The Women of Manila Water
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.