Pacquiao eyes creation of new water agency

MANILA, Philippines — It is imperative for the next administration to create a new and separate department that will be tasked solely to address the country’s dwindling water resources as a result of environmental abuse and overpopulation, according to presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao.

“We might not have realized it, but water is very important in our lives. Water is life, and any person – or all of us – definitely cannot survive without water. In fact, you can even survive without any food, but not without water,” Pacquiao said yesterday.

The eight-division world boxing champion underscored the need for a regulatory agency that will take charge of all problems involving water, whether the excess or lack of it.

“I had this issue investigated, and I found out many don’t want to be in charge of it. But we really need a Department of Water,” he said.

Pacquiao has been pushing for the creation of such a department as he raised the need to integrate, synchronize and systematize the operation, regulation and management of the country’s water resources.

In 2019, he filed Senate Bill 195 seeking the creation of the Department of Water Resources, “which will holistically integrate all measures designed to ensure the availability and quality of water, and synchronize all the acts of all government agencies that have water-related functions.”

Pollution, climate change, overpopulation, illegal logging and the shrinking watershed areas are putting a lot of pressure on private water concessionaires to have adequate water supply, especially during the dry season, according to the Promdi standard-bearer.

He pointed out that adequate irrigation is also a problem for the country’s 10 million farmers even if the archipelago is surrounded by water.

During the rainy season and typhoons, many parts of the country are inundated with floodwaters that cause death and widespread destruction, but only a fraction end up in water reservoirs to be processed for public use.

“The government has more than 30 different agencies/units that have water-related functions, but the centrality of data on water resources remains absent.

The lack of a lead government body coordinating water-related issues contributes to the growing water crisis. Actual integration needs a law,” Pacquiao wrote in his bill.

The billionaire senator also noted that out of 101 million Filipinos, nine million primarily rely on unimproved, unsafe and unsustainable water resources, and many others lack access to improved sanitation.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda had earlier advised presidential candidates to include in their platforms of government what they intend to do about the problem of water supply, as the country is likely to suffer from another water crisis.