Palace blasts claims Duterte is pressuring water firms to favor allies

Malacañang on Thursday blasted speculations that President Rodrigo Duterte is putting the squeeze on water companies Maynilad, and Manila Water to give undue advantage to his allies, including the Villar family.

“That’s nonsense,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a text message to media.

Last Tuesday, the President slammed Manny Pangilinan-run Maynilad and Ayala-owned Manila Water over water concession agreements that Malacañang deemed onerous and disadvantageous to the government and the people.

In a speech in Malacañang, Duterte accused the concessionaires of making billions of pesos from their customers while treating water as a commodity instead of a public service.

Duterte, however, praised the Villars, owner of PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp., a water utility firm. The Villar family is headed by former Senator Manny Villar, who ran for the presidency in 2010 on a rags-to-riches narrative.

“Okay sa akin ‘yan. Pinaghirapan ninyo,” Duterte said.

“Villar started his housing at the sweat of his brow. Tumanda si Villar diyan sa trabaho na ‘yan, including Mrs. [Cynthia] Villar the senator. Hirap ‘yang kanila.”

Manny Villar is the Philippines' richest man, according to Forbes’ 2019 list of the World’s Billionaires released in March.

Villar, who used to help his mother sell seafood at a public market in Manila, now has a net worth of $6.5 billion. He ranked 317th worldwide.

He chairs the mall operator Starmalls and the home-builder company Vista and Landscapes. —Virgil Lopez/LBG, GMA News