Battling the oligarchy

PISSED by the verdict of Singapore-based Arbitration Court that directed the Philippine government to compensate the MWSS concessionaires billions of pesos for alleged losses they incurred, an irate President Rodrigo Duterte issued a stern warning he will charge Maynilad and Manila Water top honchos of economic sabotage.

Early in his presidency, Duterte pledged that he will take care of peace and order and corruption in the government bureaucracy and will leave business to business. In his braggadocio, Manny Pangilinan issued unnecessary snide remarks - telling Duterte and his Cabinet to leave the telecom to the players for they lack the knowledge of the industry. While indeed Duterte, a lawyer by profession and a politician for nearly 23 years, may have little knowledge of the nuances of the industry and its dizzying pace of technological evolution, he knew that the Telecommunications Industry in the Philippines is a duopoly of PLDT and Globe.

When Duterte wanted an accounting of frequencies available for a 3rd Telco player, he was advised that these were allocated to various telecom players but had been absorbed by PLDT/Smart and Globe Telecom. Recall that San Miguel Corporation had wanted to invest in telecoms with an Australian Telecom firm Telstra as a partner and bought a moribund telecom along with a strategic spectrum. SMC had bought Liberty Broadcasting Corporation and along with it the 700 MHz assigned to the company. The acquisition was placed under Vega Telecom.  When SMC’s partnership with the Aussie firm went sour, the former did not surrender the spectrum but instead sold this to the duopoly for a whooping P70-billion. The government demanded that the spectrum be surrendered to the government anyway.

Prior to the SMC and the duopoly deal, government through the National Telecommunications Commission also required PLDT to surrender 10 MHz of the 2100 MHz band of Gokongwei’s Digitel telecom company which was acquired by its subsidiary - Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises or CURE. Pangilinan, however, demanded P3-billion from the government as settlement. No settlements were arrived at until it caught up with the Duterte administration.

As I said, the President started to smell a dead rat in the allocation of radio spectrum resources which he learned later is a virtual monopoly of the duopoly. Duterte then asked PLDT to return the frequency assigned to Digitel.  The response of Pangilinan was true to form.  Still smarting from his first sarcastic message to Duterte who just assumed office as President,  Pangilinan tried another slur: “I will return the frequency provided you pay PLDT P3-billion”.

I remembered distinctly where and how Duterte answered Pangilinan. In a speech during the anniversary celebration of NEDA at its main headquarters in Jose Escriva st. in Ortigas, Pasig City, the President ordered Pangilinan to return the frequency and pay the government otherwise he will dispatch a team of BIR examiners to look into his firms. The following day Pangilinan meekly complied.

The dubious contract entered into by MWSS and the concessionaires are well within the expertise of Duterte being a lawyer. He sensed something is terribly wrong upon knowing why the government has to pay the concessionaires for alleged losses they incur. Instinctively as a lawyer he personally reviewed the contract and discovered how onerous and lopsided were the provisions that he blew his top. Later he learned that for years consumers are being billed by the concessionaires and made to pay for a sewerage project which was inexistent.

But there is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Late in 2016, I Googled MWSS and was aghast to read about the extent of corruption in the agency. Its function as a regulatory body of the concessionaires had been effectively caponized. The members of the Board of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System are paid by the concessionaires. Their monthly take and perks are quite hefty I learned later that there was a mad scramble to be on ‘board’ when the Duterte took over the helms of the government. Thus, the first time President Duterte inquired about the impending shortage of water supply in Metro Manila MWSS even attempted to defend the concessionaires.

Since the President is into the warpath, he might as well drag MWSS and the Local Water Utilities Authority (LWUA) into the chopping board. Why LWUA? That could be answered with a question. How come LWUA allowed the sale of dozens of water utilities/districts and to whom? President Duterte will be surprised to discover a lot more and he should be prepared for some disappointment.

Water, a  vital natural resource, is the lifeblood that strengthens the stranglehold of the tentacles of oligarchs. A Department of Water can take over the functions of MWSS, LWUA and the National Water Regulatory Board. But that for how long? Will an emergency power granted to the President by Congress solve that? The last time emergency power was recommended to solve the horrendous traffic at Edsa, the lawmakers literally slept on it and Duterte gave up on it. Ironically, Duterte gets unconditional support in his war against the oligarchs from one of the pillars of the opposition, Lito Atienza. But where are the rest of those who claim are champions of the rights of the poor? The professional street marchers and barkers? The Church? The running priests? Why are they so conveniently silent in this battle against oligarchy?

A word of advice for those who want to test the mettle of the President, the man you earlier referred to as one from the boondocks. He is actually the first Tanodbayan investigator assigned in Mindanao to probe into crimes and corruption in the bureaucracy. Later he was appointed Assistant City Fiscal is known today as Assistant City Prosecutor. So there you are. The members of the oligarchy who had been smarting and lording it over politicians and decision-makers for having underwritten their political campaign and vices, you better settle your debts to the government and reform. Haven’t you heard Digong initial admonition? “Not during my watch. Huwag sa panahon ko”.