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Title and Parties Involved: Introduces the case title, parties involved, and their respective roles in the legal matter.
Resolution: Details the court's formal statement of the decision, grounds for decision, and legal reasoning.
Final Decision: Conveys the resolution of motions and modifications to court orders with explicit directives.
Signatures: Includes the signatures of the justices involved in the decision, affirming the resolution.
Certification: Offers certification of the resolution's compliance with constitutional consultation requirements.
of Te sures
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i OCT 18 2022
!
Suk
D
in
Republic of the Philippines a —
Supreme Court
Manila
MAYNILAD WATER SERVICES,
INC.,
Petitioner,
~ versus -
THE SECRETARY OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT
AND NATURAL — RESOURCES
( and RA No.
11601 or An Act Granting Manila Water Company, Inc. a Franchise to
Establish, Operate, and Maintain a Waterworks System and Sewerage and
Sanitation Services in the East Zone Service Area of Metro Manila and
Province of Rizal
The third paragraph of Section 21, RA 11600 stated:
SEC. 21, Reportorial Requirement. —x xx
XXXX
The grantee shall submit to the MWSS Regulatory Office a completion
plan for the establishment and operation of water, sewerage and sanitation
Projects covering a period until 2037 which shall include periodic five (5)-year
completion targets with the end goal of achieving one hundred percent
(100%) water, sewerage and sanitation coverage by 2037. The grantee shall
submit an annual progress report of its compliance with such targets to the
MWSS Regulatory Office and to Congress. (Emphasis supplied.)
‘The same portion in RA 11601 was worded in almost identical terms:
SEC. 21. Reportorial Requirement, —xx x
XXXX
The grantee shall submit to the MWSS Regulatory Office a completion
plan for the establishment and operation of water, sewerage and sanitation
2 Following Civil Aeronautics Board v. Philippine Air Lines, Ine., 159-A Phil. 142, 147-148 (1975).
3 Section 2, Clean Water Act.
3. Published/uploaded on the Offic
Gazette website Janvary 7, 2022,
% Published/uploaded on the Offic
Gazette website January 7, 2022. Resolution
projes
20 G.R. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
cts covering a period until 2037 which shall include periodic five (5)-year
Completion targets with the end goal of achieving one hundred percent
(100%) water and combined sewerage and sanitation coverage by 2037. The
grantee shall submit an annual progress report of its compliance with such targets
{fo the MWSS Regulatory Office and to Congress. (Emphasis supplied.)
Relatedly, Section 28 of both laws provide:
SEC 28. Repealing Clause. - Any law, decrees, orders, resolutions,
instructions, rules or regulations, and other issuances or parts thereof which are
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or
modified accordingly.
Fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette on January 7, 2022,
RA Nos.
11600 and 11601 became effective January 22, 2022,7 thus extending
petitioners’ compliance deadline with Sec. 8 of the CWA from May 7, 2009 to
the year 2037.
‘Their passage, though, does not operate to condone petitioners’ violations
of the CWA in their entirety. The views of Associate Justice Jose Midas P.
Marquez
Act
espoused during the deliberations are of particular relevance:
With the passage of the new franchise laws, the Philippine Clean Water
was effectively amended with respect to the obligations of petitioners
Maynilad and Manila Water thereunder. R.A. No. 9275 refers to interconnecting
all existing sewer and septage lines within five years from the law’s enactment,
‘or until 2009, On the other hand, R.A. No. 11600 specifically refers to “water,
sewerage, and sanitation coverage,”, while RA. No, 11601 to “water and
combined sewerage and sanitation coverage,” both pertaining to a combined
sewerage and sanitation system taken cumulatively to achieve 100% percent
cover
that
rage by 2037.
‘The new franchise laws however cannot erase the liabilities of petitioners
have already set in prior to these new franchise laws’ enactment.
Accordingly, petitioners must still be held liable and answerable from the time
they
violated and failed to comply with the Philippine Clean Water Act, ic., five
years from its effectivity or from 7 May 2009 until January 21, 2022, the day
immediately prior to the effectivity of the new franchise laws which modified
their
‘obligations and period to comply with.
Weighing all things at a calibrated perspective — petitioners’ indelible
delay in
the full performance of their obligations under Sec. 8; the water
concessionaires’ good faith and real efforts to comply with See. 8; their
corporate financial issues coinciding with the 5-year compliance period
under the CWA; and the recent effeetivity of their franchises under RAs
11600 and 11601 on January 22, 2022 directing “one hundred (100%)
water and combined sewerage and sanitation coverage by 2037” — the
Court resolves to reduce the fines previously imposed upon petitioners.
From 200,000.00, it is fairer to hold petitioners liable for the lowered base
Following Section 29 of both RA Nos. 11600 and 11601 Resolution 21 GR. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
amount of P30,000.00 per day of violation counting from May 7, 2009, until
January 21, 2022, the day immediately prior to the effectivity date of their
franchises extending their compliance with Sec. 8 up to year 2037. The base
amount of fines at the initial rate of P30,000.00 per day of violation shall be
subject to a 10% increase every two years beginning May 7, 2009 until January
21, 2022, following Sec. 28 of said RAs.
It remains that from finality of this Resolution, the total amount of
petitioners’ respective fines shall earn legal interest of six percent (6%) per
annum until full payment thereof.
While laws have always been on the hunt for the corrupt, blatantly-evil
acts of public officers, our citizens are usually left unguarded against the
government’s vice of complacency. Daily we pass by road constructions that
take a questionable period of time to finish; commuters rise at 3:00 a.m. just to
willingly drown in the endless and merciless sea of city traffic, always in doubt
of all hopes that they will make it on time to work at 8:00 a.m.; and here,
sewerage connections in Metro Manila, Cavite, and Rizal have been pending
for more than 20 years since the enactment of the law mandating their
completion in only five years. So much more of these kinds of inconvenience
have unfortunately become our norm. But the public deserves better than
“pwede na.” Their quiet tolerance should not inspire a culture of idleness and
indifference within the government. The famed resilience of the Filipino people
is never a trait to be abused. These cases aim to impress upon everyone in the
political sphere the import of the Public Trust Doctrine: the people are the
ultimate owners of the country’s resources, over which the State is a trustee, a
subservient manager, a mere nominal holder. The Doctrine enjoins not only
petitioners herein, but all public service providers that earn their keep primarily
through paychecks funded by the people, in the strict compliance of the
regulatory laws relevant to them.
It is thus opportune to highlight Maynilad and Manila Water’s renewed
mandate, phrased in one and the same manner under Section 7 of both RAs
11600 and 11601 -
SEC 7. Responsibility to the Public. — The grantee, its successors or
assignees, shall conform to the ethics of honest enterprise and shall provide
water supply and sewerage services to its service area in a prudent, efficient,
and satisfactory manner, (Emphasis supplied.)
‘The resolution of these cases is a word of caution to the MWSS to be more
diligent and circumspect in its obligations, to sce to it that the provisions of the
CWA are observed to the last letter. Lest it be forgotten, the functions of the
water concessionaires under the CWA are merely delegated to them by virtue
of the Concession Agreements with the MWSS. Whatever may be Maynilad
and Manila Water’s actions in furtherance of the CWA, its Concession
Agreements, or their legislative franchises, these shall generally redound to the Resolution 22 G.R. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
ultimate accountability of the MWSS, being the water concessionaires”
supervisor and principal.
[All other issues have already been addressed at enough length in the
questioned Decision. The Court only leads petitioners to re-read whet they
assail to find the answers they now seck.
WHEREFORE, the Motions for Reconsideration are GRANTED IN
PART. The dispositive portion of the Court’s August 6, 2019 Decision in these
cases is MODIFIED to read as follows —
Petitioners are liable for fines for violation of Section 8 of the
Philippine Clean Water Act in the following manner:
1. Maynilad Water Services, Inc. shall be jointly and solidarily
liable with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for the
base amount of P30,000.00 per day of violation counting from May
7, 2009 until January 21, 2022, in the total amount of
P202,256,726.22;
2. Manila Water Company, Inc. shall be jointly and solidarily
liable with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for the
base amount of 30,000.00 per day of violation counting from May
7, 2009 until January 21, 2022, in the total amount of
P202,256,726.22;
3. The base amount of fines of P30,000.00 per day of violation
shall be subject to a 10% increase every two years beginning May 7,
2009 until January 21, 2022, following Section 28 of the Philippine
Clean Water Act;
4. Petitioners shall pay their respective fines within 15 days
from receipt of this Resolution; and
5. The total amount of the fines imposed herein shall likewise
earn legal interest of six percent (6%) per annum from finality of this
Resolution until full satisfaction thereof.
‘The total amounts herein indicated shall be deducted from the
amount of fines already paid by petitioners, if any, and the difference,
if any, shall be returned to them. Resolution 23 GR. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
SO ORDERED.
‘AUL L. HERNANDO
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
aux GESMUNDO
é ief Jus
No part
ALFREDO BENJAMIN 8. CAGUIOA.
Associate Justice
MARVIE M. V. F, LEONEN
Associate Justice
AMY C. Yj HEL on HENR)
Assbeiaie Justice
Associate Justice Resolution 24 G.R. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
Ciate Justice
SAMUEL H. GAE} N RICARI ROSARIO
Associate Justice Assotiate Justice
Tine
Wath coreg,
a,
JHOSEP YDOPEZ
Associate Justice
ciate Justice Associate Justic
def ae
JOSE MIDAS P. MARQUEZ ORE TO
fe
Fi nN IGH
Associate Justice Resolution 25 G.R. Nos. 202897, 206823, and 207969
CERTIFICATION
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, I certify that the
conclusions in the above Resolution were reached in consultation before the
cases were assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court.
CERTIFIED TRUE COPY
MARIA LUISA M. SANTILLA
Deputy Clerk of Court and
Executive Officer
OCC-En Bane, Supreme Cou
