Solutions?

The other day three men visited me from Maynilad. They all were nicely dressed in their Maynilad polos and were actually, very nice people.

It stops there. Other than it being a friendly conversation, nothing was accomplished.

They came armed with maps of the area and proceeded to tell me about what I already knew with an additional revelation.

They told me that the water that is supplied to Payatas comes from the South West, and continues past where we are and on to the the Village of Amlac where they get about twenty hours of water per day.

So I said to them, “Are you saying that you are supplying water to Amlac with water that is closed to us , to allow it to flow to them?” He replied, “Yes.”

He then told me that it will require a new pumping station to supply the water needed to us. He also said that it had been proposed for 2015.

Why does Amlac get the water and we don’t although we are closer? It is because there are less poor people there and so the discrimination continues.

I gave them two proposals. The first one was to build the pumping station now. The owners of Maynilad have plenty of water. They get it from having the privilege of distributing the water. That privilege was given to them by the government which included the people of Payatas. Hmmmm?

The second one was to take water from LaMesa and let it flow to us. Install shut offs so the water does not go further south then necessary. After all, we are a scant few yards away from the reservoir.

As of now they have not responded. They did give me a proposal. I should pay for a water tank and the problem would be solved. Even if I could afford one which I can not, what about the entire population of those who can not?

So once again it’s too bad for the poor as the President of Maynilad gets to flush his toilet and run his shower and perhaps wash his Mercedes or whatever he has.

The bottom line is that Maynilad does not think poor people are a good investment. While these poor people take care of the largest waste management program for free and get a mere pittance for their work when they try to sell what  things they have picked. Meanwhile  the Government collects fees from the trucks that come from all over to dump at the dump site.

The poor people in Payatas have been abused long enough. Let’s get some justice now.

Please call your politicians. You know who. the ones who promised everything just before the last election.

Payatas, it is time to rise up!