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There are over a hundred PrimeWater deals nationwide, and aside from bad service, these deals have been flagged due to disadvantageous income share to the government
MANILA, Philippines – Tired and frustrated by what they call a water crisis by the Villars’ PrimeWater, a coalition of San Jose Del Monte City residents in Bulacan launched on Friday, April 25, a campaign to terminate the joint venture with PrimeWater and stop Las Piñas Representative Camille Villar from being elected to the Senate.
The Water for the People Network (WPN), Alliance for Consumer Protection (ACP) and the Peoples Rights Network (PRN) conducted a noise barrage on Friday, which they said they would sustain until the July State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the president.
“Magsasagawa tayo ng tuluy-tuloy na pagkilos sa ating mga komunidad, sa opisina ng Prime Water, Local Water District, LGU at Local Water Utilities Administration. Dadalhin natin ang ating laban sa Kongreso, Senado hanggang sa Korte Suprema,” said the PRN.
(We will hold continuous protests in our communities, at the PrimeWater office, the local water district, the local government unit and the Local Water Utilities Administration. We will take our fight to the House, the Senate, up to the Supreme Court)
As of 5 pm on Friday, absolutely no water is flowing out of the faucet of one household in San Jose Del Monte, an experience shared by many in the city.
PrimeWater, a private water utility firm owned by Camille Villar’s brother Manuel Paolo, signed a joint water venture with the San Jose Del Monte water district in 2018. Since then, city residents said water has been difficult and expensive. The Commission on Audit also flagged the declining income of the local water district, as PrimeWater the corporation steadily increased its profits.
The coalition in San Jose Del Monte counts over 130 joint ventures nationwide by PrimeWater. In Rappler’s scan, most of these are in Luzon or more specifically in Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Occidental Mindoro, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and Albay. In the Visayas, there are PrimeWater ventures in Negros Occidental, Cebu and Leyte. In Mindanao, there are PrimeWater deals in Surigao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga City, Bukidnon and Davao del Norte.
Several of these deals have problems. Residents in Cavite, Pampanga, Bacolod, and Bukidnon have previously complained of bad service from PrimeWater, part of the vast business empire of Philippines’ richest, former senator Manny Villar.
Aside from bad service, there have been many audit red flags about the income share between PrimeWater and the local water district. The 2019 audited financial statement (AFS) of water districts, for example, is filled with red flags about the government’s income disadvantage in PrimeWater agreements.
For example in Maasin and Metro Hilongos in Leyte, and Sta. Cruz in Laguna, the 2019 AFS said that PrimeWater charged water districts a fee when the private firm collected arrears. In Dasmariñas and Silang in Cavite, and Tanauan in Batangas, the 2019 AFS said there was no computation or documents to ensure that the local water districts were getting their due share.
The problem is that these joint ventures with PrimeWater are typically for 25 years – locking the water districts in, which is why affected residents have been resorting to different modes to rescind the contracts for breach, whether through public protests or court cases.
In an earlier interview with Rappler, former San Jose Del Monte city councilor Irene Del Rosario asked why there is no national investigation into an anomaly that’s happening nationwide.
“Nagtataka lang ako bakit walang senador na nagsasalita tungkol dito, dun sa tamang platform ah, sa Senate, because this is a national issue, hindi lang ito issue ng San Jose Del Monte,” said Del Rosario.
(I wonder why no senator is speaking up about this, in the right platform or in the Senate because this is a national issue, this is not just the issue of San Jose Del Monte.)
Rappler has reached out to San Jose Del Monte Representative Rida Robes, running for city mayor, for a statement. We will update this story once they do.
Camille Villar has not made a public statement regarding the recent developments of peoples’ protests against PrimeWater.
Rappler reached out to the camp of Camille Villar before publishing this story but they have not responded. We will update this story once they respond.
– Rappler.com
