PRESIDENTIABLES DARED TO PROVE INDEPENDENCE FROM BIG BUSINESS INTERESTS Advocacy group Water for the People Network (WPN) today challenged presidential candidates to prove that they are not beholden to big business interests and issue a categorical statement that they will not allow the privatization of the Angat Dam and undermine people’s access to water. The group issued the statement as the deadline for the submission of bids for the 246-megawatt (MW) Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP) ends today. The WPN noted that among the interested buyers of the Angat HEPP are some of the most politically influential business groups in the country and perceived backers of some presidentiables including Danding Cojuangco’s San Miguel Corp., the Lopez family’s First Gen Corp., the Ayala Group, Manny Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp., and the Consunjis’s DMCI Power Corp. “We need an assurance , especially from the leading presidential contenders, tha