A contractor hired by a government agency to install a CCTV network was said to have caused the massive water service interruption affecting 35 barangays in the cities of Mandaluyong, San Juan, Pasig, and Quezon City.
According to a statement from Manila Water, this is the sixth time that the contractor damaged one of its water lines. Below is an excerpt from Manila Water’s statement:
“The breakage was caused by AWIN Technology, a third-party contractor doing CCTV network installation.
“Manila Water reports that this is not the first time that this contractor damaged water lines through the course of their work. Since last year, the same contractor caused breakages on water pipes at six (6) different sites in the East Zone, including last night’s, which was already the second incident for 2021.
“Manila Water is coordinating with the contracting agency for sanctions and indemnities to be charged to their contractor, as well as to work together to avoid these incidents from happening again.”
One wonders why a government agency under the Office of the President didn’t blacklist the contractor it hired after the first time it botched an installation job and allowed it to go on a rampage botching six other jobs, causing thousands of people to go without water.
This smells EXACTLY of the kind of Mafia-esque favor-giving that abounded in the previous administrations that led people to vote for Duterte as President.
Thing is, it would be all too convenient if the contractor were Dilawan and thus would fit the prevailing blame-laying narrative of the DDS.
Chances are, however, that the contractor may have strong connections with the present dispensation and the Dilawans will have another field day needling the President for this.
Who are the people behind AWIN Technologies anyway?
A search on the internet revealed ding and bubkis when it is expected that information about contractors hired by government agencies can be easily found either on the website of the government agency or through an ordinary search on Google.
Of course, I could ask a couple of people to find out but that would entail using valuable connections and favor trades for something that should be freely available.
For all we know, AWIN Technologies could be some fly-by-night company with a warehouse as an address in some dingy area in Metro Manila.
There are many such companies which, like Party List organizations, are on the market right now.
In some circles, they’re called shell corporations. These are used to layer and distance people from questionable transactions with the government.
You can get one that’s fitted out with just the right credentials such as Triple A ratings, bank papers, contracts for finished projects of a similar nature, and others.
And, of course, because public works biddings are almost always rigged… It’ll get the contract especially if cuts or commissions are given to the right people.
Election year in and election year out, we see this sort of crap and we have yet to see that CHANGE HAS COME.
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