(MANILA BULLETIN)

The measure that seeks to create a dedicated agency to address all water-related problems has been overwhelmingly passed on third and final reading in the House of Representatives.

Approved on the strength of 254 affirmative votes against only three negative votes was House Bill (HB) No. 9663 or the proposed National Water Resources Act. It bats for the creation of the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to establish the national water resource management framework.

"Preserving water is a priority of the administration of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. We need to manage our water resources properly," Speaker Martin Romualdez said of the measure, which Marcos mentioned in his July 25 State of the Nation Address (SONA) this year, and listed under the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) priority bills.

The proposed department would be the primary agency responsible for the thorough and unified identification and mapping of all water resources and planning, policy creation, and management.

Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, said creating the DWR will help address urban flooding issues by providing a framework for stormwater and drainage services.

The measure seeks to establish the National Water Resource Allocation Board, as well as a framework for stormwater management--first in the country.

Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and one of the authors who shepherded the bill in the House, said the bill "unifies policy-making, planning, and management for water and septage under a single department called DWR".

"The DWR secretary is given functions of presidential adviser on all water-related issues," he said.

"The measure also unifies regulatory, rate-setting, and licensing functions under the Water Regulatory Commission, a quasi-judicial body similar to the Energy Regulatory Commission. It also fills in policy gaps, including water regulation in provincial areas," added the independent minority solon.

Salceda underscored the need for a water-focused agency to solve an institutional "decades-old problem of treating water resources as a peripheral and dispersed concern for government".

"It's not just another new agency. The recurring water crisis calls for creating a department that will complete the circle regarding water management and enshrine the doctrine and policy that the State owns water. Its management is a State duty," he stressed.