Residents of Barangay Plainview in Mandaluyong City wait for water rations from firetrucks amid the water supply shortage in parts of Metro Manila and Rizal. PHOTO by Tetch Torres-Tupas/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang is crafting an executive order (EO) to address the ongoing water supply crisis hounding parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province since last week.
In a statement on Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Economic Cluster and the Cabinet Assistance System (CAS) were already working on an issuance that would enable the government address the water supply and distribution crisis.
Nograles said the inter-agency efforts were “prompted by policy issues that were unearthed in the process of finalizing the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP).”
“If you go through the PDP, you will see that it admits that despite the country’s abundant water resources, there are issues in the development, utilization and management of water-related services,” Nograles said.
The former lawmaker noted that they are now “threshing out the details” of the EO.
The next CAS meeting will be held in Palo, Leyte on Friday, he added.
Nograles also said that the EO “aims to address the fragmentation in the water sector by providing the framework for an integrated and coordinated effort in planning and implementing the programs and projects to address all issues in the water sector.”
Residents of Metro Manila and parts of Rizal have been affected by water supply interruptions since March 7 as water concessionaire Manila Water started disrupting its services.
The water concessionaire is blaming the declining water level of the La Mesa Dam, which earlier breached its critical level, and the onset of the El Niño for the water supply woes. / gsg
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