Partido Reporma standard-bearer Senato Panfilo ‘’Ping’’ Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente ‘’Tito’’ Sotto III offered plans to resolve the problem of some households in Metro Manila that are complaining about their high utilities expense because of improper connections to the service providers.

Lacson was made aware of this issue when he went around the cities of Pasig and Parañaque recently. He was told by some local government officials and residents there were people who have resorted to the so-called ‘pakabit’ or attachment system just so they could access water and electricity services.

Under this arrangement, a household with legal connection to water and power distributors is allowing its neighbors—mostly informal settlers—to connect with their system but they would have to pay triple the amount of the usual rates.

Lacson said this problem could have been avoided if the government was managing its public funds in ways that redound to the benefit of the larger population and not wasting them on misplaced priorities or, worse, corruption.

“Dapat ma-correct (This must be corrected). Imagine kung mayroong P300-billion na hindi nagagamit at mayroon pang P700-billion na mali ang paggamit, isipin niyo isang trilyon. E baka kayang sagutin ‘yung mga hindi kayang magbayad ng kuryente, hindi magbayad ng tubig, baka pwedeng hatian ng gobyerno ‘yung pambayad (Imagine, if we have P300-billion in unspent funds and there are P700-billion more that are misused, think about it—that’s P1-trillion. Maybe it could have been used to help those who cannot pay for their electricity, who cannot pay for water services, the government could have pitched in to help pay for these),’’ Lacson told Parañaque residents in their recent town hall meeting at Barangay Baclaran.

Speaking to residents in Castillejos, Zambales on Friday, Sotto also mentioned the possibility of making electricity free for families with annual income of P300,000 and below if the problem of corruption is totally eliminated.

“Pagka nasugpo natin ang isyu ng korapsyon, sa lahat po ng hindi kumikita ng P300,000 sa isang taon, pagka less than P300,000 ang income ninyo sa loob ng isang taon, pwede pong sagutin ng gobyerno ang inyong kuryente. Dapat libre ang kuryente (If we end the issue of corruption, every one who is earning P300,000 within the year, or who has an income of less than P300,000 every year, the government can shoulder your electricity bills. Electricity must be free of charge),’’ Sotto said.

The high costs of utilities are among the reasons frequently cited by many Filipinos for their inability to get out of relative poverty, which Lacson and Sotto aim to resolve through budget reforms under their possible administration.