By Bernadette D. Nicolas, Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Butch Fernandez
AS both chambers of Congress scheduled back-to-back hearings on March 18 and 19 into the water crisis that has hit huge parts of Metro Manila and stunned both regulators and private concessionaires alike, some quarters floated the possibility the crisis may be “artificial” after all—with Palace officials joining the conversation.
Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo revealed in a briefing that even Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana first floated this idea in their Cabinet chat on Wednesday night.
The Palace spokesman also surmised that there must be something wrong with the water concessionaire’s efficiency and management, apparently referring to Manila Water, which controls the East Zone where the water interruptions are taking place.
“The gist of Secretary Lorenzana’s message in his chat [says] that the water comes from Angat Dam and there is no shortage there; as far as that particular dam is concerned—filled with water, no shortage, so why is there a shortage in the distribution? So, like what you are saying earlier, there is a lack in the water allocation in this part of Manila. Maybe that’s what we should know—why and how did that happen?” Panelo said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“If it is true that the Angat Dam has more than sufficient water and everything is sourced from there, then [the water crisis] is not true. So something is wrong with the efficiency in distributing, as well as the quotas or shares,” Panelo said.
He made it clear this was just a discussion, and no conclusions were drawn. Nonetheless, Malacañang vowed to hold the water concessionaire accountable if it is proven that it is liable for mismanagement of Metro Manila water supply.
Panelo said an investigation is already under way, even as both the House of Representatives and the Senate slated hearings on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
House summons
Two committees of the House of Representatives asked Manila Water and Maynilad Water Services Inc.—the private concessionaire for the West Zone—and the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB) to explain to Congress the ongoing water crisis in Metro Manila and nearby areas.
The House Committee on Metro Manila Development chaired by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo and House Committee on Housing and Urban Development chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez have sent invitations to the two private water companies, as well as the NWRB to attend the hearing set on March 18, 2019, at the lower house. “We need to get a clear picture of the situation and how we’re going to deal with it because a lot of people are already getting adversely affected by the problem,” Castelo said.
“We will need explanations from the concessionaires, regulators and the experts [on] why we got into this mess and their suggestion on how we can get out of it,” he added.
In particular, Castelo said he aims to tackle need for developing more water reservoirs, as the lack of these has been cited by Manila Water as one reason for the water- supply shortage. “I also want to learn from Maynilad how it solved similar problems not too long ago, Maybe they have measures which Manila Water can replicate,” he added.
Senate probe
Senate probers summoned ranking government officials and officers of Manila Water and Maynilad to face an inquiry into the sudden water crisis. Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Committee on Public Services, confirmed that invitations were sent to over a dozen resource persons from the government and the private sector to appear before the panel on Tuesday (March 19).
This, after Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed Resolution 1028 directing Poe’s panel and other appropriate committees to look into the current water crisis. Sotto voiced expectations the inquiry would come up with remedial measures to ensure immediate availability of sustainable water- supply to consumers in affected areas hit by “low to zero water supply,” reportedly due to operational adjustments being done by water concessionaires.
Sotto’s Resolution 1028 noted that while some attributed the water-supply crisis to the El Niño phenomenon, others blamed the water-supply concessionaires, prompting calls to review the existing concession agreements.
Poe said among those invited to appear before the Public Services committee inquiry were: Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, Administrator Jeci Lapus of the Local Water Utilities Administration, Executive Director Sevillo David Jr. of the National Water Resources Board, Administrator Vicente Malano of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Administrator Reynaldo Velasco and regulatory office head Patrick Ty of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.
Also expected to testify at Tuesday’s hearing are Chief Operating Officer Geodino Carpio and Communications head Nestor Jeric Sevilla Jr. of Manila Water, Chief Operating Officer Randy Estrellado of Maynilad, General Manager Edgar Doña of the Luzon Clean Water Development Corp. and Director Guillermo Tabios III of the University of the Philippines’s National Hydraulic Research Center.
Poe admitted they were caught by surprise by the unexplained sudden water supply stoppage. Manila Water has some explaining to do regarding the supply crisis, she said. “Three weeks ago, there was no notice and no indication whatsoever of a water shortage. And then we wake up one day, waterless? Is that fair?” she asked in a mix of English and Filipino.
Like Lorenzana, she wondered why all of a sudden almost half of Metro Manila experienced a water shortage when the level in Angat Dam —which supplies more than 90 percent of the metropolis—is still at normal level, noting reports reaching her office that as of 6 a.m. on March 14, water level at Angat Dam was normal at 199.63 meters, still far from the 180-meter critical mark.
Poe recalled that Manila Water had earlier pointed to the depleting water level in La Mesa Dam, the firm’s emergency water source, as the reason residents are experiencing interruptions. It also blamed the dry spell. Water level at La Mesa Dam was critical at 68.74 meters, its lowest in 21 years.
On the other hand, Poe noted reports reaching her office that there is enough water in Angat Dam to supply Maynilad’s western consumers.
“Angat Dam still has enough water, that’s why the western part served by Maynilad still has water. The problem [elsewhere] is the conveyance where the water flows,” said Poe, indicating that the Senate Public Services Committee is keen to find out “what contributed to the delays in completing projects such as a treatment plant in Cardona, Rizal, that would have addressed demand problems.”
Class suit
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party-list is considering a class suit against Ayala-owned Manila Water.
“Affected consumers have come to us for legal remedy and we are now studying a class suit to be filed against Manila Water for the losses suffered by small businesses and the hardships suffered by poor families,” Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares said. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the claim of a water crisis is alarming, even highly suspect.
Zarate scored Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III for using the water interruptions now affecting Metro Manila to justify another “disastrous” China-funded project that would displace thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands and sink the country into debt.
For his part, Colmenares said “as if on cue, in the midst of this unwarranted water problem, Sec. Dominguez is again floating the Laiban Dam project, the parent of the Kaliwa-Kanan Dam proposals, that has been on and off since the martial law years that would evict the Dumagats and Remontados indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands,” said Colmenares.
The lawmakers said the Laiban Dam project site covers the Kaliwa River basin in Laiban village, Tanay, Rizal, as well as the Kanan River in Gen. Nakar, Quezon, thus the term “Kaliwa-Kanan” dam. The project, renamed the New Centennial Water Source (NCWS) Project, will submerge 28,000 hectares of land.
In June 2014, the solons said the MWSS announced that the project will be implemented in phases, prioritizing the smaller Kaliwa Dam, which will cost P18.78 billion ($418 million) and has been approved for bidding.
It said the NCWS project is projected to be completed in 2027, with the Kaliwa Dam expected to be functional by 2020. But now, Bayan Muna noted, it is under a China loan with China Energy and China Eximbank, the same lenders of the Chico river project loan agreement recently exposed by Colmenares.
Kaliwa Dam
Meanwhile, Panelo refused to speculate on whether the construction of the China-funded Kaliwa Dam project has also something to do with the water crisis, as some quarters are speculating, after the fast-tracking of the Kaliwa Dam was raised as one key solution to the water shortage.
“Honestly, I don’t know if there is a connection,” he said.
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