House joint panels OK proposed Department of Water Resources

A joint committee at the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the measure creating the proposed Department of Water Resources.

In their meeting, the House Committees on Government Reorganization, and Public Works and Highways approved the still unnumbered substitute bill for the 35 measures providing for the creation of the said department.

Under the consolidated bill, the proposed Department of Water Resources will be the primary national agency to ensure the comprehensive and integrated planning, policy formulation, and management of water resources in the country.

The department will be led by a secretary assisted by five undersecretaries for Resource and Governance, Inland Waters and Water for Agriculture and Fisheries, Resource Development, Planning and Policy, and Missionary Waters and Special Concerns.

Key water agencies which will be consolidated or whose functions will be transferred to the Department of Water Resources include the River Basin Control Office, the Manila Bay Coordinating Office of the DENR, the Flood Management Planning and Sediment Functions of the DPWH, the Water Supply and Sanitation Unit of the DILG, and the Water Quality Management Section of Environmental Management.

Meanwhile, agencies which will be attached to the new department include the Metro Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System, the Local Water Utilities Administration, the Laguna Lake Development Authority, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, and the National Irrigation Administration as its infrastructure arm.

Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta and Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza, however, opposed the approval of the measure.

According to Marcoleta, the proposed new department will not be as effective as it is envisioned without a stable water source in the country.

"Ito yung aking kinatatakutan dito. Wala naman tayong pagkukunan ng tubig, bakit natin gagawan ng department?" he said.

"Anong saysay ng batas kung hindi natin alam kung saan tayo kukuha ng tubig?" he added.

For his part, Atienza said the proposed Department of Water Resources will not solve the country's problems on water supply. Rather, it will only delay solutions to them.

"Creating a department does not address the problem squarely because right now, we don't have a lack of water supply. It is wasted, it is not allowed to flow into our households," he said.

"Nasasayang ito. Primarily, as we listen to the possible causes of the problem, binigay natin yung ating distribution ng tubig sa private concessionaires in a monopoly. The problem is one of distribution, not supply," he added.

With its approval in the committee level, the consolidated bill will be referred to the Committee on Rules which, in turn, will schedule it for plenary deliberations.

The proposed Department of Water Resources is one of the three agencies whose creation is a priority of the House of Representatives --- the other two being the Department of Disaster Resilience and the Department of Filipino Overseas. — MDM, GMA News