Duterte wants no compromise with water concessionaires

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered state lawyers and the military not to enter into a compromise deal with water firms Maynilad Water Services and Manila Water Company, if he fails “to make it to the finish line” in 2022.

“Do not compromise, because once you compromise, you begin to negotiate [with them] and they will say, pera-pera lang iyan (it’s just money),” the President said in a speech at the Cor Jesu College here on Tuesday, where he continued his rant against Ayala-owned Manila Water and Pangilinan-led Maynilad.

He warned that it would be through these compromises that corruption would come in.

The President was referring to the “onerous” water contract the government signed with Manila Water, a subsidiary of Ayala Corp., and Maynilad, controlled by Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

He said the contract signed in 1997 with the two private water concessionaires to supply the water needs of Metro Manila was “disadvantageous” to the government and the public.

President Duterte said he was bent on making the water firms accountable for the “onerous” provisions of the contract, but he would not know if his time would be over before he could finish it.

“You know the imponderables of life, you could never tell if it’s your time to go, so, if I don’t reach the finish line in this issue, you lawyers, you read the contract and don’t compromise. Because if you compromise, they’ll just say: ok, let’s just settle this, pera pera lang naman iyan (it’s just money) so they begin to corrupt and begin to negotiate.”

Mr. Duterte, who continued to rant against the water firms before Davao del Sur evacuees displaced by the series of quakes in Mindanao in October and December this year, said his fight against the water firms could even “destroy” him.

“It can destroy me—those are wealthy people, so, I told the military, if by chance, I don’t make it to the finish line, don’t give up … you continue fighting them,” he said.

He said the contract with the water firms could “not be reformed, novated, nor corrected because it was null and void from the very beginning.

“You know what, [in that contract], they controlled the water,” the President said. “In that contract, the Philippines surrendered sovereignty by allowing concessionaires to control when there should be an increase [in water rates], they’re in control, not the government.”

The President warned he would immediately suspend the writ of habeas corpus and immediately arrest the water firms owners if they contest the government’s stand in court.

“Now, this will be messy, I told them, they have to iron this out, if they file a case at the Supreme Court, I will declare a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and I will arrest all of them,” Mr. Duterte said. “I want billionaires inside the prison, they will really get a taste of jail.”

He also renewed his threats to expropriate Manila Water and Maynilad if the water firms shut down their operations following the recent move by the administration to make them accountable.

“I will negotiate but I will still file a case against you,” the President said. “I will negotiate because it’s your equipment, it’s your pipes but if you threaten to stop your operation, I don’t think you will succeed because I will order the military, General (Eduardo) Año, local government [secretary], [Social Welfare Secretary] Rolly Bautista, former Army chief, to take over their operation by way of expropriation,” he said.