WATER is probably the most celebrated and the most loathed among all our natural resources. It’s a bitter reality of life most Filipinos can truly relate to.
One moment, we’re out in the sun celebrating and welcoming summer in topnotch travel destinations, like Boracay or Palawan or Bohol, for example.
The next moment, we find ourselves grappling with the reality of the increasing (and worsening) incidence of flooding in Metro Manila and other key areas in the country. Last week, I had the honor of sitting down with one of the premier, if not, the premier water expert in the Philippines, the former chancellor and currently professor of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños’s College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Dr. Rex Victor Cruz.
The first item we crossed out on our to-do list was to bring our team, together with Cruz, from Manila to Dumaguete to join our partners from the local government of Negros Oriental and other local agencies, who are advocating sustainable development. Our objective for the trip was to further strengthen the province’s efforts to become a center for excellence in water-resource management in the entire archipelago.
For this particular advocacy, our group has been representing Water Excellence Philippines (WEP), a non-governmental institution we formed together with environmental and economic growth advocates, who are all working toward promoting inclusive growth through efforts centered on sustainability, water efficiency, agribusiness and tourism.
For us, water is probably the most critical and under-advocated resource that we have. Real-estate developers do understand the unparalleled significance of having access to key water resources in order to move forward with their property development initiatives. We all know that we cannot do away without water. Even Cruz, during our discussions with representatives from the Negros Oriental local government unit (LGU) and the Negros Integrated Water Resource Management Council, kept on saying that we cannot really talk about sustainable development without water playing a vital role in it—and yet there’s no one talking about this increasing problem.
Why advocate for water sustainability?
Sometime early this year, a lot of you may have known of our work—whether in areas of high risk like the Yolanda corridor or in community-based tourism for Region 12—and we’d like to express that our first few experiences with water were quite devastating.
We were once part of the team that had to manage the aftermath of Typhoon Sendong and we saw how water was extremely destructive through that involvement. One of our major projects in Allah Valley in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat was to address the impact of the devastation brought about by the flooding of Lake Holon in Mount Maughan sometime in the early 1990s, which swept away a lot of barangays. And of course, who would forget the massive devastation caused by Supertyphoon Yolanda. So, for the most part, we either take it for granted or consider and feel it because of the devastation that it brings.
“What is important to remember is that, water is perhaps the most important natural resource we need that drives development,” Cruz shared. “Our history on civilizations would tell us that those civilizations that have succeeded and thrived are those that were able to overcome the constraints of water resources.”
Even today, when we talk about real estate and property buying, the first consideration that we often look for is the extent of access to potable sources of water. Are the location and its surrounding areas prone to flooding? If yes, what’s the extent of floodwater elevation? How is the developer addressing this concern? These are just a few of the necessary items homebuyers and commercial locators, for example, need developers to address convincingly before opting to invest in one particular property.
Ripples of progress
If Albay is the center of excellence for disaster-risk mitigation, and Ilocos Norte is the center of excellence for renewable energy, we want Negros Oriental to be the center of excellence for water management in the entire Philippines, so that we can start other provinces on how to preserve and manage their respective water resources.
Our key objective at WEP is to look for one center of excellence for water. And you’re probably wondering, why aren’t we in Cebu? Why aren’t we in Boracay? Why aren’t we in Davao?
We are in Negros Oriental, Dumaguete specifically, because I’m proud to say that of all the many places that we have been involved in, whether for advocacy in tourism or the environment, I think Negros Oriental has the highest per capita in terms of environmentally conscious LGUs, and people and businesses. So, when we were deciding where to plough back our resources, we told ourselves, without a doubt it has to be Negros Oriental.
Negros Oriental takes pride in having 25 municipalities, which are mostly already undertaking best-case practices for water-sustainability in terms of domestic, industrial and agricultural initiatives. Aside from this, Dumaguete also ranks fourth in terms of the most desirable place to retire in around the world.
There’s a good reason to it. It’s a university town, much like Oxford, but quieter and much less commercialized. The quality of living that locals enjoy that’s anchored on the preservation of the environment is without parallel—something that real-estate developers can truly appreciate and learn from if they aim to really reap success in their developmental plans, particularly those involving areas outside of Metro Manila.
A key takeaway from our brief trip to Negros Oriental is the fact that, apart from promoting developmental initiatives, businesses—particularly, real-estate developers—should be conscious about how their operations impact the surrounding areas that host them. They should be able to invest in initiatives that help ensure the sustainability of their business, one of which is through promoting excellence in water-resources management. Businesses will achieve their goals by promoting the sustainability of key natural resources, such as water, upon which their development initiatives greatly depend.
We are opening our commitment to Negros Oriental in its drive to become the center of excellence for water in the Philippines with the first-ever water conference in the region on August 14. We are bringing together all the national stakeholders from the Philippines, both from academe and business, and the intent is to increase awareness on ensuring that we manage our resources properly over the next 20 to 30 years. In this way, water can continue to be seen as our ally and friend, and not how it is being portrayed right now in the context of disaster and devastation.