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This paper examines the conflicts arising from the layered legal treatment, fragmentation and multiplicity of institutions involved in Philippine water governance. Using a thematic analysis of national legislation, a survey of 299 water managers in 10 provinces, and five cases illustrating local contestations, the paper tracks the diversification of formal institutional stakeholders which have been found to lack coherence and inter-agency connectivity. Water managers are not grounded in policy shifts, have little understanding of formal water rights and settle local conflicts with little reliance on formal mechanisms. The select cases reveal that water rights provide weak currency in local contestations.

Mount Banahaw, an active volcano and a watershed tn the municipality of Dolores, Quezon province, Philippines, is also a considered a sacred place. This study discussed the community outcomes arising from the conceptual dichotomy of perceptions of multi-use of water by formal organizations such as water districts for domestic use and by informal organizations such as the religious groups for the sacred or religious use of water from the sacred mountain; and the negotiations among these different actors and agents for water access. Results distilled lessons around the interlocking themes of water use and institutions in the access and allocation of water resources as water transits from non-consumptive use to use value. Polycentric water governance is necessary in the context of Mount Banahaw’s cultural, social and economic realities.

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