PRRD not replacing water concessionaires with business allies

FILE: Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar (Photo by Albert Alcain/PPD/PNA)
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MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte is not trying to kick out Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. to replace them with new business allies who are dependent on his political patronage, a Palace official said on Thursday.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte was in fact, doing the business community a favor by being tough on corruption.

“The main point here is that we should not be entering into onerous contracts. This is in fact, doing the business community a favor by telling them that there is no room for corruption in our business industry,” Andanar said in an interview over ANC.

“There are no sacred cows. You’ve been asking for big fish, and there you go,” Andanar said, emphasizing that the President will not allow the corrupt to go unpunished.

Andanar said Duterte’s tirade against the two top water concessionaires have shown positive results such as the move of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to revoke the resolution extending the concession agreements.

The two water concessionaires have also expressed willingness to revisit the alleged onerous provisions in the contract.

“I think the purpose here is to send the message to both Maynilad and Manila Water that the President is not accepting this kind of reasoning and this kind of onerous contract,” he said.

In an article published on Asia Times titled “Duterte replacing old elite with new in the Philippines”, Richard Heydarian claimed that the President targeted “traditional business ‘oligarchs’ while promoting his own class of ‘Dutertegarchs”.

“Duterte has singled out liberal-leaning business elites known to be more aligned with the ‘yellow’ political opposition. Among them are the Ayala and Pangilinan clans, both of which maintain sprawling and profitable business interests across the country,” the article read.

Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corporation owns a controlling stake in Maynilad while Manila Water is a subsidiary of Ayala Corporation.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore has ordered the government to pay Maynilad about PHP3.6 billion in damages for the company’s losses over the refusal to implement tariff adjustment for 2013 to 2017.

It also asked the government to pay PHP7.4 billion to the Ayala-Manila Water as compensation for losses and damages from delayed water rate increases since 2015.

However, the President refused to pay the water concessionaires and threatened to file economic sabotage cases against all involved in the crafting of the water deals.

He also said he wanted to speak to water concessionaires and government lawyers involved in the crafting of the water concession deals to find out why they allowed the alleged onerous provisions.

If not satisfied by their explanation, Duterte said he would expropriate the operation of water facilities.

Upon Duterte’s order, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Office of the Solicitor General were tasked to craft new water concession agreements that are “favorable to the State and the Filipino people”.