|
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Glo faces graft raps on Maynilad mess
MANILA -- A senatorial candidate charged President Arroyo and several justice officials with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman over Malacaņang's decision to take over the Maynilad Water Services Inc.
Malacaņang, at the same time, is not backing out of the planned reorganization of Maynilad Services Inc. saying it is the best solution to the company's current problem.
Melanio "Batas" Mauricio, a senatorial candidate of Aksyon Demokratiko, said Palace granted Maynilad with "unwarranted benefits" when it allowed Benpres Holdings Corp., Maynilad's mother company, to convert the firm's P8 billion debt into government equity.
Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said Malacaņang welcomes the charges saying was no change in Arroyo's stand nor are there plans to suspend the implementation of the deal.
He added the agreement would still go through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the courts for concurrence before it is carried out.
"We welcome them to be filed in the proper venue and as soon as the details of the charges are made available then we can respond to them. This would be better than allegations that are simply aired into
the public or into the media with no proof or information being filed to back them up," Saludo said.
He said a battery of lawyers went through the agreement and ensured that every aspect is consistent with laws.
Arroyo said in a statement that the more important thing for her is to ensure that the every barangay would have access to clean water.
"Water is essential to life and we have to ensure its availability at all cost. Early this year, I discovered that more than 160,000 families in Metro Manila did not have access to clean water. Now, we have brought clean water to more than this number and we are working for more water connections everyday. Here we can see the logic of government's takeover of Maynilad," she said.
"The public interest was being affected by the internal problems gripping the water utility firm... The public gains from this move in terms of better access to clean water," she added.
The President, in a press conference in Carigara, Leyte, also called on Sen. Loren Legarda, Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino vice presidential candidate, and other opposition candidates to focus on explaining their platforms of government instead of wasting their energy in criticizing the administration.
She said the opposition should give solutions on how they intend to solve the water problem and provide all the barangays in 180 municipalities with clean and potable water.
Arroyo denied that the consuming public would shoulder the debt of Maynilad, describing such a report as a "baseless rumor."
Saludo meanwhile reiterated that while the government would own 39 percent of the Maynilad, the water firm would still have to find ways to cover its debts either by raising capital or restructure its debt.
"The debt remains with Maynilad and Maynilad will have to figure out how to service that debt. Of course, MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System) as being part owner would participate in those discussions," he said.
Michael Defensor, presidential campaign spokesman, assured the public that there would be no water rates increase after the government takes over Maynilad.
He said the MWSS and the Maynilad entered the agreement specifically "to guarantee that consumers would not shoulder the cost of the water rates increase."
But reports said Maynilad would be increasing its rates by almost five pesos per cubic meter in June or about P24.75 per cubic meter from the current rate of P19.92 per cubic meter.
MWSS deputy administrator Macra Cruz said in a television interview that the rate increase had been approved by the MWSS "starting January 2003 but Maynilad did not implement it, because it might prejudice their case in the arbitration panel."
The government filed a case against Maynilad at a French-based arbitration court after the water facility decided to terminate the concession agreement. The arbitration court ruled in favor of the government.
Meanwhile, government corporate counsel Manuel Antonio Teehankee said the timing of the announcement on the reorganization followed "the deadline set by the courts," referring to the international trade arbitration body that ruled against Maynilad.
Last November, the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court of Arbitration said the concession agreement, which Maynilad wanted rescinded on December 2002, is still a "binding legal agreement that should be followed," said Teehankee.
The sum quoted in the award, which represents outstanding concession debts, comes at the heels of nine months of arbitration by the international body to which Maynilad brought the case last February
after the government refused to allow higher rates for the firm.
Under the terms of the original award, the firm must settle the obligations within 15 days after receipt of the ruling.
The ruling was a second blow to the Lopez family after the Supreme Court (SC) last year upheld its November 2002 ruling requiring Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to refund excess charges collected between 1994 and 1998 from consumers amounting to around P28 billion.
Last May, the international arbitration panel hearing the dispute between Maynilad and the government asked the water service concessionaire to post a total of $150 million in performance bonds, from which Maynilad may opt to get the payment of the P7 billion.
Maynilad announced in Dec. 9, 2002 that it was ending its 25-year concession agreement with the MWSS, effective Feb. 7, 2003, after failing to get the rate increases the water firm was seeking.
Maynilad's performance bond under the concession agreement is actually US$120 million but the appeals panel required the water firm to post an additional US$30 million bond.
A three-man international appeals panel also stopped Maynilad from terminating its 25-year concession agreement with the MWSS to supply water for the western half of Metro Manila. JMR/Benjamin B. Pulta
(March 24, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
