Water firms back down, won’t demand enforcement of arbitral court ruling
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2019 09:00:38 +0000
THE Manila Water Company, Inc. and Maynilad Water Services, Inc. backed down against President Rodrigo Duterte and won’t demand the enforcement of an arbitral court ruling ordering the Philippine government to pay over P10 billion for the losses they incurred when it denied their petition for a rate increase.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in Singapore, in a recent ruling, ordered the Philippines to pay Manila Water and Maynilad P7.39 billion and P3.4 billion respectively.
“Susunod po kami sa kagustuhan ng gobyerno at ng pamahalaan at ng Pangulo po (We will follow the what the government and President want),” Manila Water President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Rene Gregory Almendras told a joint hearing by the Committees on Good Government and Public Accountability and Public Accounts.
Almendras was responding to a query by Rep. Michael Defensor, chairman of the committee on public accounts, on whether Manila Water would no longer have the court order enforced.
“Sang-ayon po kami sa direktiba ng Presidente, sa kagustuhan ng Presidente, huwag na ho naming habulin yung historical arbitral award sa amin (We agree with the President’s directive to drop the historical arbitral award to us),” Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez said.
The two concessionaires also vowed to defer rate increases in January 2020 and to negotiate with the government in amending “onerous” provisions in the concession agreement. DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ