THE Baguio Regreening Movement (BRM) welcomed the possible creation of a Department of Water which would greatly support the water concerns of Baguio City.
BRM chairman Erdolfo Balajadia said the creation of a water department will give more focus on the water concerns Baguio City continues to face.
“That is good because water is one of the life-saving element and we should have an abundance of this and this should also be clean. So probably this department, if created, can do all the things that is to be done in order to supply the constituents’ safe, sufficient and clean water,” Balajadia stated.
Baguio City Congressman Marquez Go confirmed that a joint panel of the House of Representatives has approved in principle a substitute bill consolidating 35 House bills seeking to create the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Water Regulatory Commission (WRC).
The committee on government reorganization and committee on public works and highways both approved on November 12 the unnumbered substitute bill.
“I would think that if ever the Water Department would be created, it is possible that all water districts like the Baguio Water District will be included under it as an umbrella of the proposed department, it will all depend on the law,” Balajadia added.
The DWR shall be the primary national agency to implement Presidential Decree No. 1067, otherwise known as the Water Code of the Philippines, and Republic Act No. 9275, otherwise known as the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.
Its creation shall ensure that there is a government body responsible and accountable for all aspects of water resource management, including the development of dams and other infrastructure, the harvest of water, and the management of the waste water system.
The measure also provides for the creation of the Water Regulatory Commission, which shall serve as an independent, quasi-judicial regulatory body under the administrative supervision of the DWR as an attached agency.
The DWR will essentially be in charge of resource management while the WRC will be focused on economic regulation.
The National Water Resources Board have recently identified Baguio City as one of ten cities in the country where water is running out.