MANILA, Philippines?It?s time to call in the Marines.

While claiming that the worst is over, Malacañang is deploying soldiers and civilian personnel to restore order and avert any riot in at least 177 barangays (villages) in Metro Manila now grappling with water shortage, officials said Thursday.

At least four battalions or roughly 2,000 soldiers from the National Capital Region Command will be tapped for the task as soon as the Department of Public Works and Highways gave the go-signal, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said.

In Camp Aguinaldo, Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta, the AFP spokesperson, said the main task of the military during the rationing of water was to ensure that it was done in a peaceful and orderly manner and oversee the security of residents, some already angry and desperate.

?We will just be involved in the security probably to see to it that the people in these areas will not push each other,? Mabanta said.

At a Malacañang briefing, Rogelio Singson, Public Works secretary, said he did not expect riots to break out. ?That?s why we have anticipated and asked for warm bodies to put order,? he said.

Some 1.12 million residents in the 177 barangays either have no water or have a water supply of only six hours, owing to the low water level of Angat Dam in Nozagaray, Bulacan, the main source of water for the metropolis.

Most of these are in Caloocan and Quezon cities, and Manila. Metro Manila has 12 million residents.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said he preferred policemen to man water stations, but Mayors Herbert Bautista of Quezon City and John Ray Tiangco of Navotas said they had no problem with soldiers.

?Before we use soldiers, let?s utilize police forces. If the PNP (Philippine National Police) can?t handle it, that?s the time we ask for assistance,? Lim, a retired police official, said at a joint briefing in Malacañang.

Singson said the ?warm bodies? from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) would man water stations and maintain order in rationing in these areas.

Arresting residents who are illegally tapping water by puncturing water lines is also part of their job, Singson said.

Reports of residents muscling their way in long queues at water pumps or scrambling to get to water tankers have become a source of concern for government officials.

In Malabon, residents, mostly squatters on M. H. Del Pilar Street, destroyed part of a pipe of Maynilad Water Services Inc. on Wednesday so they could draw water. Some took a bath on the street. A few hours later, police swooped down on the area and the residents scampered away.

Guard tankers, main lines

Maynilad said it would ask the Department of National Defense (DND) for soldiers to act as security personnel for their tankers.

At a press briefing at the Maynilad office in Quezon City, Cherubim Ocampo, chief of the firm?s corporate communications unit, said the company would also want soldiers to guard their main lines to prevent pilferers from obtaining access to the lines.

Maynilad has deployed 29 security personnel, with 10 guards borrowed from Manila Water Co., the concessionaire in the east zone, to accompany the tankers.

?We will make a request to the DND to provide us additional security for our tankers and main lines. We have had reports some residents are trying to access our main lines illegally,? Ocampo said.

Maynilad has requested local government units in affected areas but none has responded, she said.

The company has a total of 6,000 kilometers of lines in the west zone. It covers Valenzuela, Malabon, Navotas, Caloocan, parts of Quezon City, Manila (except portions of San Andres and Sta. Ana), a part of Makati, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Cavite City, and the municipalities of Rosario, Imus, Noveleta, Bacoor and Kawit in Cavite province.

Angat level up

Thanks to Wednesday night?s rain, the water level in Angat rose to 158.88 meters above sea level (masl) on Thursday morning [from the record low of 157.55 masl last Friday], according to Singson.

?There has been a good rainfall in Angat and in Ipo but not as much in the La Mesa Dam area. So that?s the bit of good news,? he said.

This, however, is still way off the 180 masl, at which the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) can implement their normal allocation of water for domestic use and irrigation.

Bigger production

With more rain in the coming weeks, the water shortage in some parts of the metropolis would ease, according to the public works secretary.

?As I?ve pointed out, the water level has not deteriorated. It has in fact increased. So we hope that this will continue. And hopefully, the worst is over,? he said.

Another positive fact is Maynilad?s bigger production.

As a result of the rains in the past few days, Maynilad?s water production rose from 1.686 billion liters per day last Sunday to 1.950 billion liters per day on Thursday, Ocampo said.

At this level, 96 barangays in Maynilad?s service area can be classified as severely affected by the water shortage, she said. Previously, the number of barangays stood at 117. The 96 barangays represent 70,000 households or 500,000 people.

The situation has improved in parts of Quezon City particularly the Commonwealth Avenue area, Malabon and Navotas.

?That?s my basis for saying that we think the worst situation is over,? Singson said.

100 water trucks

The government continued to mobilize more than 100 water trucks to the severely affected barangays, and to mount cloud-seeding operations to induce rain.

Maynilad and Manila Water are contributing P3.1 million for the operations, which ?is good for about 70 flying hours,? Singson said.

The two concessionaires have also worked out a ?cross-border arrangement? in which Manila Water will augment Maynilad?s water supply by 40 million liters a day, benefiting 100,000 residents.

MWSS takeover

Macra Cruz, senior deputy administrator of MWSS, said the agency would ask Malacañang next week to consider its takeover of Angat?s operations.

Cruz told reporters that Maynilad and Manila Water would be joining the petition.

She said National Power Corp. (Napocor), which controls the dam, released water from October to December last year to levels way beyond the requirements for power generation and irrigation.

?Around 10 meters of Angat?s water level was wasted on power alone,? Cruz said at the press conference in the Maynilad office. ?Demand for power should not be at the expense of water.?

She added that between 150 cubic meters per second (cms) and 250 cms were released for irrigation when the NIA needed only 30 cms.

Cruz said he asked Napocor officials about this. ?They told us that they were just following orders,? she said. With a report from Tina G. Santos