Tulfo hits rebranded water firm for unimproved services

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Raffy Tulfo has been receiving numerous complaints from consumers of Hiraya Water Corp., formerly PrimeWater, who claimed the service remained poor despite the rebranding of the company.

In December 2025, Crystal Bridges acquired PrimeWater, with the transaction approved by the Philippine Competition Commission in April this year.

On June 10, PrimeWater changed its name to Hiraya Water Corp. and transferred the location of its principal office.

Despite the change in ownership and corporate identity, consumers continue to suffer from poor water supply, high water bills, limited hours of service and muddy-looking water that is unsafe for drinking, Tulfo said.

“PrimeWater has a new owner, but the complaints continued. We will not stop looking into this until the problem is solved,” he said.

“To be fair, Crystal Bridges did not create PrimeWater’s problems. But when you acquire a company, you also acquire not only its assets and revenues, but also the existing contracts, debts and obligations, pending cases and unfinished commitments as well as its angry and thirsty consumers,” he added.

He noted that the complaints raised by the affected consumers of Hiraya Corp. appear to be a recurring issue, with some of them having endured years of problems under PrimeWater.

Among them are the more than 250,000 residents of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, who have been reeling from inadequate water supply, as well as people in Batangas City who complained of Hiraya’s poor service.

Tulfo said the name Hiraya Water Corp. has created a confusion as a previous “Hiraya” is associated with a water-sector entity, yet the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still approved the company’s corporate name.

He said some consumers who intend to file complaints against Hiraya Water Corp. have instead been sending their complaints to Hiraya Water, causing inconvenience to the complainants.

Tulfo urged the SEC to require Hiraya Water Corp. to change its corporate name in order not to inconvenience Hiraya Water.