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October 29, 2003
The news reports about the death of four
(4) people and the hospitalization of 200 more in Tondo, Manila due to
contaminated water are greatly saddening and extremely alarming. Doctors
who attended to the victims suspect a cholera outbreak via the water
system in the area—an outbreak that could easily extend to other
localities that are part of the same deteriorating pipe network.
Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI) is directly to blame for this
disaster. Its officials have been quoted in a radio interview as saying
that its pipe networks in Tondo are indeed old, but that their company
does not have funds to repair them. This lack of funds has been Maynilad’s
perennial excuse for its terrible performance ever since it took over the
concession in 1997. Its record over the last six years will show how it
has failed to comply with nearly all the standards set forth in the
original concession agreement: it has raised prices by 400%, failed to
expand to target areas, failed to ensure 24-hour water supply to service
areas, failed to reduce leaks, spillage and water theft, failed to
increase water pressure and improve water quality. In December 2002 it
terminated its contract, and has withheld investments since then. As a
result, the conditions in its service areas in the west zone have
deteriorated even further.
Yet even its clients die, fall ill, suffer water shortages, pay onerous
rates and endure other abuses, Maynilad refuses to acknowledge any
responsibility for the general breakdown of its operations. The
closed-door arbitration process between government and Maynilad continues,
still unable to establish Maynilad’s obvious role in the decline of Metro
Manila’s water situation to this pathetic state.
The levels of water quality, water pressure and the extent of pipe damage
are not merely technical details in the concession agreement; these are
critical issues that pose grave dangers to public health. Breaches in the
pipe system also have security implications in this post-9/11 era. (The
unfortunate drowning of a man in a major Manila Water pipe last May
illustrated the dangers of a vulnerable pipe network.) The disaster in
Tondo underscores a basic reality: we cannot live without safe, clean and
adequate water to drink and use.
BANTAY TUBIG condemns this reprehensible tragedy and takes Maynilad
Water Services Inc. (MWSI) to task for the deaths and illness of the
victims. We call on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS),
the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Health,
local government units in Maynilad areas and the Metro Manila Development
Authority to act immediately to avert a public health crisis. The national
government, the MWSS and other architects of the water privatization
policy must make Maynilad accountable for its gross neglect and impunity,
and prepare to take over Maynilad areas to safeguard public welfare.
BANTAY TUBIG Network
(Philippine Water Vigilance Network)
BANTAY TUBIG Network: AKBAYAN Party-list,
Alliance of Progressive Labor, CIBAC Party-list, Focus on the Global
South-Philippines, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Institute for Popular
Democracy, Tambuyog Development Center, Ma. Teresa Diokno-Pascual
See also:
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