Billions in Profit, Zero in Plumbing: How the Villars Turned Water Districts into Personal ATMs

When Your Brother Runs DPWH and LWUA, Every Water District Becomes a Family Piggy Bank

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — December 13, 2025

MGA ka-kweba, good evening to all of you who are thirsty — not just for water, but for justice.

Tonight’s main course on the banquet table of corruption: PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp., the water kingdom owned by Manuel Paolo Villar (son of Manny Villar and brother of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar). While their 2024 financial statement proudly boasts P1.35 BILLION in comprehensive income and P40.5 BILLION in assets, they apparently cannot find loose change to pay a single subcontractor P75 million to P150 million. Water districts? Unpaid taxes, manpower, and equipment that were expressly promised in the contract. Performance bonds? They refuse to forfeit them even when legally entitled. Capital expenditures (capex) solemnly sworn to improve service? Just like a politician’s campaign promise — nothing but hot air.

And the punchline? While contractors suffer layoffs and teeter on bankruptcy, PrimeWater keeps inflating its profits. Senator Raffy Tulfo himself put it best:

“If you can earn billions, why can’t you pay the contractors and water districts who believed in good faith trusted you?”

Classic. Money for rate hikes on consumers? Always available. Money for the plumber who actually fixed the pipes? Sorry, budget shortfall daw.

***“We promised capex, delivered kapex—kapalpakan ex-traordinaire. Collect your drop at the courthouse.”***

First, the Facts – A Pathetic Drama with Receipts

One subcontractor alone is owed up to P150 million. Already retrenched 10 workers. Two months away from folding.
MGS Construction — the supposedly “independent” subcontractor owned by Villar associate Jerry Navarrete — is used as the middleman so money can circle back to the family circle. A carousel of insider cash.
Allbank — also a Villar family bank — is offered as the “solution”: “We’ll lend you the money so you can keep working, then we won’t pay the interest either.” Customer service level: diabolical.
41 out of 77 partner water districts failed to forfeit performance bonds they are legally entitled to collect. Why? Because PrimeWater’s “consent” is allegedly required. Consent my ass.
Half of the 77 partners have either terminated or issued pre-termination notices. The moment termination papers are served, PrimeWater sprints to court for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). Classic stalling tactic from an ex who refuses to accept the break-up.
Commission on Audit (COA) reports: capex shortfalls, unpaid taxes, unpaid manpower and equipment. Yet water bills keep rising. Make it make sense.

Second, the Legal Arsenal – I Hold the Law, They Hold the TROs

Article 1159, Civil Code of the Philippines – Obligations arising from contracts have the force of law and must be complied with in good faith.
Good faith, they say. At PrimeWater, good faith = good luck collecting.

Article 1170 – Liability for fraud, negligence, or delay in the performance of obligations.
Fraud? Present. Delay? Present. Negligence? Double present.

Article 1191 – Power to rescind contracts for substantial breach. That is exactly why water districts are terminating left and right.

Article 315, Revised Penal Code – Estafa (swindling through deceit or abuse of confidence). Promise billions in capex, deliver zero, pocket the revenue — smells like estafa to me.

Republic Act No. 3019, Section 3(e) – Causing undue injury through manifest partiality or bad faith.

Republic Act No. 6713 – Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials. While Mark Villar was DPWH Secretary, the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) was under his department. Suddenly PrimeWater JVAs exploded nationwide. Pure coincidence, they say. Just like winning the lotto every week.

Rule 58, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure – Preliminary Injunctions and TROs. They treat TROs like toilet paper: one termination notice, one TRO. Status quo? More like status quo of the grand budol.

Third, PrimeWater’s Possible Defenses – And How I Will Dismantle Them

Defense #1: “It’s just a cash-flow issue.”
- My reply: You posted P1.35 billion profit in 2024. That’s the people’s cash flow, not your personal piggy bank.
Defense #2: “The figures are disputed.”
- My reply: The Commission on Audit said it, not just Tulfo. And even the undisputed amounts remain unpaid.
Defense #3: “We offered payment plans — Allbank loans or land.”
- My reply: Classic debt-slavery scheme. Lend money to the contractor through your own bank, then refuse to pay the interest. Genius. Criminal genius.
Defense #4: “No conflict of interest — it’s just family.”
- My reply: When your brother controls the agency that green-lights your contracts while your company balloons overnight, that’s no longer a family reunion. That’s graft.

Fourth, My Demands – Not Suggestions

Full disclosure today — every contract, financial statement, capex schedule, related-party transaction. No redactions.
Immediate investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Ombudsman for estafa and graft. Not just hearings — actual cases. Jail if guilty.
Immediate forfeiture of all performance bonds. If PrimeWater’s “consent” is required, sue the insurer and PrimeWater for specific performance.
Freeze every TRO PrimeWater is hiding behind. Water is a public utility, not a private playground.
Pay the contractors now — cash, not land, not loans from your own bank.
Return every poisoned water district to full public control. Water is a human right, not a Villar right.
Abolish this entire predatory water-privatization model. Reform LWUA, amend Presidential Decree No. 198, mandate open bidding, zero related-party deals, zero political dynasties profiting.

Direct Message to the Villars:

To Manuel Paolo Villar: The nation’s water is not yours. The nation’s money is not yours.
To Mark Villar: Your former position at DPWH was not a license to turn the entire water sector into a family corporation.
To Manny Villar: Your “sipag at tiyaga” seems to have more tiyaga in corruption than sipag in paying honest debts.
To everyone who borrows billions yet cannot pay millions owed to honest workers — you don’t belong on the Forbes list. You belong behind bars.

Countrymen, as long as they have TROs, they think they have hope.
But as long as we, the people, still breathe — there will be justice.

The faucet may be dry, but the rage of the people is overflowing. Cheers.

— Barok