{"id":239773,"date":"2019-12-11T02:16:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T07:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=239773"},"modified":"2019-12-11T02:16:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T07:16:50","slug":"duterte-considers-expropriating-water-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/12\/11\/duterte-considers-expropriating-water-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte considers expropriating water operations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a speech in Malaca\u00f1ang, Duterte said if water concessionaire owners and government lawyers refused to face him to explain how they crafted the water concession deal, he would make them do so by force. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he will expropriate the operation of water facilities if he is not satisfied with the explanation of water concessionaires and government lawyers on the supposed onerous water concession agreements.<\/p>\n

In a speech in Malaca\u00f1ang, Duterte said if water concessionaire owners and government lawyers refused to face him to explain how they crafted the water concession deal, he would make them do so by force.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya di ko talaga malaman kung paano ko bibirahin \u2018to<\/em>\u00a0(I don\u2019t know how i would deal with this) because I want everybody…yung mga abogado diyan noon, kung ayaw ninyo pumunta dito e di<\/em>\u00a0(those lawyers there before, if they won\u2019t face me here) I will drag them,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen if you will force my hand, I will throw my last card.\u00a0Ayaw ninyo? O sige, gusto ninyo daanin sa<\/em>\u00a0(You don\u2019t want to face me? Okay, you want to do this the hard way)…then I will suspend this writ of habeas corpus\u00a0at hihilahin kayo<\/em>\u00a0(and drag you down),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He earlier threatened to sue Manila Water Company and Maynilad Water Services for economic sabotage over certain irregularities on water deals.<\/p>\n

If he would not be satisfied with their explanation, the President said he would expropriate the operations of these water facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPag hindi ako ma-<\/em>satisfy (If I\u2019m not satisfied), I will expropriate everything.\u00a0Kunin ko lahat<\/em>\u00a0(I\u2019ll get everything back),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte called on military and police personnel anew to run after corrupt practices including the water concession deal if he fails to finish the end of his term in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWag ninyo bitawan \u2018yan.<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019m not saying go into rebellion.\u00a0Sabihin niyo lang<\/em>\u00a0(Just say),\u2019 we want to talk with you\u2019.\u00a0\u2018Wag kalimutan ang Pilipino<\/em>\u00a0(Don\u2019t forget the Filipinos),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In October, Duterte said he could use \u201cextraordinary powers of the presidency\u201d take over water operations should the looming water crisis turn into a national emergency.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo pointed out that any situation arising that will endanger and peril the safety of the people could allow the President to take over.<\/p>\n

Panelo was referring to Article 12, Section 17 of the Constitution which states that: \u201cIn times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business affected with public interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s tiff with water concessionaires and government lawyers began after the government was ordered by the Singapore arbitration court to pay Maynilad about PHP3.6 billion in damages for the company\u2019s losses over the refusal to implement tariff adjustment for 2013 to 2017.<\/p>\n

Recently, the court also asked government to pay PHP7.4 billion to the Ayala-led Manila Water as compensation for losses and damages from delayed water rate increases since 2015.<\/p>\n

The President refused to pay this amount, saying he would file economic sabotage cases against all involved in the crafting of the water deals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he will expropriate the operation of water facilities if he is not satisfied …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":239775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239773"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239777,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239773\/revisions\/239777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}