.
y
Melvin Gascon
DmelvingasconlNQ
lawmaker on Wednesday called
n the government to give re-
mds to consumers in Metro
Ianila from fines imposed by the
lrpreme Court on the Metropoti-
ur Watenuorks and
Sewerage
fstem (MWSS) and its mro warer
lstribtrtors for violating the
[ilippine Clean Water Act
In a privilege speech, Buhay
3p. Jose Atienza Jr. said
engress should cancel the con-
tracts between the MWSS and
the two distributors
Water Services Inc. -Maynilad
afid Manila
Water Co.-if they failed to
comply with the court order.
"They have been ordered,
they should foltow. If they fail,
we should cancel the contract.
The certainty of punishment is
the best deterrent to the com-
mission of crime," Atienza said.
On Tuesday, the Supreme
court held the Mwss, Maynilad
and Manila Water "jointly and
severally liable" for violation of
the Clean Water Act and or-
dered them to pay Pgzr,464,t84
each for failing to connect
homes and business establish-
ments to the sewerafe system.
fe{
Sewage ,
Atienza said consumers or'er
the years had been paying a Supreme Court for doing justice
sewage fee, amounting to 20
percent of their monthly watef
bills, for service that had never
been rendered.
i'We have asked ouf .lawyers
to look into possible ways of re-
on\ga-Agtl
funding consumers for the zo
percent sewage fee that they
have been paying since ryg7 for
a service that has not been ren-
dered by the water concession-
aires," he said.
A forper environment sec-
retary, Atienza hailed 'the
to consumers, who he said had
been "abused" by the MWSS
and the two distributors for
more than zz years.
He expressed disgust over
how the MWSS and the two com-
panies defied his order as envi-
ronment secret4ry in April zoog
to abide bythe telms of their con-
cession agreement for the instal-
lation of sewage treaffnentplants.
"Ipstead of complying, thdy
hailed us all the way to the
Supreme Court, and for many
years managed to dodge the
law. But [on Ttresday] justice
prevailed," Atienza said.
Bayan Muna chair Neri Col-
menares said the fines should
also go to consumers because
they were the ones who shoul-
dered the expenses of the con-
cessionaires throu$h the
sewage and sanitation feeg.
Fees mlsused
"Obviously, Maynilad and
Manila Waier are not using
these fees for their intended
purpose," Colmenares said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Is-
agani Zarate expressed' hope
that the decision would make
the t\Mo concessionaires take
environmental protection and
sanitationseriously. Ne
1'
I