Palace unfazed by water rate hike threat

There has been no acceptance by the President of their offer nor has he declined it, according to Panelo. #waterratehikethreat

Malacañang on Friday said that water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water can do their worst and continue with fleecing the consumers while President Rodrigo Duterte will do his best in serving and protecting the interest of the people.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the remark following the threat made by the two Metro Manila water concessionaires to increase the water rates by 100 percent with the revocation by MWSS of the extension of their concession agreements.

“We recall that they offered not to implement the approved new water rates, among others, after the President publicly denounced the onerous provisions of the said contracts,” Panelo said.

“As we have previously stated, Maynilad and Manila Water each wrote a formal letter making an offer to talk about the issue and renegotiate the onerous provisions of the contracts. There has been no acceptance by the President of their offer nor has he declined it. The subject is still under review by the President,” said Panelo.

Panelo said all legal options are open to the Chief Executive.

“It must be remembered that the President is a lawyer and a public prosecutor for many years hence knowledgeable on the provisions of the anti-graft law. An examination of the latter reveals that the contracts are on all fours with it. Stated differently, the agreements violate every prohibited act of the law,” Panelo said.

For the sake of transparency, Panelo said the Palace has made public the letters dated 10 December 2019 sent by Maynilad and Manila Water to the President.

According to Panelo, the concessionaires are put on notice that the Chief Executive will not renege from his constitutional duty of enforcing the law.

“Neither will he be swayed nor enticed into accepting a compromise. Dura lex sed lex,” Panelo said.

“Water is a natural resource and access to it by the people is a basic human right, and constitutionally protected as well. Any measure therefore in derogation of this right requires government intervention,” he added.

In Maynilad’s letter to Duterte sent through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Chairman of the Board Manuel V. Pangilinan, assured the Chief Executive of their willingness to cooperate with the MWSS relative to having certain provisions of the concession agreement reviewed and amended.

“We are in solidarity with his His Excellency in his desire to provide our people access to water and wastewater services at affordable rates,” Pangilinan said in his letter.

“Finally, we re-affirm Maynilad’s unwavering commitment to HE’s efforts in nation-building, economic growth and stability of service to our people,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a separate letter to Duterte, Manila Water Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala thanked the Chief Executive for the opportunity he has gjven to them to discuss their position relating to his directive to MWSS to identify provisions in their water concession agreement that are considered illegal, onerous or disadvantageous to the government and to recommend appropriate policy actions to remedy the same.

Ayala said in deference to and out of respect for the President, they have decided on three actions:

1. We will not collect the P7.39 billion arbitral award;

2..We will defer the implementation of the approved water charge increase. We wrote the MWSS Administrator and Chairman on 3 December 2019 to express our intention to work out an agreement that will effectively defer the implementation of the approved water charge and;

3..We have agreed to and started discussions on the provisions that will be re-negotiated as detailed in the MWSS letter we received yesterday, 9 December 2019..We have responded to the letter proposing to immediately start with the discussions and expedite the negotiations.

“Mr. President, we heed your call to revisit and re-negotiate certain provisions of the concession agreement. We fully share your mandate to put the interest of the people as the primary objective. We will work closely with the proper government agency to make sure that the P7.39b arbitral reward will not have to be paid by the Government directly or through the customers,” Ayala said.