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  REFUTING MAYNILADAfter the deaths of at least 5 people in Tondo, the 11 confirmed cases of cholera and the hospitalization of over 300, Maynilad officials still have the gall to face the public and deny responsibility for everything. First, Maynilad officials admitted that the Tondo pipes were old, but that the company had no money to repair them. Last week, Maynilad President Rafael Alunan blamed illegal connections as the cause of low pressure and contamination in the area. Then its corporate communications manager Jess Matubis said that it has yet to be proven that Maynilad should be held liable or should be investigated. Ang kapal ng mukha niyo! People have died and may continue to die in Maynilad's service areas! According to the terms of its concession agreement in 1997, it is Maynilad's responsibility to supply water,repair and maintain the pipe network, and check water quality and water pressure. Who else should be accountable for this? There is a need to expose and refute Maynilad's lies and claims point by point: 1) The pipe network in the west zone (Maynilad service area) is old and damaged (and this is not Maynilad's fault): Maynilad knew that the pipe network was in bad shape in 1997. One of the primary reasons that government decided to privatize the water utility was because it had no money to finance an upgrade. Maynilad came in as private concessionaire, promising to invest in such a project. It has failed to do so, in violation of the concession agreement. That it failed to repair the pipe network is the reason why this outbreak was able to occur in the first place. 2) Maynilad has no money to repair the pipe network: Maynilad has increased water prices by 400% since 1997, while the peso has devalued only by 100% since the Asian financial crisis (which it always blames for its poor financial position). Maynilad did inherit dollar loans from the MWSS, but it has not been paying its concession fees since April 2001. It is charging its clients an extra 8.28 pesos per cubic meter (40% of the bill) for fees it should have stopped charging in December 2002 that has now accumulated to around 6 billion pesos. On the other hand, it has withheld investments soon after it walked away from its contract in December last year. Where is all that money? 3) Illegal connections and the use of booster pumps lowered the water pressure in the affected areas and are to blame for the seepage of bacteria into the system: Manila's sanitary inspector Clemente San Gabriel noted last week the absence of residual chlorine in the water samples in the affected areas. (PDI, 31 Oct 2003)According to him, this shows that there was a lapse in maintaining water quality. Manila's city health officer Florante Baltazar said that the repairs being done by Maynilad in the area could have aggravated the contamination. (PDI, 31 Oct 2003). Even granting that illegal connections proliferated in the area, it is Maynilad's job to find and terminate such connections! It is responsible for reducing non-revenue water (NRW) or the spillage, leakage and theft of water in its system, according to the concession agreement. Again, Maynilad has failed to do that. During the last six years, Maynilad has managed to increase the level of NRW to an average of 68.1%. As for the booster pumps, these are employed by residents because water pressure is so low in the first place, it is not enough to bring water to their faucets or the second floor. Low water pressure increases the chances of bacteria seepage in existing breaches in the pipes. Again, Maynilad is responsible for maintaining water pressure in its system. The concession agreement even specifies at what level (of pounds per square inch or psi) water pressure should be maintained. Predictably, Maynilad flunked this test again. All roads in the Tondo water contamination disaster lead to Maynilad. This company has failed in every aspect of water service delivery that it committed to since 1997: pricing, expansion targets, repair and maintenance, water quality and water pressure. Now its irresponsibility and impunity have killed 5 people and sickened over 300 more. When will this stop? Why are the MWSS and the Regulatory Office so silent about this disaster? When will government kick out this greedy, inept and shameless water company? We in BANTAY TUBIG condemn Maynilad for its gross inefficiency and irresponsibility. We appeal to the concerned public agencies to act now to contain a cholera epidemic and to hold Maynilad accountable for the deaths and illness of its clients. We demand that Maynilad be kicked out now, and for government to consolidate its strategy for taking over the west zone immediately to prevent further water disasters such as that in Tondo. 03 November 2003 Jude Esguerra, Spokesperson BANTAY TUBIG members: AKBAYAN Party-list, Alliance of Progressive Labor, CIBAC Party-list, Focus on the Global South Philippines,Freedom from Debt Coalition, Institute for Popular Democracy,Tambuyog Development Center, Ma. Teresa Diokno-Pascual, Rep. Mayong Aguja (Akbayan), Rep. Del de Guzman (Marikina), Rep. Joel Villanueva (Cibac) Carla A. Montemayor more resources
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