Lawmakers on Monday questioned the “swift grant” of franchises to Manila Water Company Inc. (MWCI) and Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) by the House Committee of Legislative Franchise.
Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list and House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna objected to the swift approval of House Bill 9367 for Maynilad and House Bill 9313 for MWCI.
HB 9367 for Maynilad and HB 9313 for MWCI were swiftly approved by the Committee on Legislative Franchise by a vote of 23-affirmative and 2 negative for Manila Water and 19-2 for Maynilad.
HB 9367 seeks to grant Maynilad a franchise to establish, operate, and maintain, for commercial purposes and in the public interest, a water supply and distribution system and sewerage and/or sanitation services in the Service Area West.
HB 9313, meanwhile, seeks to grant MWCI a franchise to establish, operate, and maintain the waterworks and sewerage system in the east zone service area of Metro Manila and Province of Rizal.
In his explanatory note, Dasmariñas Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., principal author of HB 9313, said his proposal is pursuant to President Duterte’s drive to protect the interest of the Filipino consumer and the national government.
According to Barzaga, the government pushed for the revision of the concession agreement, saying after a renegotiation, a Revised Concession Agreement (RCA) was signed by MWCI and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) last March 31, 2021.
“MWCI is now considered a public utility subject to all restrictions applicable to public utilities such as nationality restriction,” he added.
“While respecting the terms of the RCA, a legislative franchise will promote and protect the continuity and stability of the essential services rendered by MWCI. It will secure the continuing obligation of MWCI to provide uninterrupted and adequate supply and distribution of potable water for domestic, commercial and other purposes, and to provide necessary sewerage services in the East Zone,” he said.
Go slow
But Atienza urged his colleagues to go slow in approving the new 25-year franchise bills for the two water concessionaires following President Duterte’s signing of the revised concession agreement which extends the contract until 2037.
Atienza said water consumers over the years have been paying a so-called sewage fee, amounting to 20 percent of their monthly water bills, for a service that has never been rendered.
Atienza also directed the two concessionaires to submit the total amount of loans secured from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), and other funding agencies in the name of the Philippine Republic.
He also strongly criticized the “undue haste” in which the committee approved the said franchises, without having received the answers to the important questions he had raised.
“I had hoped that the committee chairman and my colleagues would listen to reason and heed the people’s demand for transparency. But they did not. They railroaded the two franchises. The public does not know about this and even the media was not invited to this hearing! Why was it kept a secret? Congress should safeguard public interest above all else, and not hide such things from them,” Atienza said.
The Supreme Court in August 2019 upheld a 2009 Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order penalizing the two water suppliers and the MWSS with P1.84 billion in combined fines for violating Section 8 of the Clean Water Act. Atienza himself issued the 2009 order when during his term as DENR chief.
Zarate, for his part, said the bill was approved “even when the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System-Corporate Office [MWSS-CO] had raised issues on the bills, and the amendments being proposed by the sponsors have yet to be fully discussed.”
“Representatives from the Office of the President should have been invited to discuss the implications of the revised concessionaire agreements between the Duterte administration and the two water concessionaires. We have yet to fully scrutinize the texts and annexes of the new deals and if they are detrimental to Filipino consumers,” said Zarate, noting the absence of representatives from the finance department, justice department and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel who negotiated the new water deal.
“We recall that during ABS-CBN franchise renewal, pinadaan sila sa butas ng karayom but in full view sa public. Yet, none of that happened in these hearings for the grant of respective franchises of Manila Waters and Maynilad, “ said Zarate.
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