The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) deliberately closed the La Mesa bypass regulating the water flow shared by Maynilad and Manila Water for the former’s benefit, a former employee has exposed.
The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) deliberately closed the La Mesa bypass regulating the water flow shared by Maynilad and Manila Water for the former’s benefit, a former employee has exposed.In March this year, the former MWSS employee, who claimed to have worked at the agency from 1982 to 2012, said the bypass’ closure resulted in Maynilad, a company owned by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, getting the lion’s share of the water supply that comes from Angat Dam.
“Maynilad wants this closed because they could not draw more than their allocation if this is open. Maynilad will do everything to have this always close then comes the MWSS Regulatory Board which is a government agency to oversee the two concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water and the magic happen and the bypass is closed creating a water crisis at Manila Water East Zone,” he wrote on his Facebook post.
Angel Salazar, an MWSS employee for 30 years, said the water crisis affecting various parts of Metro Manila and Rizal will be solved if MWSS opens the bypass.
Salazar made the suggestion after former MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty made a Facebook post on the technical reasons why the East Zone serviced by Manila Water is experiencing water shortage.
Ty said Manila Water’s daily allocation of 1600 million liters per day (mld) is no longer enough to service its customers.
In response to Ty’s Facebook post, Salazar left a comment, “Open the bypass and the problem will be solved.”
He explained that the bypass was constructed “to bypass seepage and evaporation losses if raw water from Angat Dam is made to pass thru La Mesa dam.”
The former MWSS employee said the bypass is Manila Water’s only means of control to ensure it gets its 40 percent of water supply from Angat Dam, as stated in the concession agreement.
“OPEN THE BYPASS and see the result. A friend of mine designed that bypass, I conceptualized its need to have it constructed. The bypass is under Manila Water’s control but the problem lies with the MWSS regulatory board, which oversees the 2 concessionaires,” he said.
Salazar said he’s aware of how the bypass works because he knows “the system from Umiray River down to our customers.”
He insinuated that corruption had something to do with MWSS’ order to close the bypass.
On May 23, President Rodrigo R. Duterte announced that he has chosen retired Army General Ricardo Morales as a new chairman of the MWSS.
“I do not tolerate corruption. The chairman of the MWSS took me, Dick Morales, Dick. ‘That’s the RAM soldier who was captured in Malacañan. It’s a rebel, ”he said.
This announcement comes after the water supply crisis hit Metro Manila in March.
Last week, a former Maynilad engineer sent a private message to Blogger Sass Sasot to expose the truth about two giant water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water.
The ex-engineer said that in the event of the water crisis, drought, interruptions, etc., all water supply configurations will be done just to avoid impacts to subdivisions like Ayala Alabang Village.
Earlier, President Duterte has threatened to jail and file economic sabotage cases against officials of Maynilad and Manila Water and others involved in what he called onerous water concession agreements.
This means that ordinary Filipino taxpayers all over the Philippines will suffer from the case filed by two of the largest water operators in the country, although we are not all consumers of their product.
Screenshots of Ty’s post and Salazar’s reply were taken by netizen Myles Jamito, who shared them in a separate Facebook post.
Source: Facebook
