After assailing Manila Water and Maynilad, President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to look into the P65-billion concession agreement for the operations of the Light Rail Transit 1 that was also awarded to the Ayala and Pangilinan group.
In his speech Friday, the President said he had sought the review of the government contract for LRT 1 operations after learning the involvement of the Ayalas and the Pangilinans, whom he had repeatedly slammed over the 1997 water concession deal.
“They have a lot of money. That’s too much. They are getting most of the contracts, LRT. I will look into it. They are also controlling it,” President Duterte said.
The Light Rail Manila Corp. is a joint venture company of the Metro Pacific Light Corp. under Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investment Corp. and the Ayala-led AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.
In 2015, the company began running the operations and maintenance of LRT 1 which stretches from the Muñoz station in Quezon City to the Baclaran station in Pasay City, after the Department of Transportation and the Light Rail Transit Authority awarded them a 32-year concession agreement.
Last week, the President vowed to “correct” all government contracts before he steps down from office in 2022 as he sought to revise the water concession deals with Maynilad and Manila Water.
He specifically tasked the Office of the Solicitor General and the Department of Justice to check all government’s existing contracts with private firms.
His orders stemmed from his ire against the two major water firms, especially after the Singapore-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ordered the Philippine government to pay P3.4 billion and P7.4 billion to Maynilad and Manila Water respectively, for their supposed losses.
He also claimed there were “onerous” provisions in the 1997 water contract, which include the non-interference of the state in setting water rates, the nonpayment of corporate income tax and compensation for their losses.
Since then, he has repeatedly slammed Ayala and Pangilinan in his public speeches, whom he had described as the “biggest fish in corruption” in the country. Ayala chairs Manila Water while Pangilinan chairs Maynilad.
“They have entered many deals with the government but this one is really the biggest rip-off of all. And that contract was never shown to the Filipino people,” he said in his latest speech.
The DOJ has been crafting a new concession deal for Maynilad and Manila Water and the two water firms have expressed their willingness to cooperate and resolve the matter.