The government is determined to recover from the two water companies the corporate income tax payments shouldered by the Filipino nation, President Duterte announced last Thursday.
Amid his outrage over the alleged irregular water concession contracts, the President said Manila Water Company Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. have not paid their income taxes and instead passed the burden to their customers and focused on earning profits.
Duterte is also furious that the water firms have demanded environmental fees from customers without building the sufficient water treatment facilities as required by law.
“Instead of paying the tax, tayo ang pinagbayad. Tayo ang kinukunan ng pera. So kukunin talaga natin sa kanila ‘yan because it is an immoral contract,” he said during the inauguration of the Tent at the Vista Global South in Las Piñas City.
“’Yung corporate income tax nila will be passed on to the consumers. Bale, wala silang bayad. Ang magbayad ‘yung consumers,” he added.
Duterte also pressed the two companies to return the money collected from customers over failure to establish wastewater treatment facilities as required by law.
“The water treatment that they promised that would be built dyan sa Harrison. And that started, that was collected 1997 when these contracts started to end up in 2037,” he said.
“By this time sir bilyon na iyon. Tapos baka lahat-lahat trillion. Wala na sila. Ibalik nila ‘yung binayad nila, ‘yung kinuha nila,” he said.
He also alleged the two companies have unfairly passed on to customers the expenses of repairing their facilities. “’Yung mga ano nila, repair, ipapasa nila sa consumer lahat. Gastusan nila yan. ‘Yung kanila, ‘yung profit lang,” he said.
The Supreme Court recently imposed a fine amounting to almost P2 billion on the two water companies for violation of the county’s Clean Water Act. The companies were accused of failure to put up sufficient sewerage treatment facilities in violation of the law.
Duterte has denounced the alleged onerous and disadvantageous concession contracts, threatening to sue the persons involved for economic plunder and expropriate the water distribution operations. He said the country’s sovereignty has been bargained away in the government deals sealed in 1997 with the two concessionaires.
In his remarks last Thursday, the President said he would pursue such action plan against the two water firms in the reminder of his term.
“Now if they start to f*ck..I have one card and I will make it public. Writ of Habeas of Corpus suspended for you guys. Ilagay ko talaga sila sa prisinto,” he said. “The big fishes are here. You’ve asking for them,” he added. (Genalyn Kabiling)