Wisdom of experience

I have been following the Messenger chat group of some MWSS retirees and it had been educational. This is a group that worked in the government water agency before privatization. There is wisdom in their experience.

I found myself added to this group and I am grateful that they did that. Their exchange of views gave me a good idea of how professionals in government service feel. In a word, frustrated.

They have spent part of their careers working for political appointees who didn’t know their jobs nor even cared that they didn’t. These former government technical experts know the system is so rotten that letting the private sector provide the service is one of the better accomplishments of the post EDSA administrations.

I want to share some of their views but will omit their full names. What they are saying is more important than who they are. I have edited some of the comments to fit available space.

Here is a sampling of those views:

Eric: “In yesterday’s hearings, two people swam against the tide: Sen Grace Poe and Cong. Mike Defensor. They asked about the potential impact of the unilateral decision of MWSS to revoke the Concession Agreement extension from 2022 to 2037. They asked about the effect on the bank loans, service obligations, and alike. And for not going for the kill, they were bashed in the social media. Comments like: 1. Bayaran; 2. Tuta ng oligarchs; 3. Ano pakialam nyo dyan; 4. Mga traidor sa mamayan;

“I guess this is our new normal. Throw away the critical thinking. Everything is political.

“I am certain that if the Concession Agreement extension (signed by then PGMA) is revoked, services will begin to deteriorate. Will the concessionaires spend for improvements? Will long term projects be started at all? Where will they get the money to pay the accelerated debts? Will the stock price recover?

“If you know that you can stay in your house for the next 6 months only, will you still improve it or stay within the basics?

“So, when the services start to go bad, guess who will the people blame again? MWC and MWSI!

“It is like tying the hands of a child then scolding him for not eating his lunch.

“It is a lose-lose situation!”

Albert: “People nowadays don’t seem capable of thinking smart anymore.  I don’t know about the millennials but the older citizens of the metropolis do not seem to remember the sadly bad services that we used to get under the government back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s until the MWSS’ privatization was finally implemented in 1997.

“We’re now faced with a dire situation in the next two years in terms of water availability and service efficiency simply because the concessionaires’ hands are now tied.” 

Rene: “Really weird reading comments about how government people are inefficient even dishonest and yet followed by a clamor for the government to take over the concessions!!!

“I have the benefit of working under both government and a privately-run system and believe me it just isn’t that simple. While working in MWSS it would take me over a year to have 10 service vehicles delivered… compare this to when I moved to work in the private sector where my acquisition of 30 such vehicles took less than 2 months!

“Do we even have any idea as to how much the government has to pay the concessionaires if the contract is terminated in three years? It is all spelled out in detail in the concession agreement. Another case for arbitration and another court decision to ignore?

“I hate to think of how this will affect our credit standing in the international arena? (Paging DOF).

“And by the way, I worked with the government sector many many years and I grant you there were crooks that I encountered … but the vast majority were honest hard-working professionals.

“I make special mention of around two hundred young professionals who went thru our MWSS cadetship program who were snapped up by the big league local water supply players in this country. The rest are all over the world… in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and of course the Middle East. Two of our early graduates have the rank of director in the water company they work for.

“What is my point here? We had top class professionals in MWSS. Check out the engineers in the privately-run water companies in the country.

“So, what was the problem with the old MWSS? I will cite just a few. 1) low water rates. Those consuming less than 10 cu m paid 3 pesos per cu m. Others were charged more depending on volume. Overall average rate was 8 pesos per cu m. Taking out operations and maintenance expenses little is left for expansion projects.

“2. The government procurement is simply too lengthy and cumbersome. Don’t get me wrong!!! I too see the need for COA, bidding rules etc. Unfortunately!!!”

Bob: “I really have no doubt about the integrity, experience and technical knowhows of many employees of MWSS during those times prior to privatization.

“The reason I prefer PPP is because people in the government really needs to be managed by professional managers and not by political appointees armed only by political agenda.”  (End of quoted comments)

As we can see, the professionals in the water service industry including those who worked in government are concerned that the administration is politicizing the service too much.

If the intention is to renegotiate the concession agreement as a pre-requisite for reinstating the extension of the agreement, let us do it fast. The new agreement must be in place within a year.

If the water companies are kept hanging, the service may deteriorate and at the same time give the country’s investment climate a serious hit. I hope there are still sensible decision makers in government who see that.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco