More on our water issues

While there is some good news regarding the cost of the pump prices of fuel products, which grew to nearly two pesos per liter after the drone attack on the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, the big news was that most of the oil fields have been repaired. We honestly thought that it would bring high fuel costs by Christmas time, but thankfully the Saudis worked hard to fix their war damage. Also on the plus side was the report that the Saudis didn’t want any war with Iran simply because it would be catastrophic for world oil prices that would plunge the world economy into a recession. Thank goodness for that! Perhaps we’ll have a good Christmas after all!

However on the negative side, I read the news that for the month of October, Metro Manila consumers would see higher water bills following the approval of rate hikes by the Manila Water Co. and the Maynilad Water Services Inc. The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office said the MWSS Board of Trustees has approved an upward adjustment for the foreign currency differential adjustment for the fourth quarter of the year.

The MWSS approved Maynilad Water’s increase for the fourth quarter equivalent to P0.02 per cubic meter while that of Manila Water Co. Inc.’s is an increase of P0.17 per cubic meter of its basic charge. Meanwhile, Manila Water customers who consume up to 10 cubic meter per month will have an increase of P0.93 while those consuming an average of 20 cubic meter will have an adjustment of P2.06.

Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the country in terms of customer base. It serves the areas of Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas, Malabon, and certain portions of Manila, Quezon City, Makati, and Cavite. Manila Water, on the other hand, caters to the east zone which encompasses parts of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Marikina, most parts of Quezon City, portions of Manila, as well as several towns in Rizal.

I was writing that piece when I read in The Philippine STAR that despite Metro Manila having two water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water, and despite their having the La Mesa, the Angat Dam, the Ambuklao Dams, and other dams, they still end up with higher water rates. Here in Cebu, many people who are served by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) are unhappy because they simply cannot fulfill the people’s demands for water, hence there is an effort by the Provincial Board to file cases against the MCWD board. But in truth, our water crisis just didn’t happen today. It began when Metro Cebu had a lot of water with zero development 40 years ago.

Who then were the politicians in the province of Cebu who sold the Club Filipino golf course way back in 1988? During those days, the few golfers, most of them my friends, were chastised for playing in a 50-hectare province-owned land and selling the land was the best thing that Cebu Province did at that time. They only sold it for P640 million. Ask yourselves, how much is land per square meter at the Cebu Business Park?

Mind you, when the province of Cebu sold the Club Filipino golf course, there was really no development in the North Reclamation Area, despite the fact that the road network was already installed. As I wrote before, I was interviewed by Cheche Lazaro on TV where she asked me why I objected to the sale. Mind you, I was very new in the media then, but I could not understand why Ayala would not invest in the North Reclamation Area.

Back in those days, I wasn’t even a member of the Regional Development Council but I would often play golf with Mr. Rey Crystal of NEDA who proposed to build dams in Managa or Lusaran so to reduce the dependence of Cebu on groundwater. But the political icons of that time did not want to spend on such high-costing projects. So now pundits are looking at who should be blamed for our water crisis. I dare say blame the past of Cebu and our politicians then who didn’t care if someday Cebu would suffer a serious water shortage. Well, sirs, that day has finally come!