Drivers of water governance reforms in the Philippines

Abstract

This paper analyses the enabling conditions for a water governance model responsive to future Philippine water requirements. Using the stage-based approach to institutional reforms, it assesses the outcomes of previous water governance reforms, such as conflicts in customary and formal rules; urban and rural; upstream and downstream; and the contestations in water supply privatization in Metro Manila. The analysis suggests that past water governance reforms were symbolic and procedural, and structural changes to support the legal frameworks were not achieved. Based on the case findings, the authors support the current reform agenda of implementing a decentralized framework of water governance at a watershed scale.

Keywords:

• water governance
• customary rules
• privatization
• integrated water resources management
• Philippines

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the inputs of Dr Juan M. Pulhin, Dr Myra E. David and Dr Maria Helen F. Dayo all from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). The final manuscript benefitted from the research assistance of Ms Aira Mendoza of the UPLB.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1060196

Notes

^1. Supreme Court of the Philippines. G.R. No. 180882. Baguio Regreening Movement Inc vs Atty Brain Masweng. February 27, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2014, from http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2013/february2013/180882.pdf

^2. The NWRC was envisioned to fulfil more than the task of issuing water permits; it is also supposed to regulate the whole water sector (akin to energy). However, its relatively modest budget and lack of presence outside Manila (it has neither regional nor local offices) meant that institutionally it is a weak institution compared with NIA and LWUA. Municipal waterworks, water collectives/cooperatives and local private enterprises dealing with water provisioning do not have a regulatory body assigned to oversee their operations.

^3. Supreme Court of the Philippines. G.R. No. 168914. Metropolitan Cebu Water District vs Margarita Adala. July 4, 2007. Retrieved February 25, 2013, from http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2007/july2007/168914.htm

^4. Watershed and river basin are essentially the same, except that river basin is used to describe a region drained by a larger river system, implying a very large watershed (see http://milwaukeeriverkeeper.org/whats-a-river-basin-whats-a-watershed/). The Philippines refers to a watershed as a socio-economic and socio-political unit for planning and implementing resources management activities (Francisco, 2004).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Program (EIDR) of the University of the Philippines System [OVPAA – EIDR Code 2-003-121010].