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| Former President Fidel V. Ramos photo courtesy of abs-cbn |
Former President Fidel V. Ramos has upheld the fairness of the contract signed during his administration with Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc., which President Rodrigo Duterte called “onerous.”
Ramos also wrote a letter to President Duterte explaining what prompted his
administration to privatize water distribution in Metro Manila as reported on the
Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday (December 13).
The former President said the
concession agreement was crafted out of the need to solve the “water crisis”
which crippled Metro Manila in 1997 in his letter dated December 4.
Ramos affirmed that his
administration had put first the public interest when it negotiated the
contracts with these private sectors.
“The MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage
System) concession agreement, as with all projects and agreements entered into
by the government during my administration, was anchored on complete staff work,
review and consultation with various government agencies, organizations and the
concerned public, which resulted in complete transparency all the while
negotiating terms most favorable to the government,” Ramos said.
The privatization transferred
the responsibility of distributing water from MWSS to the Ayala-owned Manila
Water for the east zone, and the Lopez group’s Maynilad for the west zone. The
Metro Pacific Investments Corporation owned by Indonesian oligarch Anthoni
Salim took over Maynilad in 2008.
The MWSS had to give up its function of distributing water
because at that time it could not provide water to consumers in the entire
Metro Manila. It had also been troubled by water pilferage and system losses of
more than 50 percent.
Ramos said his administration guaranteed
that the contracts between the government and private companies to invest in
water distribution will honor and respect the contracts set by the government.
“To achieve all this, the private sector
mobilized funding from both foreign and local sources depending on the word of
the Philippine government that the essential conditions of adherence to the
sanctity of contracts and rule of law must be observed,” Ramos added.
“These are the pillars that hold together any
agreement, be it between governments and/or the government and the private
sector. Our word must be our bond.” the former President said.
Duterte has been attacking Maynilad
and Manila Water over the supposed one-sided and erroneous concession
agreement.
The President promised that
the government will not pay the nearly P11-billion arbitral awards they won
from a Singapore court.
And even threatened to revoke
the “onerous” water supply deals signed with the Philippines’ two biggest water
utilities in 1997 and file charges against the people behind it once proven.
President Duterte was so
furious with the said “onerous contract” that let the Filipino consumers bled dry by
these two concessionaires and will prepare charges if understanding has not been
reached.
As a result to Duterte’s order, MWSS recently revoked the extension of the
water concessionaires’ contract until 2037. The agreement is set to expire in
2022.
Source: Politiko
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