THE BAGONG Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Panay strongly condemns the looming water rate increase of Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), recently approved by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), from a basic rate of P20 per cubic meter for the first 10 cubic meters, to P25.20 in November 2025 and P28.67 in March 2026, a 26% and 43% increase, respectively.
MPIW is the joint venture formed in 2019 between the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and Metro Pacific Water, a subsidiary of billionaire Manny V. Pangilinan’s corporate empire. Yet until today, only around 46,000 households — or merely 26% of MPIW’s target service area — are covered by its services. Infrastructure remains weak and leak-prone, with water losses reaching 39%.
Despite these problems, MIWD officials admit that the impending water rate hike will not be used to expand infrastructure or extend service to more households in Iloilo City and nearby towns. Instead, it will go to covering operational costs such as electricity, fuel, and maintenance.
If MPIW had indeed been effective and efficient in managing its resources, as it promised in the joint venture agreement, it should be able to shoulder these costs without burdening consumers. Water companies that rely on constant rate hikes to keep operations afloat only prove the failure of state policies that surrendered water governance to a handful of private corporations.
MPIW further claims it has been absorbing higher operational costs in past years to “delay” the water rate hike it wanted to impose since 2019. But BAYAN Panay reminds MPIW: Ilonggos will never be thankful for water rate hikes — whether delayed or on time.
Working people are already crushed by high prices, regressive taxes, and meager wages; new charges for basic needs like water only worsen the economic burden. Worse, by using inflation as a justification, MIWD and MPIW signal that this will not be the last round of rate hikes. The same excuse can be recycled to push even higher rates in the future.
Under privatization — packaged as a government–corporate “joint venture” — MIWD and LWUA have guaranteed nothing but the superprofits of Metro Pacific Water, while thousands of households remain underserved and overcharged. This exposes the scam of privatization: turning water and other essential utilities into profit-driven commodities has failed to deliver accessible and reliable services to Ilonggos and the Filipino people.
BAYAN Panay demands that the water rate hike tranches be halted immediately, and that MPIW’s performance and financial records be opened to public review. As an alternative to privatization, we call on local government units in Iloilo to reclaim water systems from big private operators and develop community-centered, publicly run water systems. – ELMER FORRO, secretary general, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Panay <bayanpanay2014@gmail.com>
