NON-NECESSITY SPEECH

LIBRT: Congress should create a Department of Water and Resources Services to address
the present water crisis of the country
“There is no need for Congress to legislate a separate Department for consistent accessibility
of water supply in Metro Manila and other regions in the nation. The National Water System
was, historically, nationally operated but the government saw fit decades ago that such
organization was crude and inefficient and thus implemented various laws to share the
responsibility of providing clean water to homes, farmers, and industries with the private
sector.”
Your Honors, Ladies and Gentlemen, the affirmative bench seeks to exacerbate the water
crisis in its proposal to create a separate Department for Water and Resource Services. The problem
they seek to address with this solution is the inconsistent accessibility of water in urban and rural
communities. However, the negative bench argues that it is not the accessibility of water but the
availability and safety of water that the Government needs to address.
Right now, water is distributed to communities through water districts, which source it from dams
across the country. For example, Manila’s water supply mainly comes from Angat Dam situated in
Norzagaray, Bulacan.
These are considered quasi-public corporations performing public service and supplying public wants,
and are created through resolutions by the legislative body of a city, municipality, or province. These
water districts are headed by directors who own and operate these public utilities.
The issue before us today is whether our system of water distribution better left in the hands of the
government rather than the private sector like it does now. Does the responsibility of providing water
to Filipino communities rest solely on the government? We answer in the negative.
In Metropolitan Water District vs. Court of Industrial Relations, et al., the Court has held the business
of furnishing water supply and sewerage services "may for all practical purposes be likened to an
industry engaged in by coal companies, gas companies, power plants, ice plants, and the like." Withal,
it has been enunciated that "although the State may regulate the service and rates of water plants
owned and operated by municipalities, such property is not employed for governmental purposes and
in the ownership and operation thereof the municipality acts in its proprietary capacity, free from
legislative interference."
In IDEALS vs. PSALMS, the Court held, in the issue of a foreign corporation threatening the
accessibility of water supply,
“Indeed, there can be no debate that the best means of ensuring that PSALM/NPC
can fulfill the duty to prescribe "safeguards to enable the national government to direct
water usage to protect potable water, irrigation, and all other requirements imbued
with public interest" is for it to retain the water rights over those water resources from
where the dam waters are extracted. In this way, the State’s full supervision and control
over the country’s water resources is also assured notwithstanding the privatized
power generation business.”
The Government recognized that the water supply is better operated by local government units and
the private sector and not a broad national agency in Executive Order no. 311 or the National Water
Crisis Act of 1995.
In summary, the negative bench emphasizes that we see no reason in returning to the old
framework of water supply management when it has historically been inefficient. The Government saw
fit that the management of water supply throughout the country was better realized in a framework
where the private sector was involved.
We acknowledge the difficulties of the current framework in providing water to communities however
we posit that these problems are beyond the control of any administration. The Philippines is a tropical
country commonly known for its dry seasons. Water can be scarce in certain months merely because
of the scarcity of the water itself. These difficult times are not new. The government should, instead of
changing the administration of the supply, endeavor to obtain alternative sources of water and support
the current agencies and water districts in its mandate to find these sources. For all these reasons, it is
as crystal clear that a Department of Water and Resources Services is unnecessary. Thank You.