by Donald Sevilla
WATER: AN INVALUABLE PATRIMONY
In any card game, you hold your aces close and protect your most valuable assets. You don’t give them up easy and you try to get the most out of having them.
Water is a valuable resource that must not be used as a tool for oppression much more an instrument of profit and business. It is a finite resource that must be carefully sustained as access to safe drinking water is seen as a basic human right.
In arid subcontinental Africa, wars have been fought and waged over who controls it. Damming the Mekong River in Southeast Asia by upstream countries to generate hydroelectric power has caused furor and public outcry downstream.
In a post-apocalyptic world portrayed in movies, water is more valuable than oil or gold. Hence it is easy to understand the fuss created by opposing entities over water sources in our province.
On the one hand, we see a private corporation doing business, looking to fill the gap left by government and bureacratic ineptitude. It is a known fact that oftentimes government fails miserably to deliver even the most basic of services to its people.
Yet we see a government entity trying desperately hard, despite its limitations and meager resources to fulfill its mandate. We laud towns and leaders, working to protect the people’s interest.
And we equally admire a private water developer’s efforts to establish a potable water supply for public consumption. But as underground resources including water are owned by the state, it should not quite easily fall into private hands.
However, developing Bugwak Spring and other water assets can be jointly undertaken. Haven’t we heard of public private partnerships? This is a healthy compromise that can be a good check and balance resulting in public gain.
What the government lacks in resources the private partner can fill in. What the government still owns cannot be solely appropriated for private use and our people are protected from consumerism and corporate greed.
As water is a people’s patrimony, rights to it should not just be dispensed with wantonly. It should rest well in the hands of the state and not in the hands of entities who are geared towards profit. What pro-active municipalities are doing, other LGUs should follow suit. This way, our people will still have a say on how things should be run and done.
Yet, always remember though, to never surrender your most prized asset for the people’s welfare.