Water is a natural resource that belongs to the people, Sen. Bong Go reminds water concessionaries.

After President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to sue Maynilad and Manila Water, Senator Bong Go asked the two water concessionaires to fulfill their contract obligations fairly and stop passing on problems to consumers.

Go said the two companies operating in Metro Manila and nearby Laguna and Cavite should follow what is stipulated in their contract with the government.

“The Filipinos are carrying the burden. We are facing problems in our water supply in Manila yet they add to the burden of the consumers. Filipinos own the water they distribute. It’s just that they are the ones who won the contract. That contract should be fair to each Filipino,” said Go in a statement.

The Department of Justice recently revealed that the government has flagged onerous provisions that are “disadvantageous to the people, relative to the terms or periods, government non-interference, as well as concessionaire indemnification for losses.”

The development came around the time that a Singapore court ordered the Philippine government to pay about P3.6 billion to Maynilad and P7.4 billion to Manila Water for the non-implementation of water rate increases and compensation for losses and damages, respectively.

“That is our water resources. That is for the Filipinos and we are the ones who are paying for the taxes but the concessionaires are not providing water well. They should give what they promise under their contract and stop passing the burden to the people,” said Go.

Meanwhile, during his visit to the victims of Typhoon “Tisoy” in Gubat, Sorsogon, Go informed residents that the Senate is on-track in legislating a measure that will boost the disaster preparedness of the government.

He cited Senate Bill No. 205, or the Department of Disaster Resilience Act of 2019, which seeks to establish an efficient agency that will integrate the disaster response from government units to ensure safe, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities.

“This bill aims to create a separate department that will focus on how we manage situations during disasters. We are already done with the committee hearing and we will push for its quick passage,” he said.

He previously emphasized that the DDR is important as the government should ensure that there are preemptive measures when there are natural calamities.

“If there is a sole department, our countrymen know where to go and they also know who will coordinate with other government agencies. Let us not wait for another typhoon or earthquake to happen,” said Go. “Let us fast-track this measure. I also encourage my colleagues in the Senate and Congress to (pass the measure) and let’s not wait for another calamity strike us (before we pass it).”