By Charles Lester M. De Guzman
In Teresa, Rizal, many residents face a daily dilemma: Should they take a bath and risk running out of water for cooking and cleaning?
This is a problem that Jorlyn Tamsi and her fellow residents face on a daily basis. For them, rationing water for daily use has become a way of life, the volume they manage to store day-to-day often insufficient due to regular service interruptions by water distribution company PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp.
But the problem is not exclusive to residents of the picturesque town. With 75 water districts under its control, the corporation has cascaded the same misery of poor water quality and unreliable service nationwide.
PrimeWater is a private water service company owned by one of the most well-known political families in the Philippines, the Villars. It won joint venture agreements with local water districts to provide service to over 1.7 million households across 161 cities and municipalities. It is considered one of the most prominent players in the water service industry in the country, having operations and services in multiple areas across the archipelago. With such large-scale operation, expectations for high-quality and reliable service are high.
Yet the public’s complaints tell a different story.
Investigating PrimeWater
In April 2025, public criticism erupted on social media and in the news after consumers in Bulacan complained that their water is both muddy and stinky, if it pours from their faucets at all due to low pressure or frequent service interruptions. With such bad service, the residents said they are forced to pay the high PrimeWater service fees. Similar complaints then poured from all over the Philippines.
Growing public outrage forced the national government to break its silence on the matter, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself ordering a probe into PrimeWater’s JVAs (joint venture agreements) and tasking the LWUA (Local Water Utilities Administration) as the lead investigating agency. LWUA issued a regulatory call to local water districts with existing JVAs with PrimeWater to submit contract documents and recent annual performance reviews of their partners. They wish to to identify service delivery gaps, contractual violations, and enforcement issues, they said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros also called for a Senate investigation on the “disadvantageous” water agreements with private water concessionaires in a May 5 press release, demanding accountability. “No one is too big to be investigated. Kailangan nang silipin ang mga water concessionaires na ito dahil masyadong maraming kababayan natin ang uhaw na uhaw na sa maayos na serbisyo mula sa kanila lalo na ngayong tag-init,” she said.
Such calls for investigations figured in nicely in the electoral bickering as the last midterm elections neared. The Villars jumped the administration ship and transferred allegiance to the Duterte camp, and it that worked. Former Las Pinas representative Camille Villar had enough votes to take her mother Cynthia’s place at the Senate and ensuring there are two senators from a single family.
By mid-June, LWUA had reported that they had concluded their investigation. It said its initial findings confirmed major flaws in PrimeWater’s service delivery record. The agency cited complaints by affected resident as well as documentary evidence related to the joint venture agreements between local water district and PrimeWater. According to LWUA administrator Patrick Salonga, the investigation proved lapses and flaws in PrimeWater’s fulfillment of responsibilities. “There have been violations of the contracts with regard to investments. Medyo nagkulang sa investment, ‘yung delivery on supply of water,” he said.
A dose of their own medicine
It is now the time for the Villars to be abandoned as almost several water districts have signified intent to terminate their agreements with PrimeWater. They said the corporate giant is failing to deliver optimal service based on their agreement and prompting even more investigation into the company’s unfair business practices.
But is it just water that both the executive and legislative branches should look into?
Water is only one of the many services that the government has privatized and the people have suffered long enough from the ill effects of the scheme. The privatization of water, power generation and distribution, and other vital services have engendered lack of transparency and accountability. It also engendered utter disregard to the welfare and very lives of the Filipino people.
PrimeWater as well as other companies such as Maynilad and Manila Water, being private businesses, are focused on maximizing profit. They aim to profit from natural resources that should be guaranteed by the State as a basic human need and right. Government’s willingness to surrender this duty and allow greedy businesses to profit out of them underscores what is monumentally wrong in capitalist social orders.
In a tropical archipelago blessed with months of guaranteed rain, water should not only be plentiful but safe and cheap. Residents like Jorlyn should be allowed to take showers whenever they like given that they pay for the service.
On Monday, July 28, President Marcos Jr. shall be delivering his fourth State of the Nation Address but is expected to only offer palliatives to problems besetting the people, such as water and electricity delivery, if at all. Without real, progressive solutions, he will only provide perfect justifications to the protests and condemnations that are sure to be held outside Congress. #