Palace: Concession agreements with Maynilad, Manila Water ‘onerous’

The government’s concession agreements with Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company Inc. are onerous, Malacañang declared on Wednesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday directed the filing of criminal charges against those behind the deals.

An irate Duterte accused the concessionaires of of making billions of pesos from their customers while treating water as a commodity instead of public service.

“A review of the agreements with the Manila Water and Maynilad reveals that they are contrary to public policy and public interest, the same being onerous and disadvantageous to the people, relative the terms or periods, government non-interference, as well as concessionaire indemnification for losses,” Panelo said.

Maynilad and Manila Water “not only abused the arrangement of delivering and distributing the state-owned water to the citizens but have treated the same as a commodity and a money-making venture, instead of considering it as a public service.”

Duterte has directed  the Department of Justice, together with the Office of the Solicitor General, to draft and prepare new concession agreements that are favorable to the government and the Filipino people, the Palace official said.

The President has also directed the filing of appropriate criminal, civil and administrative charges against all those involved in the 1997 agreements including the owners and legal counsels, as well as agents and lawyers of the government.

The charge is economic sabotage.

“It is apparent that some members of the government have not only looked the other way, but have in fact purposely guided the hands of those who have raped our economy for their own personal aggrandizement,” Panelo said.

“Worse, they are hell-bent on bleeding our country dry. The proper delivery of basic services has not been fostered but thwarted to the outrageous detriment of the Filipinos.”

Panelo said the President is constitutionally mandated to serve and protect the Filipino people which “shall be complied with passion and dedication, regardless of whatever power or influential groups are run over.”

“Those who impede or derail the constitutional directive to the President to serve and protect the people shall find themselves behind bars with free food and lodging,” he said. —NB/VDS, GMA News