ISP

Michael S. Covert
March 25, 2019

Philippine Water Famine

A Corporate Led Economic Sabotage

March 8th saw the beginning to one of the worst water shortages in the Philippines
affecting 6.8 million people in the capitol city of Manila alone. With 140 million liters of water
per day restricted by Philippine water provider (Manila Water) the utility owned by Ayala
Corporation which serves half of the capital. On the day of March 8th millions of residences
were informed of impending water restrictions that would grasp most of Manila in effort to
conserve water for El Nino season citing the water levels in La Mesa dam, one of the two major
dams including the Angit dam that provide water to much of Manila. The claim was that water
levels were insuf cient for continued uninterrupted water service to the people. To address the
issue, water would be restricted to certain times of the day for different areas. The water
restriction notice gave only hours for citizens to prepare themselves as the water would of cially
be cut later that afternoon in many areas of Manila.

During the past several weeks one area of Manila (MANDALUYONG) has suffered the
worst. With water cut to that area of the city for two consecutive weeks residences were given no
insight as to when water would be restored. Residents were forced to collect water from
swimming pools around the area and in some cases collect water from re trucks occasionally
dispatched to the area to provide water. These trucks which in some cases may or may not have
contained re retardant chemicals in their holding tanks are not a means of fresh on site drinking
water. This is without taking into account the issues of storing water in damp tanks that are often
stagnant in temps exceeding 70F (21.1C) which promotes the growth of mold. In the case of the
Philippines (one of the hottest tropical countries on earth) extreme heat often exceeding 100F
(37.8C) is a common occurrence. There was never any word in the media or by Manila Water
Corporation on how adequate water would be provided to the people during this claimed crisis.

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 On further examination of Manila Water Corporations claims to why water is being

restricted the real story begins to emerge. The rst of cial reason given is the El Nino season, but
once we take moment to exam the data of this year found in the following link ( https://bit.ly/
2CCBkrw ) and compared to the data from the worst El Nino to affect the Philippines in over 35
years ( https://bit.ly/2WoM5oC ) it becomes very evident this year is not even close to the
critical events of 2015, yet in the years of 2015 - 2016 there were no reported water outages
despite lower than average water levels in both the La Mesa and Angit Dams. I have interviewed
several residents in affected areas of Manila, two of which have lived in Manila for 35 years and
have lived through several El Nino events and cannot recall water ever being restricted in such
extreme ways as now.

This water restriction which should be better known as a water famine, comes at a time
when Manila Water Corporation has been discussing the need for additional funding for the
many projects they have, one of which includes a new dam which would be called Kaliwa dam.
The proposal for the Kaliwa dam has been met with extreme resistance by residences and local
of cials in Infanta Quezon, the proposed built site for the new dam. Of cials and residences site
inevitable ooding which would result in the construction of Kaliwa and further damages to their
area. Kaliwa dam with a projected build price of $410 million would require foreign investment
funding from China under their “build, build, build project” and be contracted by Japanese
corporation Global Utility Development. The project would additionally require a large public
support to build the new dam.

The Manila Water Corporation came up with a scheme to ensure they would receive the
proper support of the Philippine people buy creating a ctitious water shortage to condition the
mind of the public into accepting higher rates and foreign investment to accomplish their agenda
of building the new dam in return for uninterrupted water supply. The current levels in Angit
Dam are at normal levels and water in La Messa dam though slightly lower than average are far
above the critical threshold. Both dams are far above levels seen between 2015 and 2016 during
the worst El Nino season to hit the Philippines in years.

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 The government of the Philippines and Manila water have failed to provide water to the
people and further more have failed to provide adequate drinking water for the people of Manila
during their fake manufactured emergency nancial funding crisis. This all comes at the cost of
the innocent people who no longer have access to a constant source of fresh drinking water and
must resort to standing in long rationing water lines for hours everyday while approaching one of
the hottest times of the year when current average temperatures range from 85.1F and 93.3F
(29.5C - 34.1C) Many business that depend on the supply of water such as markets, laundry
shops and restaurants are also slowly withering as is the water that has stopped, not their monthly
rent. Under the current corrupt regime It has become increasing dif cult for an already
impoverished society to survive amongst the corporate capitalist who have only their own self
interests at heart, or lack there-of.

Attached are photos and typed transcripts of several residences that were interviewed. It is
evident how inconsistent some information is between people and their locations. All names wish
to remain anonymous.

Meriam Ofalsa from Pasig City Manila, age 35 heard of the water restrictions on March
8th from her neighbor who informed her and her mother the water would be restricted later that
day. At 1:30AM Meriam and her family were unable to use water in their home. They were
unaware of any plans for the government or Manila Water Corp. to provide drinking water to
her or her family during the outages. The average temperature in her area for the weeks to follow
ranged between 85-90F (29.4-32.2C). Meriam never saw any iers posted in the streets regarding
water restriction times or explanations of the restrictions. The following week Meriam visited her
friend living in Tivoli Gardens Condos in Mandaluyong, Manila. She was alarmed at the sight of
many re trucks around the area unaware they were there to provide some source of water to the
people of the area. Meriam stayed with her friend for three days and noted there was no water at
all during her stay. For Meriam and her family it has been dif cult working around the unreliable
water schedules back in Pasig, she notes that before the water crisis the time it took to ll a pale
of water took around 2-3 mins, a process that now takes over 5 mins with current water pressure.
Her mother, age 62 and father, age 63 have extreme dif culties carrying large containers of water
to their house, they must now transfer water into smaller jars of water to ll the larger containers,

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 a very time consuming process. They have been forced to alter their daily schedule, eating meals
far earlier than before and altering sleeping habits formed by their daily work schedules to work
around the times when water is available. They are unable to wash clothes and nd it dif cult to
continue their lives normally. Meriam recalls hearing news of lower than normal water levels at
the Angit Dam despite actual levels being normal. She was unsure if the water lling stations
were in supply in her area and did not report any price spikes in bottled water supply at local
stores such as 7/11. She feels the current situation is a real injustice to her family and the people
of her city and cannot recall in her 35 years living in Manila the water being restricted in such
way.

Avril Kastendieck, lives in Mandaluyong, Manila. She rst heard of the water restrictions
on March 8th via Facebook news. The reason she was given for the lack of water was
unseasonably hot weather despite temperatures being completely average and the onset of El
Nino. Avril has limited her time in the area since the water restrictions began and has noted that
the price of bottled waters in Mandaluyong, (the area affected the most) had been increased.
Avril does not recall hearing any formal news of how water would be provided to her or the
people of Manila. She has dif culties cooking during the time of the major outage and was
unable to shower. Avril has lived in Manila for one year and cannot recall ever hearing of such
water restrictions in the past. Avril feels her people have been dealt a great injustice by the
government who is put in place to protect them.

Jessica Villaruel, age 31 lives in Mandaluyong, Manila. She rst heard of the water
restrictions on March 8th via TV news. March 9th at 5pm she reports her water was gone. Her
water did return brie y around 4AM the following morning March 10th. She was informed that
water restrictions were a result of water levels in La Mesa dam being far below operational levels.
She was informed that water would be restricted between the hours of 6PM and 4AM everyday
until May. No paper iers were ever seen by Jessica explaining the issues to those without means
of social media or TV and no proper explanation was ever heard by her as to why water became
unavailable for two connective weeks in other areas of Mandaluyong. Jessica herself was not
affected by the connective two weeks absence of water. She never heard any mentioning of the
water levels in Angit dam. She reports that water lling stations did have water supply though

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 limited to certain times and stores around her area had supply of bottled water. Jessica has lived
in Manila for 31 years and does not recall water being restricted by such means ever before.

Dignos Fernandez Kenje, lives in Pasay, Manila, an area controlled by the water
corporation of Maynilad and not directly affected by the water restrictions of other parts of
Manila. He reports hearing news of water system sabotage in relation to upcoming senatorial
elections and reports media discussing the levels at both Angit and La Mesa Dams being at
normal operating levels, questing why water was El Nino was even being given as an excuse to
water limitations. Dingnos has lived in Manila for an untold amount of time and cannot recall
ever having water restrictions affect the region in this way.

“Jennifer” who wishes to be called Jenny and not to divulge her last name, lives in Santa
Ana, Manila. She rst heard of the water restrictions on TV and Facebook News on March 8th.
The reason she was informed of was in preparation of conserving water for El Nino season for
the next few months. By the afternoon of March 8th there was no water. She received no
information if or how Manila Water Corporation or the Philippine Government would provide
drinking water to the affected people of Manila and did not see any iers posted up in the streets
of her area. Jenny cousin Jasmin Navasa Isip, living in Mandaluyong reported the following few
days of a consecutive water outage. She informed Jenny of people all over her area collecting
water in pales from swimming pools in the area to surface for their extreme shortage of water.
She reported people and children drinking the water directly from the pool. Jenny has had
dif culty showering, cooking and collecting available clean drinking water. It is also dif cult using
the toilet with the absence of water. Jenny and Jasmin do not recall ever hearing news of normal
water levels in the Angit and La Mesa Dams. Jenny also reports that water lling stations in her
area were out of water. She feels it is not fair for her and her people to suffer without any of cial
notices as to why they are being restricted and not given proper supply of water or when normal
operations will resume. Jenny has lived in Manila for 35 years since birth and together with her
cousin cannot ever real water being restricted in such ways.
Nery Grace Dogillo, lives in Cainta, Manila. Nery rst heard of the water shortage on
March 8th via TV news, social media and local news paper. The reasons she was informed of
were due to El Nino season approaching and water levels at the La Mesa Dam and an increase in

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 water demand. She recalls being informed that Manila Water Corporation would divide water
equally to all consumers of their water. She was informed water would be unavailable between
the hours of 6PM and 6AM. She reports paper iers were posted in her area by local of cials
detailing the times water would be available and unavailable. There was no mention on how
proper drinking water would be provided to those who needed water during the outages. She
reports that re trucks were used to provide water to some areas though the times and frequency
was not made readily available. She reports that bottled waters were available in the larger chain
supermarkets and that prices remained the same although water lling stations were mostly out
of water. Nery recalls hearing about the Japanese, Chinese water system involvement and scheme
to hike prices and convince the public to support their future projects. Dif culties for her and
those living with her include times water is actually available, citing the lack of a proper working
water pump used to ll the holding tanks atop the apartment building she lives in. The tank must
be lled to capacity before water can be available to the building which in current situation takes
a full day to accomplish. Clothing cannot be washed and it is dif cult to cook in the absence of
water. She feels that her country has been dealt a huge injustice. Nery has lived in Manila for
several years and does not real such restrictions ever taking place.

These are only a few of the millions affected by the corrupt agenda of politicians, water
executives and government leaders in the name of capitalism. These current events are nothing
short of a complete deliberate sabotage of the economic system of the Philippines. I have written
this brief report to express one of the many growing dif culties in the Philippines affecting the
working class. It is my intention to continue to report of issues affecting the Philippines and their
people to raise a further awareness in this Internationally inspired party.

Michael S. Covert Partito Socialist Internazional 25MAR19

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