President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is ordering an investigation into the operations of PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation (PWIC), amid consumers’ complaints over the Villar-owned company’s frequent service disruptions and high rates, Malacañang said yesterday.
“First of all, we said that the lack of service has no place in the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro told Palace reporters in Filipino.
“The President will order an investigation into this,” she disclosed.
Castro said services offered by any water utility company must not be compromised.
“The human need for clean water and an adequate supply of water should not just be for business. The needs of the people should be taken care of,” she said.
The issue of Prime Water’s supposedly poor services took a serious turn when Bulacan provincial officials urged the House of Representatives to look into the matter.
This prompted reporters to ask Castro if the Palace could still vouch for the competence of Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, given her links to the embattled water firm.
“Well, it depends on how she will perform. If we have this trust in her, well, we have to give it to her, but she should prove that she could perform as a leader,” she said
Villar is seeking a Senate seat under the administration’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate.
On Tuesday, House Assistant Majority Leader and Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun also called for a congressional investigation into the “poor service” the water concessionaire provides its customers in his district.
In a strongly worded social media post, he said that despite repeated chances and a long grace period, PrimeWater continues to fail its consumers.
“We have given you enough time to improve your services. During out last meeting, you [PrimeWater] said the pandemic was the reason behind the backlog in your development,” the congressman said in a mixture of Filipino and English.
In Subic, where Khonghun’s constituents have lodged numerous grievances, PrimeWater has been criticized for inconsistent water supply, poor service restoration after outages and failure to deliver promised improvements.