Bongbong Marcos orders creation of DENR’s Water Resources Management Office

FILE PHOTO: Angat Dam. INQUIRER /GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of a Water Resources Management Office (WRMO) in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Malacañang announced on Thursday.

In signing Executive Order No. 22, Marcos instructed the WRMO to integrate and harmonize all government programs that seek to guarantee the availability and sustainable management of water resources in the country.

Under the order, WRMO is mandated to “ensure the immediate implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and formulate a corresponding Water Resources Master Plan.”

“To avert water crisis, minimize and avoid conflicts, and consistent with the State’s sole ownership and control over the country’s water resources, it is imperative for the Government to integrate and harmonize the policies, programs, and projects of all relevant agencies in the water resource sector in the fulfillment of their complementary governmental mandates,” the order stated.

The Presidential Communications Office said the order was created to address the challenges that affect the management of water resources management in the country, particularly with the increasing demand for water due to population and economic growth, impacts of climate change and the pandemic, and the lack of adequate infrastructure leading to uneven distribution of water resources.

WRMO has been tasked to “shepherd and champion, together with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, the passage of a law creating an apex body such as the proposed Department of Water and/or a regulatory commission on water.”

It is also directed to integrate into the master plan the various programs of agencies, which include the Philippine Development Plan, the Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan, and the National Water Resources Board Security Master Plan.

WRMO is further tasked to “generate and maintain credible and timely water and sanitation data to aid in evidence-based policy-making, regulations, planning, and implementation.”

The office will be headed by an Undersecretary to be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the DENR secretary.

Marcos earlier said he already signed an EO on the WRMO but it was only on Thursday that Malacañang released the copy of the document.

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