New deals won’t kill Maynilad, Manila Water — DOJ chief

The government's new contracts with Metro Manila's two water concessionaires will not "kill" them, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday.

Guevarra said the new deals will no longer have old provisions that the government had considered "highly disadvantageous," but instead, will be "more equitable."

"A gun will kill you. It's not something that we will offer to the water concessionaires," Guevarra said in an interview over ANC television.

"It's something that will give life, life in the sense that it will be a better contract. You remove all illegal provisions, you put in terms that will be more equitable to the government and to the people so that's a good contract. It's not something that will kill the water concessionaires."

In a 24 Oras report on Wednesday, Guevarra added that the contracts could be ready within six months. 

The government's decades-old concession agreements with Maynilad and Manila Water underwent review after the two firms won separate multibillion-peso arbitration cases abroad. The review revealed the contracts contained "onerous" provisions that resulted in the government defeat, officials said.

Both water concessionaires said they will no longer pursue the arbitral awards.

Guevarra said he believes the water firms themselves will probably agree to the new contracts, considering these will be purged of allegedly disadvantageous terms.

He said these provisions include a prohibition on the government from interfering in rate-setting and a requirement to indemnify them in case of such an interference.

President Rodrigo Duterte has offered new concession agreements to the two companies, but Malacañang said an acceptance will not guarantee that they will not be prosecuted over the old "onerous" contracts.

Should they refuse to accept, the President will order their present contracts canceled, mandate the nationalization of water services in their respective areas of operation, and prosecute those involved in the current arrangement, said presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News