To the last drop: the political economy of Philippine water policy

Abstract

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.

Providing Sustainable Water Supply in the Municipality of New Bataan, Davao De Oro: The Challenges of Water Governance in a Local Government Unit

“…The Water Code of the Philippines, which covers the entire water sector, is the fundamental law governing the ownership, appropriation, utilization, exploitation, development, conservation, and protection of water resources (NWRB, 1976). The seven laws address how water resources are treated legally, property rights, legalized inter-sectoral prioritization and the basis for prioritization, legal linkages between land and surface water and between land and forest and/or environment, inter-governmental responsibility for the water law, which means many agencies promote the law, combining the water law with other laws on land, forest, and environment, and for water planning and development (Hall, 2014). At least a dozen national water-related bodies are responsible for carrying out all these regulations, which results in a fragmented decisions to water planning, implementation, and compliance.…”

Disentangling Challenges to Scaling Alternate Wetting and Drying Technology for Rice Cultivation: Distilling Lessons From 20 Years of Experience in the Philippines

“…Moreover, there are no updated and interoperable databases or data collections to support real-time decision-making for water resources, conflicts, and enforcement of various waterrelated laws (Hall et al, 2015). The M&E of irrigation system performance rest with the NIA and BSWM through the DA's respective regional field office.…”