(Eagle News)–Senator Risa Hontiveros called on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and Manila Water to “immediately set up the mechanisms to guarantee” that the P1-billion fine imposed by the agency on the water firm “will result in actual compensation or consumer rebates” to customers who were severely affected by the water shortage.
Hontiveros made the call as she lauded the MWSS for imposing the P1.13-billion fine, which she said was “clear proof that government regulatory agencies have ample power to compel concessionaires of public services to effectively serve the public’s needs and penalize them when they fail to do so.”
The fine was apart from the P500-million sanction self-imposed by Manila Water.
“Kaya naman pala kung gugustuhin,” Hontiveros said, noting previous statements from the MWSS to the contrary.
According to Hontiveros, the water shortage should serve as “a lesson to our regulatory bodies.”
“I hope that in the future, they will do their job appropriately and expeditiously, stop making excuses and cease from acting only when public opinion is already stacked against them,” Hontiveros said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has lashed out at the MWSS officials for failing to do their jobs, and threatened to fire them if the water shortage problem was not resolved.
He said he would also decide on whether to terminate the contracts of water concessionaires mid-April.
