MWSS forms task force to save watersheds

MANILA, Philippines - Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) administrator Gerardo Esquivel said Thursday he created a task force to create the legal, intellectual, operational and administrative framework for rehabilitating and protecting five watersheds that are the sources of potable water for Metro Manila.

Esquivel said the task force is a response to the finding that the MWSS of the previous decades has been slow to build the institutional capability to exercise a central role as trustees of the Umiray and Ipo watersheds; in partnering with the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to ensure the sustainability of the Angat watershed; and in devising progressive ideas for the management of the La Mesa and Marikina watersheds.

He said around 70 percent of the forest surrounding Ipo Dam has been denuded by rich loggers as well as the poor struggling to eke a living through kaingin farming and charcoal making. He said while corporate and non-government groups have undertaken reforestation activities, it will take at least 15 years for seedlings to grow into trees.

“At the rate the illegal logging around the area is going, there is an urgent need for the government to intervene. Otherwise, Metro Manila will be without water in 15 years,” Esquivel said.

The MWSS officials and board of trustees have set in place an Integrated Water Management System. Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno has accepted the job as IWMS’ legal advisor.

“This is a P1 a year job,” he said, adding that the consultancy is his way of giving back what the country had given him in the past.

Puno guided the Supreme Court toward the issuance of the writ of kalikasan in 2010, which would enable an individual or group to seek redress from the High Court on issues of environmental degradation.

Among those involved in the IWMS are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Department of Agrarian Reform, Napocor, Manila Water Co. Inc., Maynilad Water Services Inc., ABS-CBN Foundation and other non-government organizations.

Esquivel said drafting strong multilateral agreements underpinning the IWMS comprises the work of task force. – Dino Balabo, Rhodina Villanueva