LUCENA CITY – Quezon second district Rep. David “Jayjay” C. Suarez is pushing the creation of a separate department that will take care of water concern in the country.
QUEZON Rep. David ‘Jayjay’ C. Suarez, with provincial board member Ferdinand Talabong, Alona party-list Anna V. Suarez, village chairmen and councilmen of Barangay 10 and Barangay Gulang-gulang during the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the newly constructed city streets with P20-million fund from the national government on Thursday, April 27, in Lucena City. (Danny Estacio)


“Ang susunod na mga hamon na haharapin ng bansa at pati ng mundo ay hindi sa usapin ng teritoryo o gera, kundi usapin ng tubig (The next challenges that the country and the whole world would face are not about the issue on territory or war, but the problems on water),” said Suarez. Suarez said he already filed a bill for that purpose during his first term. He added that since then, he has been fighting for the enactment of the law, saying he sees in the coming years that water would become a big problem in the country. If and when his proposed law passes the House of Representatives, the department that would be created will be called Department of Water Resources. Suarez said he is scheduling a consultative meeting with the water concessionaires, departments, and agencies concerned with water to come out with a security plan, especially for this coming El Niño. Suarez, vice chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, said he is closely monitoring the agriculture sector which will be affected. He also raised the idea of coming up with alternate measures that would help the farmers who will be directly hit by El Niño. “An alternated measures na makatulong sa kanila para sa ganun kung  naaapektuhan ang kanilang hanap buhay dahil sa init ng panahon ay maski papaano naman ay ma-offset natin ito sa ibang services na pwedeng maibigay ng pamahalaan through social services and other grants (An alternate measure that will help them if their livelihood is affected by extreme heat, and that  we can somehow offset it with other services that the government can provide through social services and other grants),” explained Suarez. Suarez made the statement when interviewed by media during a blessing of two city streets at Alfaro in Barangays 10 and St. John St. Peter II Subdivision in Gulang-gulang with P10-million fund each. The Alfaro St. was also installed with solar street lights. Also present during the occasion were provincial board member Ferdinand Talabong, the respective village chairmen and councilmen, and some residents.