More than 200 hundred workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) would march to Congress today to ask for a congressional investigation on Maynilad’s abandonment of its obligation in certain areas of Quezon and Caloocan Cities.

Two years after paying their water connection fees, hundreds of workers from District 1 in Caloocan City and District 2 in Quezon City trooped to the headquarters of Maynilad Water Services last April 19 2002 for a scheduled appointment with Rafael Alunan III, president of the water concessionaire, to demand the delivery of a long-delayed promise of water service connection in their area and to protest water rate increases. But just like the water pipes that were never installed, Mr. Alunan failed to show up.

Instead of meeting with the protesters, Mr. Frankie Arellano, Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs of Maynilad, announced in a television interview that they have instructed their people to visit the area to “study the possibility of installing water services.”

“So, two years after collecting connection fees, all they intend to do now is to look into the possibility of providing water services,” Josua Mata, APL Secretary General said. “Maynilad has obviously abandoned its obligation to provide efficient water services in its concession area,” he added.

In a statement, APL said that, “privatization of water has miserably failed. It led to a much higher average water tariff and failed to improve water services.”

Hundreds of workers from APL would march to Congress today to file petitions to the Committee on Privatization and Government Corporations, as well as to the Committee on Economic Affairs to investigate Maynilad’s capacity as a water concessionaire. These Congressional bodies are set to start their investigation of the amendment of the concession agreement between the government and water companies today.

More 200 workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) trooped to the headquarters of Maynilad this morning to demand the delivery of a long-delayed promise of water service connection in their area and to protest water rate increases.

Two years ago, the protesting workers, mostly residents of Maligaya Park Subdivision that straddles Quezon City and Coolocan City, took the promotional offer of MAYNILAD to provide water service connection upon payment of P200.00. Under this offer, the rest of the installment fees would be added to the workers’ monthly bills on an installment basis. Two years later, the workers have yet to see Maynilad’s delivery of the promised water connection!

This proves Maynilad’s inability to run a basic utility service that is supposedly committed in serving the interest of the consumers. Yet despite of this, Maynilad has the nerve to ask for water rate increases. To add insult to injury, Maynilad has even applied for rate-rebasing that would peg basic water tariffs at P30 pesos per cubic meter!

“Clearly the Lopezes do not know how to run a business outside of monopoly conditions,” Josua Mata, Secretary General of APL said. “This is a clear evidence of the failure of water privatization,” he added.

MAYNILAD, owned by the Lopez Group of Companies (that also owns the Manila Electric Co.) increased water rates last October 2001 and on January 1, 2002. It will again raise its rates in July 2002. Since it was privatized, water rates have jacked up by 135% from P6.58 pcm in September 2001 to P15.46pcm this march. Maynilad’s application for rate-basing would mean another 94% increase in the price of water.

To justify the increases, it published an ad in leading newspapers last April 17 claiming that their rates are cheaper than vendors selling purified bottled water and those providing provincial water. The APL suggests that the said paid was designed to mislead the consumers of Metro Manila. Why compare the prices of Maynilad with water vendors or provincial water? Why not compare it with the price of Manila Water Company? As of March 2002, Maynilad currently charges an average tariff of P15.46 pesos per cubic meter while Manila Water Company, despite its own list of inefficiencies, charges an average tariff of P6.75 per cubic meter.

Also, It cannot simply compare their rates to water vendors since those who consume bottled waters are the people who can afford to buy it. But a workers’ community, whose employment depends on contractual and seasonal jobs, and could not afford bottled water.

Water-vending stations are flourishing. This only shows the incompetence and inability of MAYNILAD to provide safe and potable water to every household. The consumers have yet to see improvements in the delivery of potable water and yet the government and water concessionaires keep on harping on the “merits” of privatizing public service utilities such as water.

The price increases, lousy service and the flawed regulatory process all prove that the biggest water privatization project in the world is a total failure thanks to greedy and inefficient water companies like Maynilad!

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Tala Estate Settlers’ Federation (TESEFF) strongly condemn this appalling situation and demands the REPLACEMENT OF MAYNILAD AND THE REFORM OF REGULATORY BODIES. IT VOWS TO RESIST WATER PRICE INCREASES. The APL insists that the national government should review its privatization program and exclude public utilities from it since experience has shown that such will not truly serve the interest of the Filipino people.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is attempting to rewrite 100 years of worker’s struggle by declaring April 29, instead of May 1, as the legal labor holiday.

Coming at a time when May 1, 2002 happens during the centennial celebration of the Philippine trade union movement, this declaration reveals Arroyo’s contempt for everything that the workers have struggled for, even to the extent of giving up their lives, declares the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL).

The Philippine labor movement is celebrating this year its 100th anniversary since the formal launching of both the country’s first formal labor union and federation in 1902, the Union Impresores y Litografos de Filipinas (UIF) and Union Obrera Democratica (UOD) respectively.

“As if ignoring the said centennial is not enough, the Arroyo administration has still the gall of undermining the historical tradition of celebrating the international Labor Day,” says Daniel Edralin, chairperson of the APL. He added that “this is the height of bourgeoisie arrogance.”

May 1 as Labor Day was made into law in the Philippines in 1913, although this was unofficially celebrated by Filipino trade unionists since 1903 based on an international tradition that began in the 1880s.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) condemns this decision as patently unacceptable and vows to fully mobilize its entire membership on May 1 not only to celebrate the labor centennial but also to push government to radically depart from its current embrace of privatization, liberalization and the mythical “free trade.”

“The MERALCO is blackmailing the people to undermine mounting public protest against its petition for power rate increase,” Daniel L. Edralin, Chairperson of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), declared in response to MERALCO’s statement printed in one of the major dailies quoting Rafael Andrada, the power company’s treasurer, that their services would “deteriorate” if it did not get a power rate increase.

It is not surprising that in seeking for a power rate hike, the Lopez Group would use the same line of argument it used when it asked for water rate increase – that the country would experience utility service crisis once their demand for rate increase would not be granted. This manifests their inability and incompetence to provide effective utility service to the people.

“Obviously, they don’t know how to run a business except under conditions of monopoly,” Daniel L. Edralin, APL Chairperson said. “Their expertise lies not in effective management but on how to rake in more billions by sucking up and bleeding dry their captive market – the working people,” he added.

Unfortunately, even Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appears to have swallowed this argument hook line and sinker! Perhaps she wants to assure that the Lopezes would be on her side come 2004 national elections. It is obvious then whose interest she is truly protecting.

The Lopez Group of Companies owns the Manila Electric Co. It also owns the Maynilad Water Service Inc. that supplies water from Manila and Quezon City to other lowland parts of Cavite. The water company, together with the Manila Water Co. (owned by the Ayala’s) increased water rates only last January despite increasing it three times last year.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) condemned the Tariff Commission (TC) for failing to protect the public interest after deciding last March 15, 2002 to recommend the non-imposition of safeguards on imported cement. The decision comes at a time when workers are reeling from massive retrenchments and the government is loosing millions of pesos in revenues from the cement importers. Despite huge profits, the four biggest importers (TCC Cement Corp., Cohaco Trading, Batumbakal Trading, and NGC Land Corp.) paid only a dismal sum of P951,433 taxes to the government in 2000.

The local cement manufacturers suffered staggering net losses of P5 billion in 1999 and P7.5 billion in 2000. Worse, for the first two months of 2002, a total of 8,000 workers have lost their jobs and will continuously affect about 24,000 more if the government continues not to heed the call of the local cement sectors. The APL asked the DTI to exert all efforts to ensure that the Trade and Related Matters Committee of the Cabinet decide in favor of imposing tariff protection to the local cement industry on the condition that the job security of cement industry workers are solidly guaranteed.

The intensifying and unregulated dumping of imported cement and other foreign products in the Philippines was the result of our continued adherence to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ‘free market policy.’ However, since the advanced countries dominate the world market, countries from the Global South like the Philippines would certainly not benefit from the trade liberalization regime that the WTO espouses. Thus, the APL is asking the government to call for a public review of the country’s position on the WTO on the basis of its effectiveness in addressing poverty alleviation and promotion of sustainable development.