The Water for the People Network (WPN) expressed serious concern when San Fernando La Union Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 66 issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) halting the termination of the joint venture agreement (JVA) between Metro San Fernando Water District (MSFWD) and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation.

“This decision undermines the justified action taken by the MFSWD Board to terminate its JVA with Villar-owned PrimeWater, whose decade-long record is marred by poor service, frequent water interruptions, unresponsive customer support, excessive rates, and failure to meet obligations,” according to WPN.

The MSFWD board issued a resolution for the pre-termination of the JVA with PrimeWater on January 2. PrimeWater ignored the 90-day grace period given to the company to explain. On May 8, the board terminated the agreement and the local district immediately assumed management of the water service.

According to MSFWD, the TRO obliges them to temporarily stop their operations and rehabilitation projects such as cleaning and repairing water lines, developing new water sources, constructing transformers, and deploying new chlorinators.

“Sadly, despite PrimeWater’s continued incompetence to maintain MSFWD facilities and provide reliable service, it still insists on retaining control, blocking the necessary improvements and delaying the quality of service that the people deserve,” according to MSFWD.

Consumers expressed anger on the Facebook pages of PrimeWater and MSFWD regarding the court’s decision.

“PrimeWater did nothing when they managed, we endured years of poor water supply and now the court sides with them?!” Cherry stated.

“We do not know why PrimeWater is resisting, they could not even fix their service and yet the court sided with them. MSFWD acted swiftly but did not get support, and now we have no water again,” someone named Karen said. “Can we start a petition to convince the court to act for the people instead of big companies?” Ani added.

According to WPN, allowing PrimeWater to prevail in San Fernando will set a dangerous precedent, undermining the fight of all water districts aiming to end exploitative JVAs.

WPN calls on RTC Branch 66 to defend the rights of consumers and withdraw the TRO against MSFWD’s remedy.

“We urge government institutions to side with the people and not with profit-driven oligarchs like the Villars,” according to the group. It also calls for the termination of PrimeWater’s agreements, and for government agencies—including the Local Water Utilities Administration, congress, and the senate—to investigate its violations and hold it accountable.