Salceda to govt: Maximize ₧18B for efficient water management

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

IN the face of a crisis in water resources, an economist- lawmaker urged government officials to maximize the budget allotted for local government units (LGUs) and local water districts, or “LWDs.”

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jose Ma. Clemente “Joey” S. Salceda said key public officials“government economic managers and the Department of the Interior and Local Government [DILG]”should come up with guidelines and incentives for local government “water alliances” of multiple LGUs.

“Apart from LWDs, LGUs also provide water to rural communities,” Salceda said through a statement his office issued last Monday. He pointed out that government is providing LGUs and LWDs some P18 billion in new water systems from the 2023 General Appropriations Act. They can be better managed if they share resources—from pipelines to reservoirs,” the lawmaker

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

THE newly installed chief of police left it to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. whether the police officials probed for links to narcotics trade would be publicly named.

During his first news briefing last Tuesday, newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Major Gen. Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. said it would be in the President’s discretion to disclose or not the names of officials who will be retained or dropped from the service as a result of the organization’s anti-illegal drugs’ investigation.

“With regards to making [the information] public, I think it will be the option or based on what will be the recommendation of the advisory group,” Acorda told reporters.

“What I can say [is], this [investigation] has been done, the process has been completed and it will be submitted to the President.”

“With regards to names, maybe, added. “That’s the best way to make use of the administration’s historic investments in water resources.”

S alceda said lawmakers are also parsing the National Water Act to compel water districts and LGU-run water service providers to consolidate into more efficient and economically-sensible entities. The law ushers in a Department of Water Resources.

Water, whether we like it or not, is not a localized issue. To manage water resources well, you need more scale, more coordination, more long-term planning, and more resource-sharing. Otherwise, you will have some places that have abundant water, and many more places that have completely zero access to quality running water,” he said.

M eanwhile, Salceda urged the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to “be more aggressive in exercising its power to monitor local water districts for performance and to consolidate them for public welfare” amid an ongoing water crisis exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon.

Need to consolidate SALCEDA emphasized that “an effective LWUA is critical to dealing with the water crisis, because they supervise the hundreds of water districts that provide for urban and suburban populations outside Mega Manila.”

“ Their mandates are far-reaching and include monitoring for performance and ‘to effect system integration, joint investment and operations district annexation and de-annexation whenever economically warranted,’ as the law says,” the lawmaker said. “They also have financing powers—so they can incentivize consolidation through favorable financing terms and performance reviews.”

T he lawmaker believes LWUA administrator Vicente Homer B. Revil “means well.”

S alceda said he supports Revil’s efforts to conduct a national water inventory and the P20-billion “Patubig sa Buong Bayan at Mamamayan” project.

But to ensure that operations and management of new water systems are efficient, we really need to consolidate water districts that are inefficient or nonoperational,” he said.

S alceda called on Revil to exercise the agency’s mandate to hold water districts to account more as he estimates that some 300 water districts are currently non-operational or barely opera - tional. This means that the areas they serve do not have functioning central water systems, according to the lawmaker.

Salceda said these water districts could be combined into clusters “to make infrastructure investments more efficient.”

“

The thing with water is that it is infrastructure-intensive, it requires a lot of fixed costs, and it is only viable with enough revenuepaying users. So, if a water district is too small, or has too little demand, it’s doomed to fail—or will never mature to provide sanitation services, which are also expensive,” he added. if you are asking my opinion, I leave that to the President to make this public or not,” the PNP chief added.

Earlier, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. asked all colonels and generals in the PNP to tender their courtesy resignations in order to be screened and assessed by a 5-man committee under the PNP’s campaign to weed out members who have links with illegal drugs syndicates. The committee, which has Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. and retired police General and incumbent Baguio City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong as members—has since completed its screening and investigation. The committee’s findings have been submitted to the National Police Commission for further review before forwarding the report to the President. The report contains the names of police officials who will be asked to stay put and those who will be axed.

During the briefing, Acorda vowed that the PNP will be aggressive in the anti-illegal drugs drive, which is among the four focuses of his leadership campaigns. The other three are insurgency, terrorism and internal cleansing.

The only difference of his antiillegal drugs campaign from the drives taken by previous PNP chiefs is that the leadership support will cascade down to the lowest commander, he said.

“We will support that through our admin and operations. I will be making our DCA [deputy chief for administration] and DCO [deputy chief for operations] very active in this; and also our regional directors and NSUs [national support units].

We will make sure that they will be properly supported on the ground,” Acorda said.

He added he has experienced being “a chief of police, so I know what is the feeling of being a chief of police.”

“That’s what I wanted to ensure. And I am asking for our DCA to really supervise and make sure… funds support, logistical support and other admin requirements that the lower units needs…are properly given,” Acorda added.

• Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug