Manila Water Company

At the end of day, each of the four ladies interviewed knew by heart the company’s core message that the company can only succeed if it works with the communities it serves and respects the environment that makes possible the delivery of clean and uninterrupted water.

Twenty-eight-year-old Evangeline Reyes Matibag has the dirtiest job in Manila Water Co., Inc. She manages the wastewater project development section, which handles all sanitation- and wastewater-related projects for Taguig, Pateros, Rizal, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina, parts of Quezon City, and Makati. “The stench is easier to bear than the rigor of dealing with so many people, offering them something that they do not need immediately but which would come in handy in the future and asking them to co-finance the project,” said Matibag. “It is probably the most challenging job in the company.”

Matibag is one of many women who have gone through Manila Water’s cadetship program (the equivalent of career service in government) and who have moved on to key positions long dominated by male engineers.

Another product of the cadetship program is 28-year old civil and sanitary engineer Maidy Lynne Bautista, who is now a territory manager in charge of 13 barangays in the San Juan/Mandaluyong business area.

“My job is to act as the franchise owner of the territory. That means controlling and monitoring business results such as billed volume, non-revenue water, collection and after sales. As part of my job, I also have to ensure good customer and community relations, manage available resources, manpower, equipment, and data; and coach team members,” said Bautista, who was the company’s top model employee awardee for 2001.

Manila Water has been the east zone concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System since 1997. Last year, the company generated gross revenues of P3.778 billion, in part because it has been able to bring down non-revenue water or the amount of water lost to leaks, waste, and theft from 67% when it took over operations to 49%. By 2008, the company projects non-revenue water to further drop to 43%.

The company currently supplies water 24-hours a day to 90% of the 515,000 households in its service area. Capital spending for the next five years estimated at P19 billion will be partly funded by a $75 million initial public offering early next year. Many of its managers came from MWSS. Take the case of Cynthia Iblan, 41, who had been with MWSS since 1986.

“I used to be among the survey teams being dispatched by MWSS to customers. There was a level of frustration since the installation of water pipes would come months after the survey was completed,” said Iblan. “For me, I had to adjust from the work culture in government to that in a private company. I had to prove to myself that I deserved every promotion at Manila Water that came my way. It was something that eluded me during my years at MWSS.”

Today, Iblan is a water sources manager, tasked to ensure that the east zone not only has readily available water today but in years to come. One of her accomplishments is adding 19 cubic meters per day (coming from Umiray dam) to augment the allocation of 37 CMS given by MWSS to MWCI and the west zone concessionaire, Maynilad Water Services, Inc. from Angat Dam.

As part of her job, Iblan heads the Task Force Paghahanda, a composite group of 20 members, which will prepare contingency plans in case the water shortage projected by next year takes place.

She also has to provide water to high areas of Rizal province by reactivating 30 deep wells, with each having a depth of 800 feet to ensure that this basic item reaches everyone in MWCI concession area.

Another former MWSS employee is Loida Dino, who started in the mid-1970s as an accounting trainee. Dino is now the business area manager of the Taguig-Pateros and Rizal business area.

“In terms of land, I have the biggest coverage in the company. Because I handle 15 towns of Rizal province and the southmost part of the concession, namely Pateros, Taguig, the three barangays of Pasig City until Fort Bonifacio, I work with 138 people, mostly men. In terms of the social status of my customers, I have the most savvy to the poorest communities,” said Dino.

At the end of day, each of the four ladies interviewed knew by heart the company’s core message that the company can only succeed if it works with the communities it serves and respects the environment that makes possible the delivery of clean and uninterrupted water.

Some 10,000 residents of Project 6 in Quezon City will soon get a boost in their piped-in-water supply courtesy of a major mainline and service pipe replacement program by Manila Water Company of the decades-old distribution network in this historic community. Photo shows Manila Water Company president Tony Aquino (center) with Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte at the program’s recent groundbreaking. The pipeline rehabilitation program is part of the Ayala-led concessionaire’s P15 billion gameplan in the next five years to expand and improve service in the east zone of Metro Manila, and provide water to an additional one million population.

Manila Water Company to Increase Capital

Manila Water Company (MWC) announced an increase in its authorized capital stock from P2 billion to P4 billion pesos, the increase to be partially funded out of P500 million pesos in new preferred equity infusion. At the special MWC Board and Stockholders� meetings called on August 28, 2003, the Company shareholders approved the doubling of its capitalization, preparatory to a planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) and as part of a major capital restructuring. The Board likewise voted for MWC to purchase the beneficial ownership in MWC of the International Water S.a.r.l (formerly BEn MWSS Holdings Ltd.), or IWL, a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel Corporation and Edison SpA. MWC�s acquisition of the IWL shares further stabilizes the Company�s capital base with its shareholders, including Ayala Corporation and United Utilities (the international operator based in U.K.), increasing their respective stakes in the company. The increase in capital will be implemented after completion of MWC�s acquisition of IWL�s ownership interest in the Company. The fresh infusion of P500 million in preferred equity from MWC’s shareholders, namely Ayala, United Utilities and BPI Capital Corporation, also reinforces the group’s continued confidence in the sustained growth and financial strength of the water company. Said MWC chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala: �We regret the divestment decision of one of our strategic investors. However, the remaining shareholders are pleased with the opportunity to demonstrate our renewed and increased commitment to MWC which has performed very well in spite of the challenging business environment.� The company ended the previous year with positive net income results, and recently closed a US$30 million financing package from World Bank subsidiary, International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Some 3,000 urban poor residents of Barangays Damayang Lagi, Immaculate Concepcion, Over D’ Bakod, Lantana and Botocan, all in Quezon City, were connected to the east zone water system recently through the Manila Water Company’s “Tubig Para Sa Barangay’ program. Photo shows Congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza and Manila Water area business manager Joey Cadorna opening the valve that would bring piped-in supply to these communities. The TPSB is the Ayala-led concessionaire’s flagship program to bring clean and affordable water supply - in close coordinatioin with local government units - to the growing informal settler communities all over Metro Manila’s east zone. Over 500,000 poor people have been so far connected since the program’s inception in 1998.

In 2002, Manila Water will be allocating P1 billion to P1.5 billion in capital expenditures for projects aimed at improving water service and reducing non-revenue water (NRW) - resulting from physical losses due to leaks and illegal connections. Manila Water Company, Inc. president Antonino T. Aquino stated that he expects these projects to reduce the non-revenue water (NRW) rate from its current 48% to around 45%. Aquino added that, “You can only reduce NRW gradually.” The reduction in NRW will bring in an additional 50 to 100 MLD (million liters per day) to Manila Water’s current supply.

The Manila Water Company also aims to expand its water services to its commercial customers. Around 30 percent of the company’s revenues come from commercial customers. Other projects lined up for 2002 include the expansion of Manila Water’s “Tubig Para sa Barangay” program to other depressed communities within the East Zone - Manila Water’s service area.

The company together with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) is also looking at the possibility of utilizing alternative water sources. The current water source for the East Zone and all of Metro Manila is the Angat Dam in Bulacan - supplying 97% of the metropolis’ water. One of the sources being considered for development is the northern portion of the Marikina River. Aquino expressed hopes that the Marikina River would be tapped to provide an additional 50 MLD (million liter per day) to Manila Water’s supply by the end of 2003.