Vargas encourages fellow legislators to hasten passage of measure for safe, affordable water to every Pinoy

IN celebration of World Water Day, District V Quezon City Representative PM Vargas, encourages fellow legislators to hasten the passage of the proposed measure for providing safe, affordable and reliable water to every Filipino, as a basic human right.

“A huge proportion of Filipinos, to this day, do not have flowing water into their homes. They either need to carry buckets of water to their residence or pay a significant chunk of their hard-earned money to afford clean, drinkable water”, says Vargas as he files for House Bill 2523 otherwise known as the “Department of Water Act, Irrigation, Sewage, and Sanitation Resource Management Act”.

Before the Lower House Christmas break in 2023, the Committee on Government Reorganization approved and submitted to Senate the consolidated version of the bill into “The National Water Resources Act”.

The proposed measure aims to strengthen and create a framework for coordinating all agencies in charge of planning and policy-making for sustainable and fair allocation and efficient use of water resources between competing water uses and users including those used for irrigation, power generation, farming, fisheries, commercial and industrial use.

In his explanatory note, the legislator underscored the importance of passing the legislation into a law due to the fragmented structure of agencies in charge of the water systems in the country that poses challenges in the implementation of their specific mandates.

An earlier version of the bill was also lobbied by Rep. Vargas’, older brother, and former QC DV Representative Alfred Vargas during the 18th Congress.

World Water Day is a global celebration every 22nd of March by the United Nations General Assembly to raise public consciousness about the 2.2 billion people around the world living without access to safe water.  In the Philippines, the National Water Resources Board reports that some 11 million Filipino families have no access to clean water and get by relying on “unprotected” deep wells, springs, rivers, lakes and rainwater.