Some one sent me an email in response to my publishing, “Does Maynilad Hate God”. Although the letter is well written, it is not based on fact. It also suggests that this person May be associated with Maynilad although he states otherwise. You read it and decide. This is the response that I made to him. His entire email is included in a paragraph by paragraph rebuttal by me. I admit to changing a couple of typos I made while responding to him so you don’t think I am completely illiterate. It is a bad habit of mine when I am passionate about the subject. I believe I have fixed everything but don’t tell me if I didn’t! 🙂

Hi,
Thanks for answering. I will respond because your answer is reasonable but not necessarily true.

Your first paragraph says:
first: about the p50,000 re-connection fee, I think it includes all the unpaid balance and penalties of the previous owner. it will be charged to you if you are going to use the old water meter.. the second amount (p18,000) is a discounted price since the commissioner of MAYNILAD has the power invested to him by MAYNILAD’s charter to forgive or recompute the amount for unpaid balances given that it will be a different person that will use the same water meter. So technically the MAYNILAD is not trying to rob you..they are just following the rules and regulation and also they don’t hate GOD..

In one sense you are right. The charge was for the last renters unpaid balance. However, that went on for a couple of years until I sent a negotiator down with the Landlord to relieve her of that responsibility. The offer of replacing the meter and charging 18,000 was well after the negotiated old bill and was never offered to her until recently.

Btw, your telling me they don’t hate God is just your opinion. Trying to charge a non-profit agency that does not use an exceptional amount of water,such as for manufacturing or the like is borderline criminal. There is no justified or legitimate reason for so doing it.

Your second paragraph: second: when they say that they are willing to reconnect the service at residential rate, I think they are referring to the land lady since most of the units are used as a residential home. But you tried to take advantage of this and have the service reconnected at residential status. This is a clear violation for you are using the place as a place of worship or as a church and not for residential purposes. The contract is invalid because it is for residential customers and your place do not qualify as a residential place. So the MAYNILAD is again just following the rules and regulation when they charged you p1,200 which I guess is the minimum charge for commercial customers.

You said I “tried to take advantage” You don’t know me sir and neither do I know you. I may take advantage of a sale or a special offer but I came to this Country to help the poorest of poor , giving up my life and living a basic life with only essentials supplied. To say that I would “take advantage of anyone is a disrespectful slur to my character and I take exception. You should evaluate your words before saying bad about someone else. The very fact that I have on record, a complaint that they are charging me “as a Church” a commercial rate when I believe that they should not, and their response that I will have a residential rate is their words, in their language.

Your third paragraph states: third: about the issue of discrimination. It is discrimination if that policy was just added when you applied for service but it was not. That certain policy is already existing since the creation of MAYNILAD therefor it is not directed to you and not discriminating you and your church.

You may not be familiar with the constitution which was written by General MacArthur and is like the U.S. Constitution. there is no start or stop dates for discrimination. If that were true, slavery would never have been abolished. Discrimination, when it is uncovered is to be fought against vigorously. President Aquino has stated that in the absence of corruption poverty does not exist. (sic) So whether we are fighting against some established discrimination or new, we fight all the same.

Your fourth paragraph states: I guess this kind of issues arises to the fact that sometimes we tend to ignore the policies, rules and regulation. We prefer to believe what other says. I do believe that MAYNILAD is created by virtue of a charter. The same charter also includes the policies, rules and regulation that the corporation has to follow and surely you can understand why you are being charged p1200.

Absolutely not. We have had charters in the U.S. which said that no blacks were allowed. Those Charters were either revoked or amended. Charters by the way are granted by the Government on behest of it’s citizens. So the citizens should have the final vote in all matters which are discriminatory or illegal. I fail to understand what you mean when you say, we ignore policies,rules and regs, as we received no such paperwork except a contract for RESIDENTIAL services. I imagine you respect contracts. By the way, for your information, our Church uses much less water than the minimum of other residential houses. In addition to that, Maynilad supplies us with water, only two hours per day when all the surrounding areas have water pretty much 24 and 7 yet the same minimum rate applies to them. This area that is not supplied with water is one of the poorest of poor areas in Payatas. the water is full force down the road at the local schools, passes our sector and goes on to full service in Amlac. Perhaps we will be able to get Congress to make an investigation.It also seems to be discrimination against the poor.

Finally, your last two statements:
MAYNILAD do not hate GOD.. They are just following their policies..

And their policies are discriminatory. (see above) Once again, your assessment of whether they hate God or not is based on What? Mine is based on a clear policy over charging anyone who uses a place for worship. By the way, that statement is so broad that if challenged in Court it will be thrown out as that could suggest if anyone prays or reads the scriptures in their home or has a home Bible study they will be charged commercial rate.

and by the way, I do not work for MAYNILAD nor I have relatives of friends working for them..I am just a student..

I must congratulate you if you are ‘just a student” as your command of the English language is very good with a couple of exceptions. As I do not know who you are I can only assume. I would say you are either a law student looking to debate or you most certainly are linked to Maynilad in some way. I assume that because you mentioned some things in your email that only Maynilad knew and was not published. Also, you have such a desire to support Maynilad in the face of obvious discrepancies both in their policies as well as their contracts with us and with the physical evidence we posses. the third choice is you are anti-religion or just anti Baptist and are showing it this way. I am just guessing.

I am not a lawyer but after conferring with some great minds, I have been convinced that this is a slam dunk case and would be a major victory for religious rights as well as the rights of the poor.

Don’t feel bad. People, especially the poor, can only take lies and cheating for so long. Look at people power.

Thanks for writing.