The creation of the proposed Department of Water Resources (DWR) will be pivotal in expanding data centers by enabling enough supply for cooling systems, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chairperson George Barcelon said.

Barcelon, who is also the chairman and president of Integrated Computer Systems Inc., said the DWR could create more efficient policies for finding new sources of water and organizing water distribution to businesses, including data centers.

“Water is very important. It can help cool data centers which should run 24/7. This is important as the Philippines is being eyed as among the top destinations for data centers,” he told DAILY TRIBUNE.

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan last Monday said the proposal to create the DWR has been included in the remaining 35 priority bills President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants to be signed into law before the end of the 19th Congress.

Coordination among agencies key

“The recurring devastation caused by heavy typhoons necessitates that we prepare for our country’s future and safety. The DWR will be mandated to coordinate with relevant agencies on the construction of water projects, which will improve irrigation and flood management,” he said.

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy said several developed economies in Asia will be looking at the Philippines to tap its skilled and young labor force and relatively bigger, idle land areas.

“Traditional areas like Singapore, Japan are getting crowded. So this is an open field where they can see almost unlimited growth not just because of the untouched potential of our land but even our human resources. DICT is already training many of our youth in data management,” he said.

Data centers store information people produce when they transact or go online, such as buying items through e-commerce and posting various content on social media platforms.

With the growing demand for digital services, a study by Quisumbing Torres, one of the country’s leading law firms, revealed revenues from data centers in the country could grow by 11.4 percent to $535 million by 2026.

Based on DICT’s data, this growth means data centers should run on a higher capacity of over 300 megawatts.

Globe Telecom and Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centers in May 2023 announced the construction of a data center in Quezon City which Bruno Lopez, the latter’s chief executive officer, said will generate at least 28,000 jobs for Filipinos and a $5-billion contribution to the country’s gross domestic product.

The first phase of the data center is expected to be finished next year, while the rest runs over the next eight years or less.