The San Jose del Monte City Water District Board of Directors has formally moved to pre-terminate its joint venture agreement with Villar-owned PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation (PWIC) amid the water crisis affecting thousands of city residents.
In a letter to Mayor Arturo Robes dated April 10, 2025, San Jose Water Board chairman Aurelio Jose Jr. disclosed that the Board had passed Resolution No. 15, Series of 2025 on April 3, 2025 "directing the issuance of a notice of intent to pre-terminate the joint venture agreement" with PrimeWater.
"We issued the notice to PWIC last April 7, 2025 and referred the matter to our statutory counsel, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel," the letter stated as quoted in a news release on Monday.
The water district's decision is consistent with its earlier stance.
In December 2024, the San Jose del Monte Water District Board also passed a resolution expressing no objection to several requests for a new water service provider due to PrimeWater's failure to sufficiently supply their water needs.
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Residents, many of whom have suffered from low to zero water pressure for weeks, expressed deep frustration over PrimeWater's service failures, citing the disruption of daily life, risks to public health, and additional financial burdens of purchasing water from private suppliers.
Robes and the city government implemented several emergency measures aside from deploying water lorries. These included the establishment of emergency water distribution hubs in strategic locations, coordination with nearby LGUs for water-sharing agreements, and the use of mobile water filtration units to provide potable water.
Moreover, the City Health Office intensified its monitoring of sanitation risks in affected communities to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases. PNA