TODAY, June 16, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) begins the first phase of the decommissioning process for its weapons and combatants.
It’s a symbolic ceremony, to be sure, with 145 members of Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF, turning over 55 high-powered and 20 crew-served weapons to an independent decommissioning body.
If the military estimate of the MILF strength of around 20,000 regulars is accurate, then the turnover of a small number of weapons in today’s ceremony is largely symbolic indeed.
But, I think, the larger significance of the ceremony is the MILF’s resolve to end armed struggle and pursue the path of peace.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said last week that a resumption of hostilities is not an option and they will exhaust all peaceful means of seeking redress if the draft Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) now pending in Congress is delayed by questions regarding the constitutionality of some its provisions.
Under the Annex on Normalization signed by the MILF and the government in January last year, decommissioned combatants will undergo registration, verification and validation process, after which they will be provided immediate cash assistance amounting to P25,000 and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. cards. The combatants would also be provided with medium- to long-term socioeconomic packages by the Task Force on Decommissioned Combatants and Communities.
We hope this milestone in the peace process with the MILF will be sustained even as critics of the BBL fear that the bill, if approved, would ultimately lead to the creation of a substate that can eventually secede from the republic. As of now, we ought to give the MILF the benefit of the doubt and welcome their gesture of good faith because we cannot afford another round of violence and bloodshed in Muslim Mindanao.
Should Comelec heed Smartmatic’s appeal?
THE latest development in preparations for the 2016 elections is that technology provider Smartmatic has appealed its disqualification by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from the public bidding for the lease of 23,000 optical mark reader (OMR) machines.
The disqualification order issued by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) is “unfair and based on a wrongful technical interpretation of the Technical Working Group,” said Cesar Flores, Smartmatic president for Asia Pacific. “We have satisfied all the published technical requirements set forth in the request for proposal.”
The BAC had said Smartmatic failed to pass the postqualification evaluation stage of the bidding process.
Flores asserted that the BAC had unfairly disqualified his company for failing the two-storage requirement, which his firm had “successfully demonstrated to the Technical Working Group (TWG) on several occasions,” and, yet, the BAC rendered a split vote that relied on the erroneous interpretation of the TWG.
Flores said Smartmatic “passed every one of the 400 technical requirements of the Comelec for the OMR project. Records will clearly show that, during the first stage, Smartmatic was rated ‘passed’ for the same synchronization requirement. Yet, in the second stage, the TWG deemed it ‘failed.’”
At the very least, the poll body should consider the appeal of Smartmatic as the company is even willing to demonstrate its technical compliance to the Comelec and other stakeholders.
Besides, the company submitted the lowest calculated responsive bid, and that its lease proposal is 31 percent lower than the actual budget. This would mean P700 million in savings to the poll body. The other bidder for the project exceeded the budget by approximately P1.2 billion.
If Smartmatic successfully met the requirements of the 2010 and 2013 elections with fast results in the counting and tallying, and with nobody wanting a return to manual elections ruled by guns, goons and gold, the Comelec should give the technology provider a fair hearing.
Public utility or mere concessionaire?
THE water concessionaire in Metro Manila’s eastern zone, Manila Water, begins implementing new rates this month close on the heels of the April 21 decision of the Arbitration Panel that reduced the original Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) rate rebasing determination of negative P7.24 per cubic meter and awarded to Manila Water a negative 11.05 percent on basic average water rates.
Based on the MWSS decision, Manila Water customers will get a reduction of P2.77-per-cubic-meter adjustment for the 2013-2017 rate rebasing period, to be distributed in three tranches: a decrease of P1.66 per cubic meter in the average basic charge starting June 1 this year, and a decrease of P0.55 per cubic meter in 2016 and 2017.
With the recent rate rebasing decision, the arbitration panel has set aside its own decision based on its interpretation that MW is a public utility, as per Commonwealth Act 146, or the Public Service Act of 1936, which has long been superseded by other laws.
As a public utility, MW cannot recover corporate income tax, the same decision given by the Supreme Court to Manila Electric Co. in 2002. In the ruling, income tax should not be included in the computation of the public utility’s operating expenditure, as this is inconsistent with its basic character of providing service to its customers.
The arbitral decision declaring MW as a public utility poses a regulatory challenge for the MWSS as this contradicts the government’s stand under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program that MW, together with Maynilad, are contractors and agents of MWSS, while the latter remains as the public utility.
A separate arbitration panel, however, upheld Maynilad’s position that it should continue to be a contractor and agent of MWSS.
The decision of the Arbitral Panel now raises questions on who will be responsible for Metro Manila East Zone’s water supply.
Since it took over the East Zone in August 1997, Manila Water has succeeded in significantly improving the water networks of 23 cities and municipalities in eastern Metro Manila and the majority of the Rizal province.
Today Manila Water maintains state-of-the art facilities to ensure quality water supply to its customers, as well as an efficient sewage and septage treatment plants that cleans used water from households to be returned to the rivers as Class C water—water that can sustain marine life but not safe for human consumption. The company has spent more than P100 billion in building these assets, with more or less P28 billion yet to be recovered.
Considering the MWSS’s original role as a public utility under the PPP, and the change in Manila Water’s character as a public utility based on the decision of the arbitral panel, who will now oversee water service delivery in Metro Manila’s East Zone?
This also raises other questions. As a supposedly new public utility, will Manila Water now have to apply for a separate legislative franchise? And will the company now declare itself independent itself from MWSS and create an entirely different agency or brand that oversees water and used water?
As things now stand, we have a concession area that is run by two public utilities.
While the rate rebasing exercise was supposed to be a corrective mechanism, the recent ruling contradicts the government’s position under PPP. More than this, it serves to constrain Manila Water from proceeding with its expansion plans and to efficiently serve East Zone customers.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.