regulate distributors of water for household, commercial or industrial use.

Salceda lamented the present state offices that have to do with water have “overlapping and fragmented management and regulation of water resources and services.”

“(This) hinders the development of a comprehensive, integrated and doable long-term solution to address keen competitions, imbalanced resources utilization and conflict of interest among water users, especially in areas already identified as water-stressed,” Salceda said.

Inhumane increase

Sen. Imee Marcos, for her part, called on the two water concessionaires to reveal their master plan to ensure stable and steady water supply for their customers as stipulated in their contracts with the government over 20 years ago.

She said the two firms have been reliant on rains to fill the dams that provide water to their respective systems but they have been tasked in their concession agreements in 1997 to implement a master plan that would ensure steady supply even during drought.

“The MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System) has given these companies a very long time, so they should have thought of ways not to inconvenience and cause trouble to our countrymen, especially our hospitals that need ample supply of water,” Marcos said.

She noted that under the concession agreements, the MWSS gave the two firms 37 years to rehabilitate and repair the water and sewerage systems in the two zones even as they were tasked to look for long term and stable water sources or put up reservoirs.

The two companies provide services to over 16 million people.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said the two water concessionaires have been raking in as much as P5.3 billion annually for the last 13 years.

He said they should not threaten to make water rates skyrocket if they are forced to comply with the Clean Water Act.

“Based on our scrutiny of publicly available financial filings, we’ve gathered that Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. raked in an aggregate of P138 billion in net profits from 2006 to June 2019,” Atienza said.

He said the two water suppliers in Metro Manila do not have the right to threaten government as well as consumers on the basis that they are “definitely not having any difficulties producing profits for their stockholders.”

“Both firms also rewarded their shareholders a combined P49 billion in cash dividends over the same period,” Atienza said.

Last week, Sen. Christopher Go warned the two concessionaires not to burden their customers further, including passing on to them costs that the concessionaires should shoulder.

Go said Duterte was enraged over the recent developments, including the threat of the Ayala-owned Manila Water to raise its rates by 780 percent.

Go said there was water flowing in the taps in areas in Metro Manila where there were reports of water shortage.

He also called on water suppliers not to pass the burden to the people and to resolve issues as indicated in their contracts.

“Don’t pass the burden on our people. You got into that business, so that is your responsibility. Don’t sign contracts if you can’t comply with supplying water,” Go said.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Aquilino Pimentel III also opposed the plan of the east zone concessionaire to raise rates if the Supreme Court does not reverse its ruling imposing a P921-million fine for not complying with the Clean Water Act.

“Increasing rates by 780 percent is unconscionable and downright a highway robbery. No business in the world earns 780 percent in profit. Government regulators should never allow this inhumane increase,” Gatchalian said.

Asked why Manila Water is passing on its consumers the penalty the government imposed on them for water shortages, Gatchalian said it was not the consumers who have been remiss in their obligations and violated the law.

He said Manila Water should be the one to shoulder the penalty for its wrongdoings.

Pimentel said transferring a fine onto consumers was not only unfair “but also utterly baseless.”

He said customers are suffering from poor water services, and a planned increase would burden them even more.

“The people should not be the one to pay for their environmental violations. It must be noted that consumers already suffered from the month-long water interruption last June,” Pimentel said.

He said the private owners of the water concessionaires must bear the cost of their penalties, this being the nature of the business they entered into.

“Less or no profit for them this time. Their profits are not guaranteed by their customers. They must run their businesses professionally, ethically, and lawfully,” Pimentel said.

Last April, Duterte scolded officials of the MWSS for supposedly failing to prepare for El Niño and assailed what he described as “rich guys” who tried to profit out of the water crisis.

Duterte also accused water utilities of not doing their jobs and threatened to terminate their contracts.

Asked to react to water concessionaires’ plan to hike rates, Panelo said: “All of these are being studied by the President and he will undertake steps to fulfill his promise that there should be no water crisis in the country.”

Panelo denied that the water supply issue is just a front to push the controversial P12.2-billion Kaliwa dam project. He said the project is being investigated but could not provide updates on the investigation.

Some local officials and civil society groups have claimed that the China-funded Kaliwa dam would cause floods and displace communities in Quezon province. – Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero