Dropping of water firms’ claims from govt won’t stop new concession deal

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. (File photo by Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines—The decision of Metro Manila water concessionaires to drop their compensation claims will not stop the government to craft a new water concession deal, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday.

While he welcomed the “gracious manifestation” of Manila Water and Maynilad, Guevarra stressed that tackling the issues on the “onerous” 1997 water concession deal is the more important dispute to settle.

He even bared that he has received “feelers” from the two firms prior to the announcement that they are dropping their compensation claims.

“This is a very positive development…This gracious manifestation on the part of the water concessionaires nonetheless removes a potential liability from the books of account of the government,”  Guevarra told reporters in a text message.

“But as I said before, the issue of paying the arbitral award is not as important as ensuring that disputes arising from burdensome provisions of the water concession agreements will never happen again in the future,” he added.

Pressed if the government will still review the existing contracts and remove the onerous provisions, Guevarra said: “Certainly.”

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore earlier ordered the Philippine government to pay Manila Water P7.39 billion to compensate it for losses suffered between June 2015 to November 2019 due to the non-implementation of rate hikes. Last year, the government was also ordered to pay Maynilad P3.4 billion by the same Singaporean court due to the Philippines’ refusal to allow it to increase prices from 2013 to 2017.

Guevarra earlier said that lawyers from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Finance (DOF), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) are working to revise the concession agreements with Maynilad and Manila Water, with a goal of removing almost a dozen “onerous” provisions.

This was in line with the order of  President Rodrigo Duterte, who fumed over the onerous provisions.

Edited by JPV