Manila residents slam Maynilad for dry taps

Manila residents yesterday cursed the service disruption of Maynilad Water Services (Maynilad), for making the 72-hour cutoff coincide with the school opening tomorrow.

Maynilad, which supplies water to the west zone of Metro Manila, servicing roughly 4.5 million subscribers, cut off its water service in many areas from Quezon City to Cavite, at 9 p.m. Friday.

Jess Matubis, Maynilad corporate affairs manager, said this was due to nine major valve interconnections and insertions which will take until 9 p.m. tomorrow.

"Why did they wait until now to do their repairs? Why did they not do it during the long vacation?" lamented Merly Cabrera, a mother of three schoolchildren from Sampaloc. "Will my children go to school on the first day smelling bad? Maybe, I’ll just have to make them skip the first day."

An angrier Tondo resident suggested a people power protest against Maynilad to teach the water concessionaire a lesson.

"Pinahihirapan nila ang tao, pero sa paniningil, masyado silang mahigpit. Dapat mag-rally ang mga tao para madala sila," suggested Mang Erning.

Sellers of water containers made a killing after the announcement of the three-day water cutoff.

Stores in Divisoria selling plastic pails and drums were teeming with buyers yesterday. A large plastic drum was priced at P800, while pails were from P100 to P300.

Some areas in Sampaloc, like Antipolo street, still continued to have water as of yesterday.

In the waterless areas, it was like a fiesta when water tankers of the Manila Fire Department arrived to ration water.

But many residents complained of insufficient supply, and some accused firemen of favoritism.

"If you are acquainted with the firemen, you’ll be given more water," charged a resident from Ermita.

Health officials cautioned the public about boiling the water from the firetrucks before drinking it. – Nestor Etolle