MWSS violated no contracts with 2 water firms, Palace insists

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

THE STATE-OWNED Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has not violated its agreements with Manila Water and Maynilad, President Aquino’s spokesperson Herminio Coloma said Saturday.

However, Coloma said “disputes have arisen in the implementation of contract provisions,” prompting the MWSS to seek appropriate relief from the Supreme Court. The case is pending.

Manila Water is claiming from the MWSS over P79 billion in potential revenue losses from 2015 up to the end of its 25-year contract, or until 2037, under a letter of undertaking issued by the government in July 1997 and 2009.

Maynilad also filed a similar claim—for P3.44 billion—for its losses from Jan. 1, 2013 to Feb. 28 this year due to the delayed implementation of the arbitration panel-approved rate increase in December 2014. Maynilad said it had been incurring P208 million in losses for every month of delay.

In August, the party-list group Bayan Muna asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from granting the claims of the two companies, saying this was unconstitutional.

“Billions of pesos in public funds are threatened to be illegally disbursed in this case which threat arises from the illegal and unconstitutional sovereign guarantee of the government in favor of the concessionaires,” it said. Jerry E. Esplanada