Manila Bulletin, Mar. 27, 2019, Manila Water Waives March Fees As Mwss Eyes Other Penalties.pdf

Wednesday, March 27, 201 9

Manila Water waives March fees as MWSS eyes other penalties Manila Water Company, Inc. is voluntarilywaiving the fees for its customeis, but Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage sl"stem (MWSS) said it is not enough for the Ayala-led company to make up for the unprecedented water supply interrtption it implemented in the past weeks. On Tuesday Manila Water Pr€sident and Chief Execuuve Ofhcer Ferdinand

Dela Cruz said his company will implement a voluntary and one-time bill waiver program in March to be reflected in

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the April biU of its customers.

reached its critical level. To be specifrc, Manila Water-has an allocation of 1,600

because of the unprecedented water shortage that began March 6 with the implementation of the scheduledwater service interuptioin scheme to refrll the

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million [terseer day (MLD) from

Angat Dam. Wth demand increasing to about 1750 MLD ormore during the pastweeks, ithad no choice but to tap its reserves coming from La Mesa. Under the waiver scheme.

ments - suffered majorihconveniences

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all of Manila Water custom-

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-We undersland the profound fi-uqm-'

ers will have their minimum charge waived, while customers in barangays that experienced absolutely no water

Manila Water faced a shortage in its water supply as La Mesa Dam

Customers of the. East Zone eoncession - from low-income families to commercial and.indqstrial establish-

Manih Water waives...

network reservoirs.

tion.thatowcu\'tomershaveexpressedin

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tglc-of Manila water . *"1.":1"d "It is a T: big.win for ordinary paying

have to pay the company a single centavo for the entire month of March. The minimum charge, which represents the fiIst 10 cubic metem (cu.m) consumed by the customers, could translate to a reduction of as much as F76 to F656 this month, depending on whether the user is a lifeline, coriunercial, orindustrial

said. water availability at ground floor level tory tbr consumers But we must not has reached s7"perc"ent. From a high stop here There is more thatneeds to be done in order to prevent this crisis of et seveiely aftected barangays, ie happening again'"- she said' are now down to I b*-guy. ihi"h u." ..,IromHontiveros. also called on Manila dependent on inteiim netivork solutions, \--. static tanks orwatertankers. our supply ' Water to reimburslnlllic hospitals defrcit is down irom 150 mld to 107 mtd affected by the water shortage. She but there are still small pockets, sitios said reimbursingpublic hospitals isthe or streets with intermittent no water next step after waiving its consumers,

type of customer

situations resulting from

service fqr at least seven straight or broken days within March.6 to 31don't

The company is still validating its data and will soon come up with the list of trarangays that were severely hit.

Additional penalties Dela Cruz said that by waiving the minimum charge for all its customers, Manila Water will lose as much as Fl50 million, while it is yet to compute ho'w much moneyitwill shedby implementing a 100 percent rcbate among those who were most severely affected,

But MWSS Administrator Relamldo Velasco noted that Manila Water's mave is 'Voluntaqy'' and that it still has to suffer

from whatever penalty the golernment will impose upon it. "This is just self-imposed lon the part of Manila Waterl but we are slill looking at other penalties. Manila Waber is aware that they still have to face some penalbes based on concession ageement " Velasco

said. Manila Waterhas 6 million customers and pmvides wa0er to 23 cities and m unici palitiJs in Metro Manila and Rizal. These

include Mandaluyong. Makati. Pasig. Paleros. San Juan. Taguig. Marikina, and parts of Quezon City and Manila.

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towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, CaintA Cardona, Jalajala, Momng, Pilili4 Rorlriguez, lbnay lbytay lbresa SanMateo and Antipolo in tlle province of Rizal are also part of the East Zone. Right now, 97 percent of the affected areas have \a,ater supp\a albeit with low pressure.

the past three weeks," Dela Cruz consumers. This is certainly a big vic"As of March 25, our B to 1z_hour

operational adjustments ard pressure management," he added. Rebate. cancellation ofagfgement MWSSChiefRegulatorPatrickTysaid j Manilawaterwas given until nextreeek

t0

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penalized

explain why they shoutd not be based on tlte concession agreemenl -."They were given notice to proceed After that we will to study much [rcbate] orifthereisviolation. Then we wil decide

".o",",ponding Dsaid. ,,Thesetupwouldbeis

.I explain. how 1 u"tio'ili

, lsince] wecan,t impose fines. we can just irnpose rebale

becausd that is palt ofthe penalties based

on their concession agreement [with

Tyeadiersaidthatwhatevereffectthe

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shortage will have on the rates ofManila

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fifth

,

Waler should be decided upon on the

mte rebasing period. Done every fve yeani, rate rcbasingis r€view ofthe water utilities'past performance and projection oft}Ieir futurc cash flows. Its purpose is to set t}Ie water rates at a le\€l that would allow both Maynilad and Manila Water !o recoler tleir expendihrr€s and earn a rate of retum. a

But there is now pressur€ coming fiom the laumakers and affected households for Manila Water to implement a rctund dufing the hou.rs and the days that tley didn't have water suppl5r

Big win Opposition Senator Risa Hontir,ercs

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iarate also called the waiving of the minimum waJe. Jfr*!" u gooO aou", but

customer;;";;;"";".".

Zarate UatteO for'a'O'jitional relief fo" UV Ooini*J*uu Utf, tir" rate"on.umu." rncrease allowed by the MWSS lastyear. twith reports frim Ottson e. euismorio, l,iu.io"A. "" " Cu;uy"r.un, --'

::T:fi1[:T:il.T:ltfJl{JinF:

iniro Cf,ul"",-

Mwssl.Anotheroptioniithecancellation of concession agreement," he added.

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fees for March. Citing data obtained from the health departrnent, Hontiveros said six publc hospitals suffered losses in the amount of F4.I l6 million at the height of the water shortage. Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos

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