PRESIDENT Duterte will decide whether to fire officials or terminate the water concessionaires’ contracts on April 22 due to the water crisis experienced in some parts of Metro Manila, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said on Wednesday.
The President’s decision was supposed to be made on April 15 but was moved to a later date.
Asked what prompted to move the deadline, Nograles said in a forum: “He probably needs time to talk to some other people or revisit some other documents. You have to understand, [the President has many sources of information] and all of that has to be validated and all of that has to be vetted. All of that has to pass through some process of validation.”
President Duterte on Tuesday also said he will not hesitate to replace officials of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) with brighter and smarter ones as he repeated his exasperation over the agency’s lack of preparation for El Niño.
“This week I will be firing.… Alam mo ’yang MWSS. Alam mo every—seasonal ’yan eh. It comes with regularity ’yang El Niño na ’yan. P***** i**, ilang taon kayo nandiyan and you do not prepare for it? And when it comes, walang tubig ’yung mga tao [This week I will be firing…. You know that MWSS. You knew that every — it’s seasonal. It comes with regularity that El Niño. S** ** * b****, how many years have you already been there and you do not prepare for it? And when it comes, people already had no water],” Duterte said in a speech during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan [PDP-Laban] campaign rally in Tuguegarao, Cagayan late on Tuesday night.
He also said he could use other Filipino engineers who are brighter and smarter than these officials.
“There are millions of Filipinos waiting outside, more brighter than you, more smart. Kaya lang hindi nakilala kasi hindi mga politiko. I will not hesitate to replace you all. [There are millions of Filipinos waiting outside, more brighter than you, more smart. However, they are not that well-known because they are not politicians. I will not hesitate to replace you all],” he added.
Concessionaires blamed, too
The President has also since said that the water crisis happened because those responsible for water management, including water concessionaires, wanted a price increase.
Prior to this, Manila Water Co. Inc. announced on Tuesday that it had accepted the resignation of Geodino V. Carpio as its chief operating officer at the time the customers of the water concessionaire were experiencing the water crisis.
Malacañang has neither confirmed nor denied if the resignation was in relation to the President’s supposed decision on whether he would fire officials responsible for the water crisis.
Last March, an outraged Duterte scolded MWSS, Maynilad and Manila Water officials for simply not doing their job and not being able to anticipate the shortage.
He also ordered officials to submit a report on water shortage before April 10.
The water crisis was blamed on a combination of population growth and the corresponding uptick in the number of water consumers, the unusually huge demand brought about by a “mild” El Niño and limited water allocation for the East Zone, which were serviced by Manila Water.
Critics, however, said Manila Water itself was to blame for failing to prepare for the projected increase in customers.
Image credits: Robinson Ninal Jr./ Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP