There will be no compromise with the country’s top water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water until President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken with their owners and the government lawyers behind the concession deals in 1997 that he says have led to the “bargaining away” of Philippine sovereignty.
There will be no compromise with the country’s top water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water until President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken with their owners and the government lawyers behind the concession deals in 1997 that he says have led to the “bargaining away” of Philippine sovereignty.“The fact alone that all these years, we were paying a fee para sa water treatment which never came into being all these years. Then, corporate income tax was passed on to the Filipino people,” President Duterte said.
The President said he had heard that water concessionaires allegedly wanted to reach a settlement on the matter, but the President said he could not allow it to happen and wanted to talk to lawyers involved in the deals.
“They fixed their rates for the people of the Philippines. We surrendered that sovereignty to them. Noong pinataas nila, hindi tayo nag-concur kaagad ang regulator, so they lost, we paid ₱3 billion. Ngayon, ₱7 billion. Kaya sabi ko, paano mo aaregluhin ‘yan ngayon. How? How will I compromise?” President Duterte said.
The Chief Executive lamented the government has been ordered to pay billions to water concessionaires because of agreements that he described as “classic economic plunder.”
“That’s plunder. That’s classic economic plunder. How can I now tell the people as President: Adre, p**, aregluhin na lang natin ‘to. Tell me. Tell me those f*****… Tell me kung papaano ko sabihin sa tao,” he said.
Further, President Duterte has assailed water concessionaires for allegedly abusing the deals they signed with the government in 1997 and has threatened to file plunder, graft and economic sabotage charges against them.
“Kaya gusto ko silang makausap. Hindi ito maareglo hangga’t hindi ko makausap yung mga concessionaire. Gusto ko harap ang abogado ng gobyerno na p*********a gumawa ng kontrata na ito,” he said.
Officials have said the agreements are “onerous” because they bar the government from preventing water rate hikes and allow water concessionaires to collect indemnities for losses due to regulatory actions.
Moreover, he also criticized two previous administrations for failing to look into the alleged onerous water concession agreements.
“I cannot imagine two administrations allowing our sovereignty to be bargained away,” the President said without elaborating.
The water concession deals were signed during the Ramos administration.
Presidents who came after Ramos were Joseph Estrada (1998-2001), Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010), and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (2010-2016).
In addition, President Duterte also took a swipe at Senator Franklin Drilon whom, the President said, asked the government to look the other way regarding the issue.
“You know Senator Drilon, magkaibigan tayo at malaki ang respeto ko sa ‘yo. Pero how dare you telling me not to make any move or even take a peek at the water concession agreements because we will be losing money? How dare you? Kasama ka ba dito?” he said.
President Duterte revealed Senator Drilon asked Senator Bong Go to text him so he can know that the Senate Minority Leader had no hand in the water deals because he had already left the law firm ACCRALAW.
