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.

When we first arrived there was a conflict with Maynilad because the last tenant had a leak and owed them p50,000. They wanted us to pay their bill before we could get the water turned on. Imagine that. They wanted us to pay someone else’s bill.

Anyway we went to Maynilad and eventually they forgot about trying to rob us but then they had another way to do it. They wanted somewhere around p18,00 to turn on our water. They said they had to charge us that much because we were a Church.

That’s strange. I can see if we were profiting off the water or used an inordinate amount which caused them to have to spend more pumping it to us but no. It was just because we were a Church.

So I decided not to do business with them. Recently (within the last two months) they approached my landlady with a deal. For p1,000 they would install our meter at the residential rate. Great. (I have a copy of that contract) So now we get water about two hours per day for minimum residential rate.

That was short lived as they sent us a bill for over p1,200 for the first months water. Mind you that we use less than most residences and they only supply it two hours a day, mostly when we are not here. So I sent them a email to which they respond: —— Original Message ——

Received: Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:38:32 PM EDT

From: “Customer Helpdesk” <customer.helpdesk@mayniladwater.com.ph>

To: <7101@usa.net>

Subject: RE: MAYNILAD website community report-CA56345373

Dear Father,

Good morning!

Your Contract/account No is CA56345373, residential rate.

Your bill for June 2011 is P99.03  (5cum) which is minimum charge.

Your other concern was already endorsed to our Fairview/

Commonwealth Business Area.

We will get back to you for the latest update.

Regards,

Lorie

So finally I think they are now doing what;s right until I received a two month bill for over p2,400.

So I sent this:

I met again with my friendly Maynilad representatives and although it is nice to converse with them, it gets us no where.

The conversation ended the same way as the last time with no new hope. I did pick up a couple of tidbits such as there are approximately 10,000 people who do not get a regular supply of water here in Payatas.

I also learned that Maynilad is looking to go public  by selling stock.

I’m not sure but would that affect the decision to supply water to the poor? Perhaps if I were buying stock I would not want to see a deficit of spending for poor people. I would want to make money not spend it,

I wrote to the United Nations today. Perhaps someone there will figure out why Maynilad whose slogan is “Water for All” does not live up to that slogan.

In the mean time, if you think Maynilad should supply steady water to the poor and infirm, drop them an email at:”CustomerHelpdesk” <customerhelpdesk@mayniladwater.com.ph>

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.

It;s so close I can taste it---NOT!

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!

As a matter of fact, the La Mesa Dam and reservoir is directly across the road from every affected area in Payatas and as you will see from my window, it is very close.

Water,Water, everywhere...(Except Payatas)

So then why does Payatas have such a hard time getting water?

This reservoir is reserved for the rich areas such as that of Manila and Makati. The water supplied to us is from another reservoir which is below us. In order to supply the northern portions of Payatas with 24 hour a day water  (The kind most people are used to)  They would have to install a pumping station something they have not done for years.

So, you might ask, how do we get our water?

Maynilad employees turn valves. It seems they have enough pressure to supply one area at a time so they will turn all the valves off and turn one on at a time so we can have water.

Here is a copy of their latest communication with me:

Dear Reverend Wilson,

Maginhawang hapon!

We wish to inform you that four control valves have already been installed at Villa Garcia to improve the water supply in your area. Since the same is located at a high portion, 24/7 availability of water is not yet possible. However, strong water pressure is observed from 3pm to 7am. This was witnessed by your land lady, Mrs. Murzo. In view of this, we suggest you store water during the said period.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this matter may have caused you. We hope to have informed you accordingly.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

MJ

MJ happily tells us that we have the availability of water between 3pm and 7pm. What does this mean? Watch.

First off, I am not usually here during those hours. So that means I should drive 1/2 hour to Payatas every day to “See” if they turned the valve, fill up everything I can find and then drive home.

Then they suggested that I “store water” you know, how you might do in an emergency situation if you were going to have to shut off your water for repairs. Unlike that situation it would mean that you would collect pails, buckets and containers and put them all over your house to “store” water. You will do that every day.  If you are old, crippled, whatever, you must do that. I asked if the President of Maynilad does that but received no answer.

Their other alternative was that we use a water tank. In other words to use their service (service???) we should buy equipment to store their water.

It’s kind of like, “Let them eat cake” as this place is poverty stricken.

They fail to realize that the privilege to distribute water and make a profit on it is a serious one. Why don’t they hook us up to the reservoir across the road or put in a water pump that can supply us with water?

Can you spell corruption? What government agency oversees Maynilad and looks the other way?

Can you help? Call , write your elected officials and find out where the buck stops. This is why this Country is not great like it could be. There is no motivation to serve and to do what is right.