Manny Pangilinan and his foreign backers and financiers, who have interests in LRT, MRT and Maynilad, must be grinning widely right now.
With the public still reeling from the huge LRT/MRT fare hike, Maynilad Water Services Inc. announced that it will soon implement a significant increase in its basic charge. The average increase is P3.06 per cubic meter. What makes this rate hike as awfully unjust as the LRT/MRT fare hike is that 65% of the increase (about P1.99 per cu. m) will be used to recover the income tax of Maynilad. This was disclosed by the water firm’s Chief Finance Officer as quoted in a news report.
This means that hapless consumers will continue to pay for the corporate income tax of a highly profitable big business that has been cashing in on a basic service. In 2013, Maynilad reported a core income of P7.53 billion. (See chart below) Since 2010, its core income has been growing by more than 16% annually. Maynilad’s rising profits are mainly pushed by ever increasing water rates due to periodic and automatic adjustments allowed in its Concession Agreement with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). Since taking over in 1997, Maynilad’s water rates have already ballooned by more than 500 percent. Since 2010, its all-in tariff (basic charge plus other charges) has jumped by more than 40 percent, which could further go up when the higher basic charge is implemented.
Image from Metro Pacific (Core earnings represents earnings associated with business operations, and exclude earnings from goodwill, gains or losses from nonrecurring items, pension gains, legal settlements or employee stock options; source: Investopedia)
But while it has been earning billions of pesos from onerous and skyrocketing water rates, Maynilad wants to further milk the consumers dry by passing on their obligation to pay income tax to their customers. How does Maynilad justify this patently scandalous practice? A direct statement from its Chief Finance Officer: “Siyempre ang negosyante, ini-invest niya ‘yung pera niya para may return. So ang usapan dito, magkano ba ang tubo na dapat kitain ng pera na ‘yun. Importante ‘yung computation ng taxes kasi kailangan natin malaman magkano ‘yung net na iuuwi.”
To recall, the MWSS-Regulatory Office (RO) disallowed Maynilad and Manila Water Co. from including income tax recovery in their computation of the basic charge. Maynilad and Manila Water separately challenged the decision through arbitration led by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), a dispute resolution mechanism established by the Concession Agreement. Manila Water is still awaiting the result of its own arbitration case as of this posting.
More than eight million Maynilad customers are supposed to enjoy a reduction in their monthly water bill. In its decision last September 2013, the MWSS-RO ordered Maynilad to cut its basic charge by P1.46 per cu. m (which shall be distributed in five tranches at P0.29 per cu. m. per year) Now instead of a rollback, consumers are faced with a big rate increase. (Download the MWSS-RO resolution here)
The income tax is actually just one of the various issues raised by the MWSS-RO against Maynilad and Manila Water. Another is the P1 per cu. m. currency exchange rate adjustment (CERA), which the regulators ordered Maynilad to discontinue charging to its customers since a similar recovery mechanism – the foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA), which recently also pushed water rates up – is already being imposed by Maynilad. But apparently, because of the arbitration, the CERA will remain in Maynilad’s water bill, and is now tucked in the basic charge.
Arbitration further exposes the privatization of MWSS, the region’s largest public-private partnership (PPP) deal in the water sector, as greatly anti-people and contrary to public interest. The Maynilad case clearly shows that effective public regulation is a sham in a program like PPP that is heavily biased to private corporate interests. The MWSS privatization was designed precisely to undermine government regulation as decisions are ultimately made by an arbitration panel where the concessionaire and a representative of foreign business interests have a say. ###
For background/additional information and discussion:
PNoy and the Big Water monopolies
Water arbitration: Issues and implications
Water rate hikes: Maynilad, Manila Water want P153B in future income tax passed on to consumers
Manila Water, Maynilad’s multi-million “pa-pogi” also charged to consumers
Maynilad, Manila Water ads further expose anti-consumer MWSS privatization
A Radical's Nut 
Reblogged this on Teddy Casiño and commented:
With Maynilad’s insistence on increasing their rates following a favorable ruling from the international arbitration panel, its good to know just what we’ll be paying higher rates for – their income taxes.
I Know You Been too busy to read this but somehow I’ll hope you may address this one time because of monopoly we don’t have any rights to choose what company provider for our utilities or services we may choose. on Current MERALCO on water MAYNILAD because of our area is on Northern part
It was Very Disgusting
Look how Maynilad service their dear customer they cut the supply of our water because we don’t pay our 3 months bill that cost Php 358.37 without any letter of disconnection like on Meralco they include it on a piece of their billing which a thermal paper that easily vanishing its info. and they never notice first the owner of that meter that they will cut the supply of water, they cut the supply early morning without informing the owner . Where is the justice on that, the miscellaneous fee for re-connection is higher than the cost of the amount we consume what the .. we been paying on them right But this is the service they give
(Lesson to us never trust Maynilad again even we consume that cost of 1 peso magkakadarapa pa kaming magbayad baka mag charge Andaman ng 500 up )
I know we have Fault but its was to much for us to wait for 2 days for re-connection and an amount to pay miscellaneous without any Prior notice to owner is realy un acceptable for small people like us