By: Elena Grace Flores
The water crisis is real. In other countries where potable water is scarce like Norway, it is regarded as food. The country now experiences water shortage but this is not the case of dwindling supply from the sources yet. Various reservoirs like in Laguna for Manila and in Luyang, Carmen for Cebu still generate water abundantly but it is the connections or distributions systems that disrupt them from supplying the households. Senator Imee Marcos said that inequality is evident. Poorer neighborhoods obviously suffer from a lack of water. Even Luyang itself does not benefit much from their own water. The concessionaires have something to explain.
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NEWS BREAK: Senate Resolution na bubusisi sa kontrata at record ng Manila Water at Maynilad, inihain
Senate Resolution to Look into the Water Crisis
Senate Resolution 259 by Senator Imee Marcos seeks to examine the provisions of the concession agreements. It aims to know why water companies failed to meet their public service obligations.
Acting on the President’s Lament
The water companies drew the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte. This is after they sued the government and were awarded P10 billion by a Singapore-based arbitration court for losses they claimed to suffer because they were not allowed to raise their rates for water in the country.
The Concessionaires
Marcos said Manila Water and Maynilad have failed to live up to their mandate to ensure an uninterrupted supply of drinking-quality water by June 30, 2000. This should be three years after the government privatized water services. In fact, daily water interruptions since October have become the rule rather than the exception, Marcos said. The Cebu provincial board echoes Marcos’ concern and now looks into the breaches that the joint-venture made that caused the water supply interruptions in the province. The people are anxiously waiting for immediate solutions to the water crisis.
Fr. Jose Bosch Innovative Skills Training Advocacy Cooperative (ISTAC)
