| Press Statements |
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WORKERS OF HYATT REGENCY MANILA ON STRIKE! - May 10 Hyatt Hotel Harassed Its Own Employees Workers Calls for Congressional Inquiry into Maynilad's Abandonment of Obligation - 23 April 2002 Gma reveals contempt for 100 years of trade union struggle - 10 April 2002 |
19 April 2002 DESPITE
ITS DISMAL SERVICE PERFORMANCE, MAYNILAD HAS THE NERVE TO ASK FOR WATER
RATE INCREASE! More
200 workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) trooped
to the headquarters of Maynilad this morning to demand the delivery of a
long-delayed promise of water service connection in their area and to
protest water rate increases. Two
years ago, the protesting workers, mostly residents of Maligaya Park
Subdivision that straddles Quezon City and Coolocan City, took the
promotional offer of MAYNILAD to provide water service connection upon
payment of P200.00. Under this offer, the rest of the installment fees
would be added to the workers’ monthly bills on an installment basis.
Two years later, the workers have yet to see Maynilad’s delivery of the
promised water connection! This
proves Maynilad’s inability to run a basic utility service that is
supposedly committed in serving the interest of the consumers. Yet despite
of this, Maynilad has the nerve to ask for water rate increases. To add
insult to injury, Maynilad has even applied for rate-rebasing that would
peg basic water tariffs at P30 pesos per cubic meter! “Clearly
the Lopezes do not know how to run a business outside of monopoly
conditions,” Josua Mata, Secretary General of APL said.
“This is a clear evidence of the failure of water
privatization,” he added. MAYNILAD,
owned by the Lopez Group of Companies (that also owns the Manila Electric
Co.) increased water rates last October 2001 and on January 1, 2002. It
will again raise its rates in July 2002. Since it was privatized, water
rates have jacked up by 135% from P6.58 pcm in September 2001 to P15.46pcm
this march. Maynilad’s application for rate-basing would mean another
94% increase in the price of water. To
justify the increases, it published an ad in leading newspapers last April
17 claiming that their rates are cheaper than vendors selling purified
bottled water and those providing provincial water. The APL suggests that
the said paid was designed to mislead the consumers of Metro Manila. Why
compare the prices of Maynilad with water vendors or provincial water? Why
not compare it with the price of Manila Water Company? As
of March 2002, Maynilad currently charges an average tariff of P15.46
pesos per cubic meter while Manila Water Company, despite its own list of
inefficiencies, charges an average tariff of P6.75 per cubic meter. Also,
It cannot simply compare their rates to water vendors since those who
consume bottled waters are the people who can afford to buy it. But a
workers’ community, whose employment depends on contractual and seasonal
jobs, and could not afford bottled water. Water-vending
stations are flourishing. This only shows the incompetence and inability
of MAYNILAD to provide safe and potable water to every household. The
consumers have yet to see improvements in the delivery of potable water
and yet the government and water concessionaires keep on harping on the
“merits” of privatizing public service utilities such as water. The
price increases, lousy service and the flawed regulatory process all prove
that the biggest water privatization project in the world is a total
failure thanks to greedy and inefficient water companies like Maynilad! The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Tala Estate Settlers’ Federation (TESEFF) strongly condemn this appalling situation and demands the REPLACEMENT OF MAYNILAD AND THE REFORM OF REGULATORY BODIES. IT VOWS TO RESIST WATER PRICE INCREASES. The APL insists that the national government should review its privatization program and exclude public utilities from it since experience has shown that such will not truly serve the interest of the Filipino people.
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Alliance of Progressive Labor
(APL) 2002 | |||