“Keep in mind that after the concession agreement all these facilities/investments of Maynilad will revert back to MWSS/government.”
by Ducky Paredes
A former classmate of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson, who wishes to remain anonymous, clarifies the so-called “Maynilad-Pagcor midnight deal” was never a midnight deal since it was a go since 2009.
The Pagcor-Maynilad agreement for the water supply to Pagcor Entertainment City was no midnight deal and no payout was made to anyone.
PAGCOR Chairman Genuino requested Maynilad to install a water reservoir in the Pagcor Entertainment City to assure investors of a reliable water supply. (There is a similar reservoir beside the golf course in Villamor, presumably for the hotels built on the former BCDA lands that have been sold to hotel chains.)
Maynilad wrote a letter to MWSS Administrator Diosdado Allado on February 9, 2009 informing MWSS of the arrangement.
“The MOA stipulates among others that Pagcor will grant usufructuary rights to Maynilad for a parcel of land owned by Pagcor for free to Maynilad provided Maynilad will spend for all the cost of construction and connection to their designated stubout connection. Maynilad will be investing close to P600 million for the reservoir, pumping station, gensets, etc. The Reservoir will give Pagcor City priority use of the water but Maynilad will also use the reservoir to serve Paranaque and Maynilad expansion areas to Las Pinas & Cavite (Imus, Bacoor, Kawit, Noveleta, Cavite City);
“Keep in mind that after the concession agreement all these facilities/investments of Maynilad will revert back to MWSS/government.”
In April 2010, before signing the MOA, Allado wanted Maynilad to pay MWSS additional royalty fees on the theory that the Pagcor City was outside the Maynilad concession area.
Maynilad argued that this had no legal basis and that Pagcor City was within its concession area which includes Pasay & Paranaque where Pagcor Entertainment City is located. Maynilad was already servicing SM MOA and all the adjoining areas to Pagcor City including the subdivision development of Tanyu on the reclaimed areas. There is also an OGCC legal opinion that says the Pagcor City is part of Maynilad concession and therefore MWSS had no basis to charge additonal concession fees.
This is no midnight deal since the construction started late last year and should be operational by September this year.
This reservoir project was included in Maynilad’s Business Plan for the period 2008 - 2012 which was submitted to MWSS in 2008. So this was not a new project but a planned investment for Maynilad to expand its service coverage to the south (Las Pinas, Paranaque, and portions of Cavite).
“The government is not losing any amount from this transaction as claimed because it does not have any legal basis to claim royalty fees. In fact any payment made to MWSS as additional royalty fees will only increase the water rates to customers and will only be used by MWSS for additional bonuses & allowances and operating expenses. “
(In fact, when I saw the reservoir in Villamor, my thought was that, although this was an expensive solution, this was the result of the kind of thinking that has been missing in water service when it was still being run by government. Brilliant!)
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We have a letter: “In the second segment of your opinion piece today, there was a small paragraph that confused me a bit. It reads:
“While I agree with you that Mr. Libanan did a good job at BI, I do know that Secretary De Lima’s appointee is necessarily a wrong choice.”
“Was there a missing word in there somewhere, such as the word ‘not’?
“Would you please clarify it for the readers like me?” — Dante Gutierrez, La Mirada, Calif. 90638 USA
* * *
You are right. It should have read: “I do not know that Secretary de Lima’s appointee is necessarily a wrong choice.”
* * *
Marianito Guapo writes: “Mr. Paredes; why don’t you write about our roads and highways in “Eastern Samar. you will see the real color of Mr. Libanan.”
Another Samareno writes: “It’s true that the BID was cleaned from amateur fixers and inefficient employees. It was a great transformation looking from the outside. Very impressive even.
“However, Mr. Libanan developed a system that while BID looked good from the outside, discretionary authority was centralized at his level. Thus the fixing game was raised to another level. Atty. Norman Tancinco; Atty. Floro Balato,Jr and Atty. Antonio Rivera and other Libanan cohorts replaced the old fixers at BID. So Mr. Paredes, what’s your take in this Libanan hype at BID?
“Please visit Eastern Samar and talk to the people so you can judge for yourself the character of Mr. Nonoy Libanan.”
* * *
Someone who has business with Immigration tells me that the OIC appointed by the Justice Secretary — Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar, former head of the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) – is one of the cleanest persons in the bureau; besides, his appointment is at best temporary.
She says that as with previous commissioners, Libanan hired many Samarenos as immigration officers without any job training, as did former commissioners Ed Mendoza and Edmundo Reyes (who hired Batanguenos).
Note that immediately on taking over, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ordered the suspension of 20 immigration officers for their alleged involvement in human trafficking activities at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga. De Lima reversed the decision of her predecessor, former justice chief Alberto Agra, that exonerated the officers of any involvement in human trafficking activities.
Immigration officer Rachel Ong earlier accused 15 immigration officers of facilitating the ingress or egress of DMIA passengers with incomplete or falsified documents, colluding with illegal recruiters and human trafficking syndicates in the departure and entry of persons; and collecting personal payments and receiving favors including sexual favors in exchange for such facilitation and collusion.
Agra, however, ruled that he found the complaint affidavits “devoid of necessary particulars” such as specific number of passengers, their names, and the dates of departures and arrivals.
There was more to what was going on in the BI than we can see on the surface. I’m glad that from the letter we used in our column, a lot of other things about the Libanan reign have surfaced.
For instance, did you ever notice that two officials manned the immigration posts at the NAIA – one in the BI uniform and the other in a jacket? According to my informant, the uniformed one handled the regular (you and me) travelers and the ones in jackets serviced the others.
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hvp 08.08.10
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