Manila’s water future at risk, again

As if we actually needed another (potential) crisis, the issue of Metro Manila’s water supply appears to be a matter of some concern again after the Commission on Audit (CoA) “flagged” (whatever that means) the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) over the P12.2-billion New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project, because the water agency issued a notice to proceed in spite of an incomplete environmental compliance certificate (ECC), and questions about the validity of the consent given by the indigenous peoples affected.

The CoA’s observations were contained in its 2019 Audit Report for the MWSS, released late last week. The report is troubling for a couple of reasons. First of all, in spite of the dim regard the Duterte administration has for the CoA — the president once suggested that a good way to interact with audit officials would be to throw them down the stairs — it is a valuable and necessary defense against wasteful and improper spending of public funds. It is one of the most professional and apolitical agencies in the entire bureaucracy, and its findings ought not to be dismissed.

On the other hand, valid though the CoA report may be, its timing is very problematic. It raises another roadblock in a seemingly endless series of roadblocks to getting the badly needed Kaliwa Dam project started, just when there are signs a repeat of last year’s water shortages may be in the offing in a few months’ time, and at a time when large-scale infrastructure projects in general are seen — although their impact may be somewhat overestimated — as critical to the hoped-for economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

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Article originally posted by The Manila Times last September 17, 2020 and written by Ben Kritz