STO.TOMAS CITY- It says "care in every drop."
But that company slogan may not apply to hundreds of homeowners living inside San Antonio Heights Avida Ayala Land who are up in arms over what they call “unconscionably, mind-boggling” runaway water bills delivered to their doorsteps last week by Ayala-owned Manila Water-Philippine Ventures.
The homeowners were complaining about runaway water bills that are many times over compared to their previous water bills with some running up more than a hundred thousand pesos.
One particular homeowner family, who requested anonymity, got the shock of their lives after seeing their water bill month of February reach P113,942.51 even as their previous bill never go higher than P1,000.
Others also claimed their water bills doubled, tripled and quadrupled from their previous bills.
Formal complaint
As a result, the homeowners banded together promising not to settle the latest water bills sent to them by the water concessionaire, which previously informed all the villages inside San Antonio Avida Ayala Land, about the impending water rate hikes that triggered several meetings and consultations.
But this has gone too far.
As a result, the newly-installed Board of Directors of San Antonio Heights Phase 4A/B filed a formal complaint with Manila Water and invited the area manager Mr. Albert Glindo to a meeting of minds.
Of this writing (Friday, 03 March 2022), the BOD was awaiting the confirmation of his attendance to the scheduled 3 p.m. meeting of the BOD at the village’s Club House.
If the area manager can make it, the BOD plans to stream the meeting with the Manila Water representative live on the official homeowners association Facebook account as every homeowner is uptight, very eager to hear an explanation why their bills went so unreasonably high.
Aside from the P133K+ water bill, another homeowner also complained about why their bill suddenly climbed to P102,000.
But according to them, they refused to accept the said faulty billing and immediately handed it back to Manila Water’s bill delivery guy.
More complaints
Another homeowner is also fuming mad why they accrued a bill amounting P24,000 when their previous water consumption is no more than an amount payable of P500.
Villages inside AyalaLand include guarded communities San Antonio Heights Phases 1 to 4, and San Rafael Estates Phases.
These are all owned and developed by AyalaLand and later turned over to their respective homeowners' associations.
Take over of MWPV’s water services, with the exception of SAH Phase 1, inside the villages started in 2016, under a business name Estate Water in Sto. Tomas City.
Although similarly owned by the Ayalas of Makati City, MWPV signed an agreement with AyalaLand and its subsidiaries for the exclusive provision of water and used water services to all its horizontal greenfield and brownfield developments nationwide.
To date, Estate Water already operates and manages 16 greenfield and 60 brownfield Ayala Land projects across the country with 10,464 billed connections.
This partnership will parlay Manila Water’s technical expertise and operational excellence to the communities Ayala Land serves.
Fernando Zobel de Ayala is the chairman of Manila Water Philippine Ventures which operates all over the archipelago.
Other operations
After forming its Regional Business Developments (RBD) to ensure business development focus, MWP also operates now in Bulacan, the Clark Freeport Zone holding a 40-year concession with Clark Development Corporation (CDC) in Pampanga under the business name Clark Water.
Operations of which include a subzone covering a larger land area of 27,600 hectares with industrial, high-end IT corporations, and real estate locators. Clark Water also provides water supply to over 3,000 residents in a community adjacent to the industrial zone.
No doubt, Clark Water is a champion of operational excellence as shown in its water supply and used water facilities and metrics.
It has a total of 2,061 billed connections comprised mainly of industrial and commercial locators.
It has reached a 100 percent water service coverage and its used water service coverage rose to 99.7 percent, with non-revenue water (NRW) (end-of-period) hitting 6.7 percent in 2018 owing to its consistent leak detection, repair, and meter maintenance programs.
This operational efficiency greatly benefits customers who are able to minimize expenses due to loss of water and supports their drive towards water security.
And of course, this is what it says on its website and the other way around on the ground.
“Sobrang taas naman ng charges na ngayon ng Manila Water. Before we were only paying at least P250 per month but now it has gone up to more than one thousand pesos even when we have the same water consumption,” a homeowner inside San Antonio Heights Phase 4A/B said.
MWPV also expanded its coverage in the northern part of Luzon, particularly in the first-class municipality of Calasiao, Pangasinan covering 24 barangays with a total population of about 95,000 under a 25-year concession agreement with the Calasiao Water District (CWD) inked in 2017.
MWPV is also in Laguna under AAAWater Corporation which was established in 2010.
Laguna Water is Manila Water’s second public-private partnership outside the East Zone after Boracay Water.
Together with the Provincial Government of Laguna (PGL), the company endeavors to transform the lives of the communities it serves by bringing improvements in their water service and building the necessary enabling infrastructure.
The original concession was for the provision of water services in the cities of Biñan, Cabuyao, and Sta. Rosa for a period of 25 years until 2035.
As of 2018, the company has finalized the takeover of the water distribution systems in the municipalities of Calauan, Victoria, and Pagsanjan.
The municipality of Calauan has a population of over 80,500, which translates to an estimated 5,700 water service connections.
The municipality of Victoria has a population of about 40,000, which translates to an estimated 2,200 water service connections. Lastly, the municipality of Pagsanjan has a population of over 42,000, which translates to an estimated 6,200 water service connections.
Laguna Water’s revenues grew by 10 percent in 2018 to ₱1,340 million as a result of a 13-percent improvement in its average effective tariff to ₱27.81 per cubic meter.
MWPV is also in the Visayas and Mindanao thereby forming a virtual gauntlet of sorts in the public utility services that should have remained under the care of the government had not “privatization” became the name of the game of a past regime.