MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has temporarily designated Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson as the government’s water czar to look into all concerns regarding water amid the severe flooding spawned by recent typhoons in Central Luzon.
“The President has already tasked Secretary Singson to be the water czar for the moment to study the entire situation, because you’ve got several departments, several agencies having jurisdiction over water,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
He said Singson has been monitoring the flooding since the onslaught of typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel.”
“Secretary Singson has already been doing that. We’ve got certain concerns with our roads. They often get flooded whenever there’s a typhoon,” he said.
He cited the latest meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council in Camp Aguinaldo, wherein Singson proposed that there should be a catch basin so that water from the mountains during typhoons will not directly flow to the lowlands.
He said he, along with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), has been tasked to put together a program.
Singson, who was former president of Maynilad Water Services Inc., said he believes he was appointed water czar because of his proposal that the government come up with a “convergence program” among water-related agencies.
The President earlier said he wanted a “superbody” that would manage the entire water supply in the country. He said there are too many departments and agencies involved with water management but it seems nobody is really in charge.
Singson said he was also tasked to review the protocol on releasing water from dams.
“If you recall, we recommended that instead of downstream, we should have a water basin. This would not only cover flood control. We could store water from a higher level or impound water that we could use for irrigation, for domestic use and even a mini hydro (power plant),” he said.
He also cited the need to build smaller dams.
“I would rather have water catchments or smaller dams. The principle here is that we want to reduce the big flows (of water). How do you do that? We would stock (water) in certain locations so the water would not go to waste and reduce the damage caused by floods.” With Evelyn Macairan
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By: Delon Porcalla
Source: The Philippine Star, Oct. 5, 2011
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