Water for the People Network

Water district unions from Luzon, Vizayas and Mindanao and consumers, as well as representatives from peasants, workers, indigenous people, fisherfolk, women and environment advocates came together last November to hold a national anti-water privatization assembly.

Attended by over 120 delegates, the "Water is Life" national conference was aimed at opposing ongoing efforts to further privatize the water sector, such as pending bills at the Senate and Congress such as the Senate Bill (SB) 2997. Also known as the Water Sector Reform Act of 2012, the bill outlines the privatization of water through public-private partnerships (PPPs), which consumers and water district employees say will create monopolies in the merging of water districts, and lay-off thousands of water utilities employees.

Spearheaded by the Water Systems Employees Response (WATER), Water is Life, Solidarity Opposed to Privatization Alliance (STOP) and the Water for the People Network (WPN), the conference was held at the UP College of Social Work and Community Development.

Employees of water districts and water supply providers, together with consumer groups and water advocates gathered in an assembly today to express opposition on the ongoing efforts to privatize the water sector. These privatization efforts include Senate Bill (SB) 2997, authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara and identified as a priority bill by Malacanang.

The assembly, which gathered water stakeholders and members of the Water for the People Network (WPN), including its member federation Water System Employees Response (WATER), expressed its protest on the ‘Angara Bill’. Sen. Angara filed SB 2997 or the Water Sector Reform Bill in 2011, claiming that water districts should be “more friendly to private investment”, and that the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and local government units (LGUs) should open up to the private sector through joint ventures. SB 2997 also intends to create new bodies to administer water distribution.

According to WPN, the bill will facilitate the further privatization of water services in the country by empowering local water supply and sanitation companies to enter into private-public partnership (PPP) arrangements such as management contracts, concession agreements and other build-operate-transfer deals. This, they argued, will only result in more expensive water rates at the expense of poor consumers.

The country’s policy makers seem oblivious to the harmful impact of the water privatization in Metro Manila, as they continue to push for legislations that will encourage the sale of water service providers nationwide.

According to the national campaign alliance Water for the People Network (WPN), the Senate Bill (SB) 2997 is leading the ongoing moves to privatize water districts and local water providers nationwide. If approved, the people’s access to water would likely worsen, similar to the effect of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) privatization in 1997.

Since the sale of MWSS, water rates in Metro Manila have increased up by 564% to more than 1,000 percent. During the same period (1997-2012), water districts around the country have increased rates by 134% for those consuming 11-20 cubic meters. These rates could increase more sharply if water districts were privatized like what SB 2997 envisions.