THE reported failure of PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. to efficiently supply water at competitive prices is a fundamental one, and the context makes that failure hard to justify. Remember, we’re already in the 21st century, when water delivered by private concessionaires is, in theory, efficient and supplied 24/7 (except for occasional and scheduled interruptions) and not a civilizational luxury.
PrimeWater, in theory, does not have the luxury of failing to fulfill its mandate. When it took over the functions of local water districts across broad swaths of Luzon from the state-run Local Water Utilities Administration, it was mandated to upgrade services. Privatization — and this applies universally — is supposed to lead to improvements, or else the whole rationale for turning over public entities to the private sector vanishes. Every private, for-profit firm taking over a service previously provided by a public or quasi-public entity is, on paper, committed to provide better, if not excellent services. The idea of privatization caught fire in the 1980s under the Washington Consensus precisely because of the widely held belief that the private sector can deliver basic services better than inefficient, lumbering state entities.
But instead of efficiency, the track record compiled by PrimeWater in its service areas reads like a horror story, according to published reports and media accounts, starting with alleged irregular water deliveries, poor water delivery (whenever the actual delivery takes place), poor water quality and exorbitant water fees.
The firm’s failure to perform technical upgrades, which it reportedly promised to several service areas, in retrospect, looks like a minor omission in comparison to its more grievous failures. Watching the anguished faces of top Bulacan officials explain with all helplessness the multiple failures of PrimeWater is depressing. These officials, for one reason or another, deliberately skipped touching on the ownership of PrimeWater. In a sense, that timidity was expected. Who, indeed, are the local government unit (LGU) officials brave enough to publicly castigate the wealthiest family in the country — the Villars — that own the company?
These cowed LGU officials, fully aware of the power hierarchy in the country, know this fully well. In this billionaire-worshipping and oligarchic country where a few families hold both massive private wealth and immense public power, the small LGU fries cannot fight the Croesus-rich, who happen to be politically very powerful. And on top of these few families is the Villar family. Patriarch Manny Villar was recently named again by global wealth tracker Forbes as the richest person in the Philippines. He is the same Villar who served as speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate president.
Villar retired from politics after losing in the 2010 presidential elections, but his family’s immense public power was sustained by his proxies. His wife Cynthia was senator for 12 years, and only term limits barred her from seeking reelection. She now vies to reclaim her old congressional seat in Las Piñas. Their son Mark is currently a senator, while daughter Camille is running to claim her mother’s Senate seat. The incumbent senator, who once served in Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet and his sister are more known for their wealth rather than their policy-writing credentials and ability to write trailblazing legislation. But as we all know, this is a nation dedicated to worshipping billionaires, and belonging to the richest family in the country is more than enough to make up for any shortfall in intellectual credentials and policy chops.
No other family in the country is situated in that unreachable perch: a family holding massive private wealth and immense public power. No wonder the two top Bulacan provincial officials who explained the reported failure of PrimeWater to deliver water to several LGUs in the province gingerly tiptoed on the firm’s ownership structure.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order to look into PrimeWater’s alleged egregious and multiple failures across most of its service areas, most of them at the heart of the country’s most economically productive areas, is an indication that the company is not, after all, beyond the reach of the regulatory authorities. But is the LWUA, which was ordered to investigate and was the same agency that ceded management of the embattled water districts to PrimeWater, up to the job?
There are suggestions for a deeper, more expansive probe into the failures of PrimeWater; Sen. Risa Hontiveros wants a Senate inquiry and the House’s Makabayan bloc wants a probe. Hontiveros and Makabayan, unlike the timid Bulacan officials, will not be cowed by the wealth and power of the Villars.
History will be made if a House probe on PrimeWater takes place. It will demonstrate that families holding massive private wealth and wielding immense public power will be made accountable for their alleged transgressions, a rare occurrence in this billionaire-worshipping nation.
Last word. Tomorrow, May 12, the nation will go to the polls to vote, most critically for 12 Senate candidates out of dozens. Those who love democracy will start with four names with the number 5 attached — Bam Aquino at No. 5, Luke Espiritu at No. 25, Heidi Mendoza at No. 45 and Francis Pangilinan at No. 51 — then fill out the rest with bets from various movements. Let us vote out the clowns and the “Mr. Malasakits.”