by Daniel Long

 

On Thursday, May 16, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. intervened in the ongoing dispute between the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) and its main water supplier, the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Incorporated (COBI). COBI is owned by business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Water. Due to an unsettled debt of P479 million stemming from price adjustments made during the COVID lockdowns which the COBI says the COWD owes them, the COBI had cutoff the supply of water to the COWD because the latter does not acknowledge the debt that the former has asked them to pay. COBI had closed the main valve of the pipe that flowed water directly to the 60,000 residents of Cagayan de Oro in the morning of May 14. Fortunately, President Marcos Jr. said he had spoken to COBI owner Mr. Pangilinan and he has agreed to restore normal water supply to the COWD until the government finds a long-term solution to its water supply problem. “When I found out [about the dispute], I talked to Mr. Manny Pangilinan of Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water, Inc. to restore normal water supply while we look for a lasting solution to this problem. Mr. Pangilinan agreed to our request and he is ready to talk to your mayor to end this problem and provide the necessary water to over 60,000 citizens here in CDO (Cagayan de Oro).”, Marcos said. The President also directed the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to takeover the water district in order for them to be directly involved to resolve the crisis and keep rates reasonable. “…Not just the water supply, it also includes determining the appropriate water rate and fulfilling its obligations to consumers and our suppliers. We will not allow the people of Cagayan de Oro to be denied their right to adequate, clean and safe water supply.”, Marcos added. However, Cagayan de Oro Councilor Edgar Cabanlas doubts LWUA’s credibility as they were the entity that approved the unfair COWD-COBI contract in the first place. “How can we trust LWUA? We, in Cagayan de Oro, should assert what is proper and what is good for the people,” Cabanlas said. There is a thick fog of “he said, she said” over this issue, but I am more inclined to believe the representatives of the city of Cagayan de Oro more than these greedy oligarchs that control the water sector. Price increases of public utilities like water during a pandemic is obscene. The President’s recommendation for state authorities to takeover the water problem in CDO is correct and should be applied nationwide. Let us take a look at the complete picture of the situation.

Yours truly is a critic of the President and writes extensively about his many failed promises (especially on foreign policy) and has even asked for his resignation, but on this very vital issue, Marcos Jr. is on the right track. Water is the lifeblood of our country and water security is national security. Elites, especially those who are unmarried with no children and grandchildren, should not make profits off of basic needs at people’s expense! Marcos’ recent statements are why I and the rest of the 31 million Filipinos voted for him. This is the Marcos brand of leadership we wish we saw more of – putting national interest over the vested interests of the oligarchs. With tremendous political capital like that, it should be a no brainer. If he is really serious about finding a long term solution to the water crisis in the country, he must only do two things: Nationalize our two water distribution companies Maynilad and Manila Water & fast-track the construction of the Kaliwa Dam! Like he said two weeks ago, (May 7, 2024) our water challenges require a “national plan because water is a national issue… and it has to be handled on a national scale.” He should listen to the recommendation of his own Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation Larry Gadon. Let us revisit what Secretary Gadon proposed last November at a forum organized by the Association for Philippines-China Understanding. He said, “The problem is basic public utilities are privately owned, unlike the time of President Marcos Senior, electricity and water are all state owned. Unless we go back to that setup, we cannot achieve poverty alleviation.”

The root of the water crisis in the Philippines is the privatization of the water distribution sector. Here’s a brief history on what had happened: Because of the global economic crisis in the 1980s, the US controlled World Bank and International Monetary Fund recommended to the Philippine government that private entities should manage public services like electricity and water. Their rationale for privatization was that private entities would be more competent and efficient in managing the water distribution sector. Under the Ramos administration in 1997, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was transferred to private hands, the Maynilad Water Services and Manila Water. The Philippines was the first country in Asia to do this. 25 years later, the fruits of privatization are clear: profit-making at people’s expense, overcharging, shortages, interruptions, and expensive monthly bills. We can thank the Yellows and the Americans for all of that.

Then in 2019, Manila Water and Maynilad won an arbitration case in Singapore against the Philippine government and asked the state to pay them the billions they believed they were owed. President Rodrigo Duterte was furious – he cursed the owners Jaime/Fernando de Ayala and Manny Pangilinan and threatened to takeover their companies. He then ordered a new revised water deal with these companies to allow them to continue operating on the condition that the government would not pay them the P3.4 billion it won in the Singapore case, they would not increase fees, and they would not pass on their taxes to the consumers. The deal also allowed the state to takeover the companies in times of public emergency. All provisions in the original US-IMF and Yellow-Ramos agreement disadvantageous to the public were removed.

President BBM must trigger Article 12, Section 17-18 of the 1987 Constitution. “In times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business affected with public interest.” (Section 17) The State may, in the interest of national welfare or defense, establish and operate vital industries and, upon payment of just compensation, transfer to public ownership utilities and other private enterprises to be operated by the Government. (Section 18) We are indeed in a “national” emergency” with respect to water, and “public interest” does necessitate the “take over” of a “privately-owned public utility…affected with public interest” like the water distribution sector. Last week, the Inquirer reported that select areas of Metro Manila and Rizal would experience water interruptions from May 14 to 17. These interruptions occur almost regularly all over the country. Furthermore, the Angat Dam, which is the main source of water (98%) for the 17 million residents of Metro Manila, does not have enough supply (only 4,000 million liters per day) to meet its demands – especially for the coming El Nino season and the stroke-causing heatwave this summer.

According to Inquirer columnist Jake Maderazo, the construction of the Kaliwa Dam project in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges of Rizal and Quezon is the “one and only immediate solution for this water crisis today”. Maderazo writes that the dam would produce up to 3,000 million liters of water per day for the residents of Metro Manila. The idea was originally proposed by President Marcos Sr. in the 1970s but never followed through. President Duterte finally had the project financed with Chinese loans during his term. BusinessWorld reported two months ago (March 21, 2024) that the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System) announced that the P12.2 billion new water source has hit a construction progress milestone of 30% under the Marcos administration and is on track for completion by 2027. “It’s a design and build. All of the equipment is already there so it’s more of really maintaining the progress of the work.”, MWSS Administrator Leonor Cleofas said. President Marcos Jr. must order the fast-tracking of the Kaliwa Dam.

Opposition to the dam arose mainly from those fearmongering about the Chinese loans, saying it would put the country in a “debt trap”. They should look into the Bangko Sentral’s statistics that most of our foreign debt comes from Japan, not China. The Department of Finance pointed out in 2019 that if converted to the US dollar, the 2% interest on Chinese loans for the Kaliwa Dam is lower than Japan’s 2.7% for its rail project. MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco has said that the Chinese loans for Kaliwa Dam were more affordable than Japanese firm Global Utility Development Corporation’s offer.

Another excuse was the alleged plight of indigenous people living near the mountain range. I am sorry but the 17 million residents of Metro Manila should not continue to suffer endless water interruptions, shortages, and expensive monthly bills just because a few tribes refuse to adapt to the modern world. In a democratic and republican state such as ours, we must think of the greatest good for the greater majority. The Kaliwa Dam will supply adequate water for countless households and irrigation for farmers. Rallies led by opportunistic activists using indigenous people as political props will not solve our nationwide water crisis. These obstructionists think they are being pro-people but in reality they are actually useful puppets of the oligarchs like Ayala, Razon, and Pangilinan who control the water sector. They block societal development in the name of social justice. Will their laway (saliva) quench the thirst of our fellow countrymen? Demand for water rises but there is insufficient supply, so these companies raise prices. That means more profits for the oligarchs. Who benefits? Certainly not the consumer.

In February 2023, President Marcos Jr. snubbed the 300 members of the indigenous community from the Sierra Madre in their 150 kilometer march from Quezon to Manila to protest the Kaliwa Dam. He was right to do so. I have had just about enough of these saboteurs. They blocked the Elder Marcos’ project, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 – lying about how it was unsafe and built on a volcano and an active fault line. After the Filipino taxpayers spent billions for the construction, debt service, and maintenance of the plant, not a single watt of electricity was produced. Because of their misplaced activism, Filipinos have suffered 40 years of having the highest power costs in Asia and endless brownouts.

Thus, those useful idiots of the oligarchs who continue to block the construction of the Kaliwa Dam are enemies of development and should be ignored. I am talking especially about Senator Raffy Tulfo, who is one that is opposed to the Kaliwa Dam’s construction. He has a reputation among the masses for being “pro-poor”. Google “Raffy Tulfo Maynilad/Manila Water” and one will find no comment from him regarding these distribution companies. If Senator Tulfo is afraid to stand up to the oligarch Enrique Razon (third richest Filipino) who owns Manila Water, can he still hold to his “pro-poor” credentials? Is Senator Tulfo silent on Metro Pacific Water cutting off the water supply to 60,000 residents of Cagayan de Oro because his show “Aksyon sa Tanghali” was aired on TV5, which is also owned by Manny Pangilinan? His brother, Ramon Tulfo, once tweeted that “Manny Pangilinan has his finger in every pie in the country – from water, electricity, to media.” It beats me why he is a top choice for Filipinos in surveys to be our next President.

GMA News uploaded a totally contemptible video last week where they asked random Filipinos which they would rather live with, no electricity or no water. Oligarchs continue to profit at the expense of the people and we cannot even rely on the fourth estate to treat the issue with utmost sincerity. Stock Filipino laugh track noises were also put in the background. Where is the punchline? They should be ashamed. If these reporters were true journalists, they would go to the headquarters of Meralco and Manila Water and pester the executives about their unreliable services, not making light of the issue that is very sensitive to most people.

   

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