Sen. Imee R. Marcos has filed Senate Resolution 259 asking the Senate leadership to direct an appropriate committee to undertake an in-depth inquiry into the controversial water concession contracts and accomplishment records of Manila Water and Maynilad Water Services.
The inquiry, according to Marcos, would determine which provisions in the original and extended concession agreements were contrary to government interests and why the water companies failed to meet their public service obligations stated in the contracts.
The water concessionaires continue to draw the ire of President Duterte even after they backed down from claiming more than P10 billion in business indemnities from the government and insisting on water rate hikes in January.
Marcos said Duterte would continue with his fight against the one-sided water contracts although the government lost in the arbitration case filed by the two water concessionaires in Singapore.
Water concession agreements required both companies to ensure an uninterrupted supply of drinking quality water “not later than June 30, 2000,” or three years after the government privatized water services.
However, daily water interruptions since October have become “the rule rather than the exception,” Marcos said.
The lady lawmaker from Ilocos Norte also called out the apparent “social inequality” in water rationing schedules imposed by Manila Water and Maynilad.
Many exclusive residential villages in Metro Manila have only four-hour interruptions starting late at night, while lower income areas in Quezon City, Caloocan City, Valenzuela City, Manila, and the neighboring cities of Bacoor and Imus in Cavite have 19-hour to 21-hour interruptions that run through the day, Marcos noted.
By their own admission, Manila Water and Maynilad have also failed to install adequate sewage treatment systems, causing 86 percent of wastewater to continue spilling untreated into rivers and bays, she said.
The Senate inquiry, in aid of legislation, also seeks to better craft concession agreements in the future, Marcos added. (Mario Casayuran)