TIJFSDAY / MARGH 19, 2019

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lVlanila Water takes
blame for shortage-
FR0il fl
By DJ Yap
@deejayapINQ
Sorry, but let's not talk about a
refundiustyet.
The president of Manila
water ' Co. apologized to the
public on Monday, saying he
leas taking full responsibility
for Metro Manila's water woes,
as he, along with waterworks
officials and other stakehold-
ers, faced a hostile House panel ,
But Ferdinand dela Cruz, also
Manila Watels chief executive
omcer, was silent on his compi-
nYs wilingness to refund thou-
sands. of inconvenienced con-
sumers in the east sector, where
many households had eitherbeen
q sufferilg from no water or low
l water pressure since Marqh 6.
"l am holding myself ac-
countable for the sudden drop in
t
-!:s our service level to your con-
stituens who we have served
for 21 years," a contrite DeLa Cruz
told the House Metro Manila de-
6 velopment cordmittee.
"March 6, 2019, is a date I
: rYill not forget as Manila Water
president. I know the suffering
a your constituents have suf-
6 ferd whether they be rich or
+
t
poor," he said.
Dela Cruz's words drew
praise from a number of House
leaders, rYho assured him the
hearingwas not ittended to put
Manila Water in the hot seat.
"We didnt c2ll this headng to
assign blame on atryone," Major-
ity leader Fredenil Castro said-
'We assure you that the very in-
tention is to go to the bottom of
the case, study it a d prevent it
from bappening again," he said.
Resign
But that did not stop antag-
onistic questions directed by
other lawmakers at Dela Cruz
on whether he would be step-
ping down or if his company
would be refunding consumers
for its shortcomings.
"When are you resigning?"
HousE PROBE Ferdinand dela Cruz (left), president and CEO of Manila Water Co., and Ramoncito
Fernandez, president and CEO of Maynilad Water Services lnc., explain the water crisis situation to
the House of Representatives' Metro Manila development committeeduring Monday's hearing.
Cruz if consumers who had had
no water for ihe.past few days
would still be required to pay
for the days when there was no
Water pouring from the tap.
"They will still pay a mini-
mum amount," the CEO ad-
mitted.
"Even if there's no water
pouring out ... now my ques-
tion: 'Will you refund con-
sumers?" zarate inquired.
No refund
"There's no discussion yet
on that because our focus. is
restoration ofthe service," Dela
Cruz said.
"Are you willing to refund
even if there's no dlscussion yet?"
the congressman pressed hirn
Dela Cruz replied: "We will
follow the prescribed process
of MWSS (Metropolitan Water-
works and Sewerage System) as
a regulatory office."
An irate Zarate scolded him:
"Here you are now saying sor-
ry but it's pure incompetence
lonyour part]."
Patrick Ty, MWSS chief regu-' inutile as regulator at the ex-
lator, similarly endured a skew- pense ofconsumers," he said.
edng ftom lawmakers, as he an-
swered questions on whether
the agency could penalize the
water concessionaires for their
failure to serve consumers ac-
cording to the terms of the con-
cession agreemenL
i,{o p,1i,nff iln trilllilllil
lle argued that his office
had been pushing for new leg-
islation to give it more teeth to
run after the concessionaires.
But his claim was chal-
lgrge(by lawmakers after Dela
Cruz said there was actually a
mechanism for Manila water
to be punished.
"Tha penalty will be in the
form of the expenses we will
use to fix this problem and that
we will notbe allowed to recov-
er this" by charging consumers,
Dela Cruz said.
At that point, Ty, along lr'ith
the other resource
was asked to take an oath on
persons,
the truth of his testimony, as
the committee chair, Rep. Win-
ston Castelo of Quezon City,
expressed misgivings about ttle
official's honesty.
'lnutile' regulator
Zarate said that since Manila
water was apparently "willing td
pay penalties," it was clear that
the "regulator is the problern"
"You allow yourselves to be
Asked if he would step
dow4 Ty said: "We inherited
this probleln and we are pre-
pared to face this."
Toward the end ofthe hear-
ing, Marikina Rep. Bayani Fer-
nando said Dela Cruz, having
TUESDAY/ MARCH 19,2019
.. WWW.INQUIRER.NET
Dela cruz recalled the
events that led to water ra-
tioning in large swaths of its
service area.
La Mesa reserve
On March 6, the La Mesa re-
serve breached the critical levet
of 69'meters, preventing Manila
Water from getting r5o million
liters per day (MLD) from the
dam, as the water level "went
below the lowest opening it
couldflow into to reach our wa-
ter treatment plants in Balara."
Without the additional 15o
MLD, "we camot fully serve
the peak demand at sufficient
pressure," he said.
Dela Cruz said Manila Wa-
ter had contingency measures
to plug the deficit, such as tak-
ing water from Laguna Lake
through the Cardona water
treatment plant, reactivating
deep wells, and developing
new deep well sources.
Manila water earlier said the
plant in Cardon4 Rizal province,
that would filter water from la-
guna Lake had yet to be actimted.
:
What went wrong?
When advisodes were issued
a6out l,a Mesa s declining water
levels, people in both affected
and unaffected areas began stor-
ing watei to prepare for the wa-
ter interruptio4 Dela Cruz said.