We already know that power rates in the Philippines are the most expensive in Asia. What we do not know yet which will certainly make our collective blood pressure rise is that water rates in the country are also among the highest in the region. Using the same 2011 survey conducted by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on power rates in major Asian cities, I found out that the water rates in Cebu City and Manila rank fourth and fifth, respectively behind Sydney, Singapore and Jakarta. Yes, we are paying more expensive water than more developed cities like Hong Kong, New Delhi, Beijing, Seoul and others. (See Chart 1, click on image to enlarge) (Download the JETRO survey here)

I bring this up after hearing the news that the private water concessionaires of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) have been allowed again to jack up their rates next year. A report by the BusinessWorld said that by January 2013, the ordinary customers of Maynilad Water Services Inc. or those with a monthly consumption of 30 cubic meters will see their bill increase by ₱22.52. Meanwhile, the customers of Manila Water Co. Inc. with the same level of monthly consumption will bear a ₱6-spike in their water bill. What a way to greet the New Year for some 13.3 million people in Metro Manila and nearby provinces who get their water from Maynilad and Manila Water.

Reality, the anti-thesis of ADB’s Water Operation Plan

Written by Administrator

In March 2013, the Asian Development Bank will be holding its Asia Water Week. During this event, ADB intends to push for recognition and acceptability of its Water Operation Plan 2011-2020 which resonates the policy recommendations of its Green Urbanization Proposal.

No longer eulogizing privatization but still singing the same old tune, ADB claims that its experience has proven the effectivity of public-private partnerships (PPP) and corporatization of water services and resources. It writes, “Private capital and private expertise are essential ingredients in closing the water [supply and demand] gap.”

Tapping into private expertise entails recourse to market mechanisms, such as pricing for externalities or environmental costs. This is to manage demand and disincentivize wasteful use of water. However, this has only been to the detriment of the poor in most developing countries.

Indigenous people’s rights in Manipur undermined by Oil Company

Written by Administrator

“Mountain ecosystems play a crucial role in providing water resources to a large portion of the world's population… We further recognize that mountains are often home to communities, including indigenous peoples and local communities, who have developed sustainable uses of mountain resources.”

--United Nations Convention on Sustainable Development, “The Future We Want”

It was five months ago that Heads of States and Governments signed on to the Rio+20 outcome document that affirms the need to protect mountain ecosystems, indigenous peoples and local communities. However, the aspirations expressed in this document fail to translate into the lives of indigenous tribes in Manipur, the Northeastern State of India.

Public hearings were conducted by the Manipur Pollution Control Board as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment on the planned oil and petroleum exploration and drilling of Jubilant Oil and Gas Private Limited (JOGPL), an indirect subsidiary of Netherlands-based Jubilant Energy NV (JENV). Two out of three of the public hearings were conducted inspite of strong protests from local communities and submitted objections by 31 village authorities and the Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur.

The Story of Asia’s Water Crisis: From Privatization to the Next Big Thing

Written by Administrator

In March 2013, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be holding its Asia Water Week. During this event, ADB also intends to push for recognition and acceptability of its Water Operation Plan 2011-2020 which resonates the policy recommendations in its Green Urbanization Proposal. In the Water Operational Plan, ADB stated that it will:

Give preference to water providers that are corporatized, or in the process of being corporatized, or prepared to apply business principles in their operation
Boost greater private sector involvement not only in providing investment but also in using their managerial and technological expertise

Given the underlying agenda of ADB’s Asia Water Week, we would need to be more strategic in exposing how greater corporate control over water services and resources is being wielded not only through privatization but corporatization, particularly in the context of a "green economy" and ADB's green urbanization proposal. Corporatization is a relatively new neoliberal strategy of IFIs, which can be taken as a counter-strategy to the increasing trend of remunicipalization of water districts and anti-privatization movements around the world.

ADB’s main claim really is that their experience has proven the effectivity of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and corporatization of water services and resources, which is contrary to the experience of the people. This is why we would need to highlight the latter—its actual effects and the responses of the people. In line with this effort, Water for the People Network has released the series, "Money Grows in Cities, Not Trees: ADB’s Green Urban Wet Dream." Click here for its latest issue.

Meanwhile, its first issue can be downloaded here.
We have also released a call for a publication of an Asia Water Advocacy Strategy Casebook that will be launched during ADB's Asia Water Week.

If you are interested in contributing, kindly email Levi Francisco ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Asia’s Green Urbanization as Global Neoliberal Affront, Water as its Power Chess Piece

Written by Administrator

Last August, ADB released its 2012 Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific with a special chapter on Green Urbanization. In this report, ADB exalts Asia-Pacific’s sonic-paced urbanization as compared to other regions, such as Europe, North America and Latin America and the Caribbean. In less than a century, the report says that 51% of the region has already been urbanized with China, Bhutan, Laos, Indonesia and Vietnam leading the way.

This, the ADB claimed, is a sign of Asia’s economic prowess asserting itself in the global scene besides its apparent robustness in the midst of the struggling economies of the US and some European countries. ADB even alludes to urbanization being an indicator of human development as it states that, “It is generally accepted that city growth has made urbanites happier, healthier and smarter.”

A curious statement considering the gross inequality and increased incident rates of theft and murder that come with urbanization as illustrated by UN studies on the state of cities around the world and in Asia. It is also worth mentioning that 60% of the world's most polluted cities are in Asia and 67% of all Asian cities would not even pass the European Union’s air quality standard, which ADB admits in the same report.

Asia CSO Strategy Meeting on the Right to Water in Hanoi, Vietnam

Written by Administrator

Twenty seven representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) from Bangladesh, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Manipur, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, USA and Tajikistan, representing women, peasants, agricultural workers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples, workers, academia, environmental and support NGOs and networks gathered at the “CSO Strategy Meeting on the Right to Water: Challenges and Imperatives for Rio+20 and Beyond” on June 10, 2012 at La Thanh Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam. This event was organized by Water for the People Network (WPN), IBON International and Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN), in partnership with the Sustainable Rural Development and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC).

With the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development convening in June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil twenty years after the historic Earth Summit, CSO representatives from Asia have come together to have a critical understanding of the Green Economy agenda that is being negotiated on in Rio+20 and its impact on the people’s right to water (RTW); map and assess the current CSO advocacy strategies in pushing for the realization of the RTW at the local, national, regional and international levels; and develop an action plan and key messages in addressing urgent water issues during and after Rio+20. The strategy meeting was preceded by Asia Pacific Research Network’s Biennial Conference, “Rio for People,” from June 4-7, 2012.

Key presentations were given by Maria Theresa Nera-Lauron of IBON International, Nguyen Thi Diu of Vietnam Rivers Network (VRN), Erdenechimeg Dashdorj of Center for Human Rights Development from Mongolia and Rachel Ordu Dan-Harry of UUSC. This was followed by a presentation and critiquing of the Right to Water Modules. Focused group discussions on the challenges of realizing the right to water in Asia and a plenary session to strategically plan for the network’s next steps in the post-Rio+20 scenario were also conducted.

Download the outcome document and presentations here.

Water for the People Network at the Alternative World Water Forum

Written by Administrator

Water for the People Network (WPN) joined 4,200 water justice activists who have gathered at the Alternative World Water Forum (alternately called, Forum Alternatif Mondial de L'eau or FAME) that took place from March 14-16 at Docks des Suds in Marseille, France. Under the overarching theme, “Resistance against Neoliberal Reforms,” WPN facilitated two workshops: (i) resource grabbing through water bottling, where the session presented case studies of the ill-effects of water bottling industries in China, Indonesia, Italy and Morocco; and (ii) local struggles against water privatization and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Chile, Spain, Ecuador, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines, where Maria Theresa Nera-Lauron of IBON International was one of the speakers presenting the case of Manila.

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