Capulong, Luis Raphael M.

2019-0709

“The Water Code of the Philippines”

Water has been at the foundation of life since time immemorial, civilizations are built and
societies have fallen because of this important resource. During the Marcos regime, the late
president recognizes the importance of this precious resource and took necessary steps to
address increasing scarcity of water and changing patterns of water use, thus, “The Water Code
of the Philippines” was enacted. This Law aims to establish the basic principles and framework
relating to the appropriation, control and conservation of water resources to achieve the
optimum development and rational utilization of these resources, adopt a basic law governing
the ownership, appropriation, utilization, exploitation, development, conservation and
protection of water resources and rights to land related to it, and to identify the administrative
agencies which will enforce this Code.

This law regulates the utilization of any body of waters which belongs to the state. It requires
that every entity should require a permit when utilizing any body of water even if it is situated
in a private land since it is still presumed to belong to the state. Unauthorized utilization of
such bodies is penalize under this code, hence is serve as a deterrent for those who want to
abuse or misuse our water resource. In my opinion this law would be of great help in conserving
our water resource which is rapidly depleting due to the increasing demand of our society, thus
polluting or destroying it. The government should prioritize this law especially now that water
crises are rampant around the country.