Call it
coincidence or not, it would not have happened if the President did not call
them out.
Manila Water and
Maynilad said that they would no longer ask the Philippine government to pay a
total of P10.8 billion in compensation awarded them by a Singapore-based arbitration
court.
The
Singapore-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) earlier ordered the
Philippine government to pay P3.4 billion to Maynilad and P7.4 billion to
Manila Water as compensation for losses the water concessionaires incurred due
to denied rate increases.
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| (photo credit to owner) |
Both water
concessionaires also told a Congressional hearing that they were ready to work
with the government on possible revisions to their concession agreements.
"Tumutugon kami sa utos ng Pangulong Rodrigo
Roa Duterte na muling pag-aralan at pag-usapan ang ilang mga probisyon ng
concession agreement," said Manila Water president Jose Rene Almendras.
(We are responding to the order of President Rodrigo
Roa Duterte to revisit and discuss some provisions in the concession
agreement.)
Manila Water president Jose Rene Almendras, was
asked if they are willing to drop the P7.4 billion which was awarded to them by the PCA, to which he
replied: "Opo sir, susunod po kami sa kagustuhan ng gobyerno, ng
pamahalaan at gobyerno (Yes we will follow the government)."
As for his counterpart in CEO and President of
Maynilad, it also said that it would no longer pursue the P3.4 billion
award.
"Ang arbitral award 2017 pa po. After we
followed up the government, nung di kami binibigyan ng pansin, di na kami
nagpurisge," Fernandez said.
(The arbitral award was given in 2017. After we
followed up the government, when we were ignored, we no longer pursued it.)
Maynilad would
also follow the President’s directive and would no longer pursue the arbitral
award.
Both firms also
said they would no longer implement the scheduled water hike scheduled in
January 2020.
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Report from ABS-CBN News
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