Water resources department creation pushed

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday advocated for the reorganization of water management in the Philippines to address hydro-related issues such as water supply, irrigation and flooding through the creation of a Department of Water Resources.

The President said that due to climate change, the government must prioritize the establishment of a department-level agency.

“It’s a department because we are going to reorganize everything. But the original idea was that we would reorganize the entire water management process in the Philippines. But because of the exigencies of climate change, we really have to direct our efforts, our attention to water,” said the President during the 6th Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council’s meeting at Malacañang Palace.

Marcos told Senate President Chiz Escudero that the Palace would come up with an executive version of the Department of Water Resources bill, which the latter said would be used for debates in the upper chamber.

Under the adjusted priorities in water resources, the management and assessment of flood control would be managed under the new Water Resources body with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) as one of the coordinating agencies.

Earlier this month, the NIA was temporarily transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Office of the President.

Marcos also called for a comprehensive plan for flooding and irrigation, stressing that the two problems cannot be solved on a “piecemeal basis.”