West zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. on Tuesday asked the government to pay P3.44 billion as sovereign compensation for revenue losses it incurred from Jan. 1, 2013 to Feb. 28 this year, after state-run Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System refused to honor an arbitral decision ordering rate adjustments.
Maynilad in a second letter sent to the Finance Department said the amount would accumulate as long as MWSS administrator Gerardo Esquivel, Regulatory Office head Joel Yu and MWSS trustee Emmanuel Caparas continued to “violate their plain legal duty” to implement a final and executory ruling.
Maynilad won an arbitration case in December at the International Chamber of Commerce, allowing tariff adjustments.
State regulator MWSS deferred the ruling on new water rates, pending a decision on a similar case involving east zone concessionaire Manila Water Co.
Maynilad accused the three officials of trying to “cover up their serious mistakes and gross mismanagement” when MWSS reinterpreted its contract with Maynilad, triggering the arbitration where it lost to Maynilad.
“We do not need to stress that Messrs. Esquivel, Yu and Caparas have thoughtlessly created this unnecessary, massive government liability which they could and should have easily avoided, by respecting a valid contract, and now by complying with a lawful ruling,” Maynilad said.
