MANILA, Philippines — Cause-oriented groups, led by the Freedom from Debt Coalition, (FDC) have asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling dismissing their petition over the the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) resolution concerning the rate of return of investment.

The FDC, together with Akbayan Citizens' Action Party and the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), told the high court that their petition was not a case of "contesting the rates or fees of water or sewerage services."

As such this does not fall within the exclusive original jurisdiction of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

"What we submitted last June 2006 was a petition to annul two MWSS resolutions which declared the two water concessionaires —Manila Water Company, Inc. (MWCI) and Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (MWSI) — as 'mere agents' and not as public utilities," said FDC vice president Edwin Chavez.

"We are not contesting the rates granted by the two MWSS bodies to the water companies, but the legal validity of their declaration that these water concessionaires are not public utilities. We firmly believe they are public utilities," Chavez said.

The petitioners stressed that the two MWSS resolutions —Resolution No. 2004-201 of the MWSS Board of Trustees and Resolution No. 04-006-CA of MWSS Regulatory Office — haveresulted in:
• The exemption of MWCI and MWSI from the 12 percent profit margin limitation under Section 12 of the MWSS Charter;
• The passing on to unsuspecting consumers their corporate income taxes;
• The refusal to extend their services to anyone within their jurisdiction; and,
• The exemption, in effect, from the provisions expressed in Article XII, Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution, which limits foreign ownership of public utilities to at most 40 percent.

In December 2007, the high court dismissed the FDC petition saying FDC failed to exhaust all legal remedies before raising the matter directly to them. It should have first appealed the controversy to the defunct Public Service Commission, now the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

Citing Section 12 of the MWSS charter, the high court said it was the NWRB, which had the exclusive original jurisdiction over all cases contesting the rates or fees of water and sewerage services.

FDC's petition also suffered a serious defect after it failed to include the Manila Water Company, Inc. (MWCI) for the Service Area East and Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) for the Service Area West as indispensable parties in the petition, the high court said.

But the petitioners argued that "the concessionaires are not indispensable parties to the petition.

"While it may be true that the decision will have some effect on them, our petition is anchored on the ground that pertinent statutes and jurisprudence were contradicted by the assailed resolutions issued by the MWSS Board of Trustees and Regulatory Office," said Chavez.

"We believe that our petition raises constitutional issues and is imbued with public interest," said Chavez.

The petioners argued that while the Constitution itself did not provide a definition of public utilities per se, it nonetheless established a framework concerning public utilities under Section 11, Article XII, which prescribes certain requirements for their operation, e.g. equity requirements, takeover by the State under certain conditions, and the like.

They claimed that the assailed resolutions had the direct effect of removing the concessionaires from the coverage of this constitutional provision, in detriment to the rights and interests of the petitioners, and the general public.