House panel OKs funding for creation of Department of Water Resources

MANILA, Philippines — The House appropriations committee on Wednesday approved the funding provision of a bill seeking to create the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

The panel approved the still unnumbered substitute bill, which consolidated 35 bills seeking to create the DWR that will ensure reliable, safe, and affordable water supply, and prevent water crisis in the country.

“The legislative intent of the creation of the Department of Water Resources is to ensure safe, adequate and continuous water supply for our people and ensure good governance and effective regulation of the water service,” Batangas 5th District Rep. Marvey Mariño, who sponsored the bill, said.

“The legislative initiative also seeks to approximate a balance between consumer satisfaction and reasonable return on investment on the part of the water service providers and ensure sound and efficient management of the sector by establishing a national framework of water resource management,” he added.

The bill seeks a P2-billion fund for the creation of the new department.

Under the bill, the new Department shall be the pri­mary national agency responsible for the planning, policy formulation, and management of water resources in the country.

The bill also calls for the creation of the Water Regulatory Commission (WRC), which is an independent regulatory and quasi-judicial body which shall be under the umbrella of the new department.

Mariño said the proposed budget for WRC is P300 million.

The functions of the following key water agencies will be transferred to the DWR: River Basin Control Of­fice Manila Bay Coordinating Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Flood Management Planning and Sediment Functions of the DPWH, Water Supply and Sanitation Unit of the Department of Interior and Local Government, and Wa­ter Quality Management Section of Environmental Management Bureau -DENR.

Meanwhile, the following agencies shall be attached to the DWR: Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Wa­ter Utilities Administration, Laguna Lake Development Authority, Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, and National Irrigation Administration.

The bill also seeks to establish a water trust fund and to compensate members of the WRC.

It also seeks to provide the organizational structure of the DWR and absorb and separate the retirement benefits for personnel of the affected agencies.

/MUF