{"id":239942,"date":"2019-12-13T19:55:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T00:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=239942"},"modified":"2019-12-13T19:55:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T00:55:03","slug":"duterte-eyes-military-takeover-of-water-concessionaires-ops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/12\/13\/duterte-eyes-military-takeover-of-water-concessionaires-ops\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte eyes military takeover of water concessionaires\u2019 ops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Malaca\u00f1an Palace on September 10, 2019. ALFRED FRIAS\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte is considering ordering the military to take over the operations of water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad, in case of revocation of the two firms\u2019 agreements with the national government.<\/p>\n

Still infuriated by the alleged \u201conerous\u201d provisions of the government\u2019s concession agreements with the two firms, Duterte floated the idea during the inauguration of The Tent at Vista Global South in Las Pi\u00f1as City on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The President said he might be compelled to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a move he deemed fit to go after Manila Water and Maynilad, as well as other errant firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuwag niyo akong laruan na takut-takutin ninyo ako, \u2018Sige, mag-sibat kami, bahala ka wala kayong tubig\u2019<\/em>\u00a0(Do not play dirty tricks and threaten me, \u2018Fine, we will cease our operations but no one can supply you water.\u2019) I will order the armed forces to operate your water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cO sige, sundalo mag-<\/em>take over\u00a0kayo<\/em>\u00a0(To the soldiers, take over their operations). Then I will declare a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, but only against economic sabotage,\u201d Duterte added.<\/p>\n

The President made the pronouncement, as he censured Manila Water and Maynilad for putting water consumers at a disadvantage by letting them carry the burden of their concession deals with the government.<\/p>\n

Article 3, Section 15 of the 1987 Constitution stipulates that the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended, \u201cin cases of invasion or rebellion when public safety requires it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article 7, Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution also states that the President, “whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.”<\/p>\n

Duterte said the concession agreements apparently \u201cmirrors\u201d the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law or Republic Act 3019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi ko talaga maintindihan kung bakit itong mga u***, pumasok diyan sa kontratang \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(I do not understand why these stupid people entered into a contract with them),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi ko<\/em>\u00a0(I said), if you get a copy of the contract and\u00a0ilagay mo<\/em>\u00a0face-to-face with the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law which is Republic Act 3019, it mirrors what is in the anti-graft and the anti-graft mirrors the contract.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Tuesday revoked the approved 15-year extension of concession agreements with Manila Water and Maynilad that are supposed to expire in 2037.<\/p>\n

The revocation means the two firms only have until 2022 to operate since the 2009 resolution extending the 25-year concession deals signed in 1997 is already considered ineffective.<\/p>\n

The latest development came after Duterte learned that the contracts with Manila Water and Maynilad are disadvantageous to both the government and the Filipino people.<\/p>\n

The Singapore-based Permanent Court of Arbitration issued separate decisions, compelling the Philippine government in 2017 to pay PHP3.4 billion to Maynilad and in November 2019 to compensate PHP7.39 billion to Manila water for the losses the two water firms allegedly suffered due to non-implementation of increases in water rates.<\/p>\n

Duterte slammed the ruling that favors the two water concessionaires.<\/p>\n

\u201cNgayon<\/em>\u00a0(Now), if for any reason, they incur losses, we have to pay for their losses.\u00a0Ang una, \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0PHP3 billion plus\u00a0kasi na-<\/em>delay\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0increase because the regulator,\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0MWSS,\u00a0pinag-aralan pa<\/em>\u00a0(First, the government was forced to pay PHP3 billion due to the delay of increase in water rates because the water regulator, MWSS, conducted a study first),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaan ka makakita, sila ang may karapatan<\/em>\u00a0(When did that happen that they have the right to do that)? And in that contract,\u00a0ang tubig<\/em>\u00a0(the water), for purposes of interpreting the contracts in case of conflict, water will be treated as a commodity, only water, not a natural resource,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 10, Manila Water and Maynilad wrote separate letters to Duterte, expressing their intent to settle the issue by allowing the review of and possible amendments to the existing water concession deals.<\/p>\n

Duterte, however, said he would let MWSS Administrator Emmanuel Salamat negotiate with the two firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not talking. You go to Salamat, General Salamat. He\u2019s the MWSS (administrator).\u00a0Mag-usap kayo. Bahala kayo diyan<\/em>\u00a0(Talk to him. Settle the issue with him),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will just prepare the charges.\u00a0Kapag hindi tayo nagkaintidihan tayo dito<\/em>, economic plunder then there is no bail (If we fail to reach an agreement here, I will file economic plunder, then there is no bail),\u201d Duterte added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte is considering ordering the military to take over the operations of water concessionaires Manila Water and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":230558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239942","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=239942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239943,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239942\/revisions\/239943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}