Investigate Tantiangco, GMA urged

The party-list group Akbayan urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday to order an investigation against Chief Regulator Rex Tantiangco on charges of corruption.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales has accused Tantiangco of colluding with officials of the concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. to force upon the public an additional P5-per cubic meter water hike.

In Malacañang, President Arroyo was reported to be unperturbed over alleged plans of the Maynilad to sue the government for failure to act on its water rate hike bid, saying she would let the law take its course

"It’s okay. If we lose the case, we’ll obey the law, we’ll obey the courts. I mean that is what democracy is all about. At least we will be guided by the courts," President Arroyo said.

"But in the meantime, we’ll try to see, we will have to try to do what we can do within and try to give as much justice and alleviation to the poor among the water consumers. If the law, if the courts have other ideas, we will respect those ideas," the President pointed out.

Maynilad has been complaining that its water rate hike petition has remained pending for six months now. The petition was filed with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) during the Estrada administration.

Earlier, Maynilad signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with the MWSS Board of Trustees allowing the concessionaire to raise water rates by July 1.

Civil society groups raised cries of protests, saying the MOC violated key provisions in the original 1997 concessionaire agreement which provided for public consultations and a comprehensive technical review of any petition for a water rate hike.

An irate President Arroyo cancelled the agreement, saying it has not yet been discussed by Cabinet Cluster G, which oversees public utilities.

Tantiangco has denied the charges, saying he was only doing his job.

As of press time, the nine-member Board of Trustees were deliberating on a resolution calling for the "courtesy resignation" of members of the Regulatory Office, including Tantiangco.

The Board of Trustees, headed by Public Works and Highways Secretary Simeon Datumanong, is supposed to oversee the Regulatory Office, a collegial body headed by Tantiangco.

But Jonas Bagas, who heads Akbayan youth, said the Board of Trustees itself should be held accountable for the allegedly anomalous agreement.

"The trustees knew that the terms and conditions of the MOC violated the 1997 concession agreement," he said. "They knew that the standard procedure is for the Regulatory Office to evaluate Maynilad’s petition for price increases. They knew that the procedure had been violated by Tantiangco’s maneuverings in the Regulatory Office. Yet they did not stop the MWSS Administrator from signing the MOC with Maynilad."

Bagas led yesterday a picket of Akbayan activists in front of the MWSS office in Old Balara, Quezon City while the Board of Trustees were meeting to discuss the proposed resolution.

Bagas said the public must know who are responsible for the highly-irregular proceedings at the MWSS Board. According to him, that Cabinet Cluster G had to be called to sort out the water hike mess reveals the failure of the regulatory process.