Manila Water customers want more than waived fees

WATER BILL WAIVER Manila Water president Ferdinand dela Cruz announces the company’s one-time bill waiver plan at a press conference with MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco. The waiver will be reflected on the bill for April and will cost the company P150 million in forgone revenue, says Dela Cruz. —JAM STA. ROSA

MANILA, Philippines — Consumers in large areas of Metro Manila and parts of Rizal province that were hardest-hit by water shortages early this month found inadequate Manila Water Co. Inc.’s offer to waive their bills.

“With all the inconveniences that Manila Water [caused] with the unexpected water loss, waiving our bills [for] those days is not enough,” said Reaj Evangelista of Barangay Barangka Drive, Mandaluyong City.

Evangelista said her family incurred P10,000 in additional expenses due to water interruptions.

“We bought a push cart, drums, water containers, hired people to help us,” she said. “We had to find a water tank and get someone to install it for us.”

Emotional stress

She said Manila Water’s offer would do little to compensate for the emotional stress she suffered, especially as the water loss made it even more exacting on her to care for her father — a stroke patient — and two young nephews.

Roselle de Ortega of Barangay San Luis in Antipolo City expressed similar sentiments.

“It’s not enough,” Ortega said. “The hassle they caused was too much. Even the operations of schools and hospitals were endangered.”

Manila Water said it was giving up at least P150 million in revenue for waiving bills from March 6 to March 31.

Call for penalty

The move came amid calls from the public for regulators to penalize the company for not fulfilling its commitment as concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) in the east zone.

Asked whether Manila Water could give bigger relief to customers, Manila Water president Ferdinand dela Cruz said the bill waiver was “what we could give.”

All Manila Water customers will not pay the minimum charge that represents the first 10 cubic meters consumed in a month. This is equivalent to at least P76 for lifeline customers—households that use 10 cubic meters at most—to up to P656 a month for industrial customers.

Residential customers who use more than 10 cubic meters a month pay a minimum charge of P134 while commercial customers pay about P607.

Those who had no water for 24 hours for at least seven days—whether consecutive or not—will pay zero for the whole month.

Eating out, taxi fares

Coleen Joaquin, who lives and manages a business in Barangay Malamig, Mandaluyong, said the waiver would not be enough to cover her expenses.

“I bought additional equipment from abroad to sustain my business,” Joaquin said. “Even my neighboring clinics bought tanks.”

Moreover, she had run up huge bills after being forced to eat out, buy water and containers, and hire taxis to transport these.

The waiver will neither cover the income she lost after drastically cutting her operations.

“Credit on our water bills is just a fraction of what we spent during the water crisis,” Joaquin said.

Initial step

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), which filed a petition on Monday asking regulators to penalize Manila Water, welcomed the bill waiver as an initial step to compensate consumers.

“[It] should by no means be the only step to help,” the group said in a statement.

The bill waiver, it stressed, should not preclude Manila Water from being penalized by the MWSS.

Akbayan said the concessionaire must also compensate public hospitals that suffered losses.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros called its decision a “big win for ordinary paying consumers.” —With reports from Marlos Ramos and Mariejo S. Ramos