Privatization is to blame for skyrocketing water prices and the inefficient water service in the country. Not to mention its ill effects on the livelihood of water district employees due to massive layoffs.
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 25, July 27-August 2, 2008
Privatization is to blame for skyrocketing water prices and the inefficient water service in the country. Not to mention its ill effects on the livelihood of water district employees due to massive layoffs.
In the recently concluded Action-Learning and International Conference Against Water Privatization, a two-day seminar-workshop held at the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s (UPD) Balay Kalinaw, poor water condition, inefficient yet costly water servicing, among others, were identified as primary problems that have arisen from privatization of water utilities.
“The promises of privatization, like lowering water costs and improved services, have been proven untrue. It has also resulted in massive layoffs among employees,” said Ferdinand Gaite, national president of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), in a protest held in front of the former Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) office in Katipunan, Quezon City, as the culmination of the said conference.
In the MWSS’s experience in 1999, more than half of the 7,000 employees had been laid off, or voluntarily resigned from their jobs because of the uncertainty of their status in their work due to privatization.
