(Eagle News) – An outraged President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to fire officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and terminate the contracts of water concessionaires Manila Water Company and Maynilad for their failure to prevent the water crisis now plaguing parts of Metro Manila and Rizal.
The President gave the MWSS officials and Manila Water and Maynilad executives a dressing down for about 40 minutes, according to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
He said that the President was so angry that he told them he was not going to listen to the officials’ excuses.
“The chief executive told them he was not going to listen to their explanation as to why there was a water shortage as such would be just plain excuses. They simply did not do their job,” Panelo said of the meeting which happened on Tuesday night, March 19.
‘All they care about is get profit from the water of the people’ and to their sufferance as well,” Panelo said in a statement issued early Wednesday morning, quoting the President.
Panelo said the President’s message to the officials was clear: “Shape up or ship out.”
“The President told them they could have simply anticipated such shortage and could have done something about it. They had to wait for him to threaten them with personally rushing to Manila from Davao to grapple with the crisis before they moved to end it. The Chief Executive bluntly told them to ‘shape up or ship out!'” Panelo said in his statement.