THE TRUTH is finally coming out in the mysterious refusal, for the last 16 years, by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to give the go signal to the San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders and Developers Group (SLRB) to bring water from the Wawa Dam in nearby Montalban to La Mesa Dam to add to the water supply of Metro Manila, which is perennially suffering from water shortages. SLRB owns the water rights to Wawa which, under the law, cannot be awarded to somebody else. The truth is that somebody, with the connivance of the MWSS, wants to steal these rights from SLRB.

Manila Water Corp. Inc. (MWCI), one of the two water concessionaires, also applied for the water rights for Wawa although water distributors are prohibited by law to also develop water sources. This is to prevent monopolies. So the MWSS applied for water rights, too, in support of the MWCI application. In her eagerness, MWSS officer-in-charge Macra Cruz even copied verbatim the letters of MWCI, which I quote: ?This new water source will support our Wawa Dam Water System Reactivation Project as well as the other expansion projects to serve the East Zone (serviced by MWCI). Therefore, we fully support this application.? The MWSS, a government regulating agency, and MWCI, a concessionaire, have signed jointly as co-equals to reject SLRB?s water supply even to the point of using MWCI?s letterhead, clear proof of unethical and improper conduct.

This unmasks the illicit conspiracy between the MWSS and MWCI regarding Wawa, for which they can be liable for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act which provides:

?Section 3. Corrupt practices of public officers?In addition to acts or omissions of public officers already penalized by existing law, the following shall constitute corrupt practices of any public officer and are hereby declared to be unlawful:

?(e) Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permit or other concessions.?

The MWSS is clearly giving MWCI unwarranted benefits and preference and causing injury to SLRB.

In fact, the MWSS has already given MWCI the right to collect P732 million from its customers, purportedly to be used for the development of Wawa but MWCI did not develop Wawa. MWCI officials last week admitted having collected P150 million but instead of using the money for Wawa, they used it to extend its water lines to San Mateo and Rodriguez, Rizal.

Whenever it is SLRB which will develop Wawa to exercise its water rights, they claim the water is polluted, and yet MWSS authorized MWCI in 2003 to make a series of advanced collections worth P732 million to harness Wawa.

The P732 million is three times the P250-million contract when a public bidding is required under the MWSS-MWCI Concession Agreement, from which MWCI was exempted. However, if it is the SLRB that will undertake the same project?at no cost to the government?SLRB will be required to go through a bidding process. MWCI?s financial study and engineering design were completed only in August 2005, or two years after it had collected the P732 million from its consumers. It did not have a water permit either, as proven in the declaration of its officers Lala Fabella and Abe Basilio in their report: ?Wawa was not included not because of the faultline but because of the disputed water rights.?

?The MWSS has been implementing a double standard against our company,? said Oscar Violago, president of SLRB. ?When it is SLRB, the MWSS requires us to make studies over and over again, even if we have already proven and complied with all requirements under the law. But if it is MWCI that will harness Wawa, the MWSS even went out of its way to apply for a water permit for MWCI usage in its Wawa Dam Water System Reactivation Project as well as its other water expansion project to serve the East Zone.?

The NWRB is also to blame. SLRB and MWCI cannot develop Wawa because the NWRB gave both of them water permits for only six months of the year?during the rainy season. Isn?t this crazy? Metro Manila needs the extra water during summer, not during the rainy season.

There?s more: In its efforts to wrest the water rights to Wawa from SLRB, the MWSS sent it a letter last August 4 saying that the MWSS will hire a consulting firm to review the ?new water source road map for Metro Manila.?

When people are lying, they are often caught in contradictions. It has been 13 years since the start of the concession agreement in 1997. ?It is inconceivable and negligent for the government and the concessionaires that up to now they do not have a clear picture of the country?s water supply and demand situation,? said Violago. ?This, after billions of pesos have been spent and valuable time wasted. A third party is being engaged by the MWSS to do what the MWSS should have been doing all along, so that the MWSS would be free from any repercussion should the conclusions and recommendations of the consulting firm be objected to and contradicted by concerned parties?a classic washing of hands by MWSS. Is this MWSS?s way to oust our company from the Wawa Project??