Davao water pre-summits: The start

On May 31, at the Ateneo de Davao University, you could clearly see the start of passionate initiatives to address our water crisis. This is where the first two pre-summits of a seven-summit initiative culminating in a national water summit were held.

It was a tragedy that 38 died at Resort’s World hotel casino complex on June 2. This was caused by a deranged gunman. But this is only half of the 73 people who die every day from water-related causes. This time the main culprit is poor governance. As the Asia Development Bank study in 2016 stated, “water problems are caused primarily by inappropriate management practices rather than physical scarcity of water.”

It is poor governance that has placed the Philippines at the bottom quarter of an ADB study covering 48 countries, where we are 11 ranks lower than Indonesia. The Philippines scored very badly in each of the five categories that ADB studied in 2013 and 2016: Environment, economy, household, urban and resilience. For the pre-summits, we have concentrated on each of these categories and added two: Agriculture and governance.

The two pre-summits in Davao started with a plenary session where the participants discussed the water problem as a whole. They then divided into the two pre-summits on agriculture and the environment. The participants came from different water-affected sectors of the society: Farmers, fisherfolk, rural women, urban poor, environmentalists, scientists, leaders from industry and services, and government officials. Each gave his or her most important recommendation through meta cards. They were asked to read each other’s recommendations, then vote for the most important ones. Here are the top three findings that came out:

First, there is a great clamor for coordination and unity among the thirty water-related government agencies. If a Water Department cannot be created soon, a task force under an Apex body should immediately be constituted. Key players should be the Office of the President and the Department of Environment and National Resources. The five other water summit convenors from the executive branch should also be included: the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Local Government, Public Works and Highways, and the National Economic Development Authority. Priorities should be decided, and unified action plans implemented within a specific time table. There is no time to waste.

Second, there is a demand for good information that is an absolute necessity for good water management. The participants complained there was hardly any, especially at the local level. The River Basin approach, proven as the most successful strategy in several countries, ensures the collection and effective management of this information. And yet our government budget for both 2017 and 2018 allocates only P15 million for the 18 major basins out of the 421 basins identified. Each of these already has a comprehensive master plan. River Basin Office director Antonio Dayo said: “Each basin needs at least P10 million for today’s nonexistent equipment, and at least P5 million for information and operations. Consolidating the appropriate information and water technologies should also be done systematically on a national level, with the support of resource centers such as those proposed by UPLB.

Third, there should be multi sector stakeholder participation in all water-related governance bodies. The complaint is specially leveled at Manila-based government agencies. Local Government Units (LGUs) protest their non-inclusion in implementation for communities that voted for them. More importantly, stakeholders, especially the poor, are left out on decisions that affect them the most. Former leader Sonny Sioson said, “the government should allocate more of its funds for rehabilitation and repair, as well as for small irrigation such as water impounding encatchments and mini dams which have larger and quicker return on investment than new enlarged irrigation systems. Small has a budget of less than P2 billion while large has a budget of P37 billion in 2017.”

There are five more pre-summits to go: Economy in the Visayas on June 6, and Household, Urban, Resilience and Governance in Luzon on the later part of June. The National Integrated Water Summit has been postponed because President Duterte has to give full attention to Marawi, Mindanao, and martial law.

The move for immediate strategic water action has started. The pre-summits prove it. At a 4 a.m. meeting on April 16, 2016 with five coalition heads focusing on helping the poor, President Duterte committed to address our water crisis. The much-anticipated national summit will actualize it.