MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate belied the claim made by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System – Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) that it cannot penalize water concessionaire Manila Water for the service interruption that affected thousands of its consumers.
In its rejoinder to the reply of the MWSS-RO on its earlier petition, Reyes and Zarate insisted that the regulatory office should study the imposition of penalties, in accordance with a resolution from the MWSS board.
Petitioners Reyes and Zarate also asserted that the MWSS must conduct public hearings to hear the concerns of Manila Water customers. The conduct of public hearings was included in the petition submitted on March 25 to the MWSS by Reyes and Zarate as Manila Water customers.
“We pointed out that the MWSS-RO should immediately set the matter for public hearing especially in light of MWSS Board resolution 2019-052 which ordered the RO to study the imposition of penalties and the suspension of the water rate hike for Manila Water,” Reyes said in a message to reporters.
“Both of these were part of our earlier petition to the RO. To come up with an informed decision, the MWSS RO should conduct a public hearing and not rely solely on the submissions that will be made by Manila Water,” he added.
Zarate, Reyes and other Manila Water consumers from Mandaluyong and Quezon City earlier called on the MWSS to order Manila Water to implement rebates for the inconvenience that water interruption brought, aside from other requests.
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MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty however asked them to go to courts as the RO has no quasi-judicial function which may hold Manila Water accountable.
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In its rejoinder, the petitioners also cited the call for complaints posted by the MWSS-RO on its website as proof that MWSS has the ability to act on their previous petition.
“The website of the MWSS-RO states the complaints mechanism involving the Concessionaires and the MWSS-RO, stating, to wit – ‘If your complaint/ concern had not been acted upon or if you are not satisfied with the action either by Manila Water or Maynilad, please elevate the complaint to the MWSS Regulatory Office’,” the petitioners relayed.
“All of these are being raised to make the case that there is absolutely no truth that it is not within the MWSS-RO’s mandate and power to engage the public on the matter of the massive water service interruption within the East zone,” they added.
Last March 26 — a day after the petition was filed — Manila Water waived its minimum charge for the first 10 cubic meter consumption for all its customers, and promised that areas severely affected by the water interruption would not be charged for their March billing.
Bayan welcomed this decision, but noted that it is still not enough to answer the woes that consumers endured for days, and some, for weeks. MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco assured however that Manila Water can still face penalties even with the voluntary waiver. /muf
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