Water supply has always been a problem in the Philippines. Since time immemorial, many Metro Manila residents have even had to rely on electric booster pumps to suck out the essential juice from city’s decrepit mains and store as much of it in privately-owned storage tanks. In many suburbs, there is an arms race of booster pumps among residents. Households possessing the most sucking power and the most upstream location with respect to the piping layout find themselves at pinnacle of advantage as far as the onerous effort (only in the Philippines!) of availing of this life-giving resource.
In a testament to the perverse enterprising spirit of Filipinos, water delivery businesses operate all over the metropolis. With their own farm of industrial-grade booster pumps, these businesses compete with the rest of Filipino humanity’s water sucking effort to fill their also industrial scale storage facilities at industrial scale volumes. And like a truly industrialised effort, these businesses operate vast fleets of delivery trucks to haul tanks of water to the doorstep of their clientele of thirsty households, many of which are too poor to keep up with their neighbours’ rapidly escalating private water-sucking equipment.
The irony and utter stupidity of this set-up escapes most of the dulled intellectual faculties of the Filipino. Instead they would rather call for the rise of a “Water Czar” to step up and “solve” the “crisis”. Not surprisingly, sights get trained upon the biggest chump in the land — the President of our excellent “Republic”.
“President Aquino should act as the ‘water czar’ so forceful, urgent and adequately-funded measures can be done to ease the crippling water shortage now faced by the country,” Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone said.
“Only with P-Noy (President Aquino’s monicker) acting as water czar can the government ensure the seamless, intrigue-free coordination among the various agencies that are concerned with water distribution and water resource management work,” he added.
Spoken like true adherents of the all-Pinoy philosophy of Moronism.
Indeed, “only” with the efforts of powerful chumps does anything get done in the bunghole of the Far East. Never mind that the water “crisis” that grips the regional crapper that is our land is a product of a failure of systemic thinking that stretches back to the time when we Filipinos in our renowned wisdom first decided we’d rather “have a Philippines run like hell by Filipinos“. It seems to escape the vacuous sensibilities of even the most educated of the lot of Pinoys that many of the factors that contribute to this “crisis” have been staring us in our face for the most part of the tragedy that is our half-century history as an “independent” nation — runaway population, rampant deforestation, and degradation and depletion of valuable watersheds.
For that matter, the Philippine Water Crisis of 2010 is a close cousin of the Ondoy Disaster of 2009. As evident in the diagram below, the two disasters share many key contributing factors.
Compare the laughable scrambling for “solutions” that Filipinos are caught up with today with the quiet cool of tiny Singapore. It is an island state with no natural ground water and few catchment areas. It’s had to deal with a humbling reliance on Malaysia for much of the 1.36 billion litres per day it needs to satisfy the needs of its 4.4 million residents.
Unlike some countries, Singaporeans don’t manage by crisis.
As a first step, a string of massive reservoirs are being constructed to “harvest as much rain as possible”, so that eventually, some two-thirds of the island’s land surface will be under water, up from about half today, [Public Utilities Board Chief Executive Khoo Teng Chye] explains.
In addition, desalination plants that turn salt water into drinking water provide 10% of Singapore’s current needs.
But the real breakthrough has come from what Mr Khoo describes as NEWater, produced in water reclamation plants from so-called “used” water.
Contrast this foresight to the primitivism of Filipino “thinking”. According to an Earth Times News report on the water crisis faced by the Philippine capital today, 3.5 million residents suffer from an acute supply shortage. That’s almost 80 percent of the population of Singapore!
I recall, during the Ondoy Disaster of 2009, how many of the same dimwits who are pompously weighing in on the water issue today were quick to blame the chump who happened to be sitting in Malacanang at the time.
Tough luck Mr. Benigno “P.Noy” Aquino III.
No amount of being the “prayerful” Aquino that you are will shield you from being the Chump of the Moment as Filipinos foolishly look for Messiahs to save them from another one of the all-too-routine “crises” that all-too-often get politicised true to the primitivist thinking that infests our hopelessly backward society. It’s nothing personal. It’s just Pinoy-style politics at work here. You stepped up to the “toughest job in the land”, remember?
benign0 is the webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
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Noynoy Aquino: "Water Czar"? More like Chump of the Moment, 10.0 out of 10 based on 4 ratings If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! 
Tagged as: noynoy aquino, ondoy, thinking, water You might also like
Don’t worry. It will be over soon. Pinoys have very short memories. Funny thing is, Pinoys are very proud to claim that they have the best engineers and architects in the world and yet cannot solve this…I wonder what kind of engineers and architects? and oh..what world?
Sometimes I’m just wondering if somebody could just nuke Manila.
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Sharafa Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 11:55 pm
North Korea has a hefty supply. Maybe we can just incite them to nuke us, by invoking our moronism, and make some kind of insult on their ” dear leader”. Abnoy is sure to come up with some political gaffe to achieve this.
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silvercrest Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:21 am
Yes…wonder if PeeNoyL should’ve insulted Kim Jong-il instead of Japan. Our country is really depressing.
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RvR Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:00 am
Sooner or later his being tactless will catch up on him. And yeah, if you notice it has always been Manila who’s causing the problems in our country. Ya know, the biased brainwashing mainstream media, the trapos, oligarchs, etc. they are all based there! Hmmmm….I wonder what would it be like without Manila? hehe
ChinoF Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:11 am
Switch the capital to Subic, were someone did it right. Hehehe
mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:21 am
Change the capital of the Philippines? I thought of that also. Subic, Cebu,Davao,CDO? A lot of well-planned and clean cities, why stick in Smoggy and dirty Manila?
UP nn grad Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:07 am
Billions
of pesos will accrue to the oligarchy that owns the thousand-plus hectares that is converted 
from agricultural to commercial when 
Hacienda-this or Ciudad-that becomes the new capital of Pilipinas. One or more of the Cojuangco clan members know this.
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UP nn grad Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
Money will be CREATED (not just
earned but CREATED 
) over the next 8 years along that 
85 kilometers distance between Makati and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. Money of all denominations — Japanese yen, Pilipinas peso, US dollars, Euro, Baht, Singapore- or Hongkong dollar, ringgit.
The “best engineers and architects in the world” you are referring to are working overseas…thanks to the current economic situation and the anti-intellectual atmosphere in the good ol’ Pinas.
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Tingnan mo ang lintik na nagsabi na “lets be constructive” he cannot even draw any solution or suggestion to the problem!
Intriga lang ang alam
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mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:06 am
@crab
Intriga man..PNoy has still the toughest job in the Philippines
Draw any solution and suggestion to the problem? We need a lot of best architects and engineers to attend to the problem.
Singapore and Malaysia are working with the best European architects and engineers and PNoy is still on his on-the-job training, remember?
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crab Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:39 am
mel
oh gash mel wat aym toking abawt is kung nakakakita ka ng problima hindi masama na umiyak at magreklamo pero kaakibat ng pagiyak at pagreklamo ay dapat samahan mo naman ng konsern at suhesyon para matugunan ang problima. hindi iyak ka lang ng iyak sigaw ka lang ng sigaw hindi alam nagpapapansin ka lang pala.
im no fan of aktibistang raliyista pero parang maganda pa pakinggan ang mga nabaggit kesa sikmurain ang mga walang kwentang laman ng utang ng mga awthor ng blog na ito.
na walang ibang ginawa kundi mangsisi ng mangsisi 
wala namang ginagawa 
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mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:50 am
nyek
Sa aking karanasan, tatlong taon akong nanirahan sa apartment na limang araw sa isang linggo walang tubig lagi dahil walang suplay ang water distrikt pero singil ng singil ng minimum at buwan buwan nagbayad ako ng serbisyo na walang serbisyong kapalit.
Buwan buwan nagreklamo ako at nagbigay ng suhestiyon para matugunan ang problema sa tubig at bawat reklamo ko, sabi sa akin “i-tsek namin” ang linya…grrrr
Ako pa din ang nagbigay solusyon, nag-igib sa poso, bumili ng filtered water at nag-ipon ng tubig-ulan.
Sa palagay mo, tatanggapin ng malalaking kompanya ang mga suhestiyon mula sa taong bayan? Nasa Pilipinas tayo, gising, crab!
Ikaw, ano ang suhestiyon mo kundi mamuna o mangsisi ng mga nakasulat dito?
Your turn! Solusyon, plis!
mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:56 am
@crab
adisyunal
Para saiyong kaalaman, madali sanang matugunan ang problema sa tubig kung hindi lamang naglalaban laban sa husgado ang mga kumpanyang gustong mamuhunan sa tubig at koryente.
Ang mga monopol na kumpanya ang sisihin mo dahil ayaw nilang mamahagi ng kanilang kita mula sa taong bayan.
At habang naglalaban – laban sila sa hukuman, walang tubig ang mga mamamayan!! Pero bayad pa din si Juan!
crab Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:09 am
mel
“buwan buwan nagbayad ako ng serbisyo na walang serbisyong kapalit.”
- ang tawag TANGA
“Ang mga monopolya na kumpanya ang sisihin mo”
-mel anu kaya kung magtayo tayo ng MELENCRAP WATER SUPPLY COMPANY para naman at lest di mo masabing monopolyong kompanya
seryusli:
mel ang saakin lang naman na kung bumanat dahan dahan man lang. bigyan ng kunting puwang na ”
” hindi pa nga natatapos ang dalawang buwan kung bumanat ng “Chump” parang napaka talino ng awthor. hindi mo pa mababasa ang kabuuan ng blog nanduduon na ang konklusyon sa titulo. kawawang pinas kung dadami ang lahi ng benignO na to 
mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:18 am
@crab
nyek again!
Ano ba iyan, pag bumanat dahan dahan pa? Huwag ka na lang bumanat para di ka mapuna, di ba?
Kawawa ang Pilipinas kung dadami ang crab(s)!
waranabatokwa Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:11 am
@mel
hi there! i feel your sentiment… i am a graduate of civil engineering and i would rather work for another country than our own.. filipinos just doesn’t show enough appreciation to engineers..
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mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:21 am
@waranabatokwa
Thanks.
That is why we have professionals. Give the work to those who can do it best. Let the writers write, let the engineers build, let the doctors heal, etc.
Nobody is “Superman”
ChinoF Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:33 am
Mel,
Ba’t mo papansinin ang obyus na hindi seryoso?
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mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:36 am
@Chino F
Give feedback daw, sabi sa video
Baka lumiwanag din kaisipan 
ChinoF Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:54 am
Onga no, feedback. Pakainin ang likod.
ulong pare Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:30 am
… daang
… crab, ang author eh may inesab kahit intriga…
… ikaw eh pasalpok-salpok sa gilid ng kawali… dapat dagdagan mo ng konting baguio oyel para di ka masyadong masunog….
… ay sarap dito ah… sa pula, sa puti.. labo-labo na…
… teka… teka… teka… sinong llamado? dehado?
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I find it incredible that with all the typhoons that Philippines get, the country can still suffer from water shortage. It’s all mismanagement and idiocy.
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IS DAT SUM CP
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Friend, as in the illustration above, since there are not much trees left, thanks to those jerks still in the gov’t who are the biggest illegal loggers. Rain water cannot be trapped effectively, wasting it and becoming flood waters.
There are a lot of things that even an ordinary person can do like proper usage of water and smart design of houses and buildings that allows rain water collection, power generation and urban gardening. Unfortunately, our public self-servants are more interested in their own monkey businesses and mistresses.
What I’m unclear about is where these water delivery trucks get their water. If they’re getting it closer from the source, then of course, less water will be left to flow down the line.
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benign0 Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 am
@ silvercrest, that’s exactly the point I wanted to highlight. These water delivery “services” themselves deprive the very clientele they serve. The insult they add to the injury these businesses cause is that they actually charge you for water that it contributed to depriving you of to begin with.
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nice picture!
it’s something you do before you kiss someones ass.
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Wait, philanthropy and community oriented thinking is frowned upon in the Philippines now? Ok that’s it, I’m not sending any more money on an ungrateful nation that contradicts itself with the teachings in Christianity. Turn the other cheek indeed!
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Hindi maituro ni Ngoyngoy ang mga Lopez at Ayala sa problema ng tubig, ahahay. Kaya wala dawwater crisis, sabi niya. So help me God!
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Hyden Toro Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:13 am
You can become like an Ostrich. The dumb Bird buries its head in the ground hole; when it sees danger. You can call there is no water crissis. However, this will not produce any water for Metro Manila. Maybe, if Noynoy Aquino who believes, he is destined by God to be President. Will, like the Christian Biblical Moses. Can ask his minions to bring a rock in Malacanang Palace. He can strike the rock, and split it. Water may gush from it, then. We will surely believe, he is the God anointed to lead us to the Promised Land. However, at present, I am skeptical, because, I see a Phony..
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Hindi mapagalitan ni Ngoyngoy ang mga may-ari ng tubigan, ang mga Lopez at mga Ayala! Mga campaign supporters kasi eh! Kaya resort siya sa pronouncement na walang water crisis! Ahahay! So help me God!
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The problem doesn’t lie directly in Manila. Manila is just a symptom of disease, much like corruption. The true problem lies in our centralized system of government, with development being all shifted into the capital and is therefore a cause of much of our oligopolistic businesses and one of the causes of corruption. Besides, a centralized governments are never practical, as proven by communism. Once the head is taken out, then the rest of the body dies with it. However, it’s a favorite for power hungry politicians or in this case, the oligarchs. Speaking of North Korea, I feel that the media’s efforts to turn Aquino into a messianic figure is very much in parallel with what they did for Kim Il Sung. Within a few years (or months if the Oligarch-run media are that good), we might become the capitalist incarnation of NK.
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@Crab
Ever heard of the words “constructive criticism”? Quoting Key of the Twilight: “Auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth”. To promote new ideas and concepts (being constructive), you must logically destroy the old, stagnant ideas. Or would you rather we ignore the root of the prevalent water crisis here and just take a low brow at the writers here by calling them hypocritical when they’re clearly consistent? Besides, unless you haven’t read the article in detail, benign0 has already insinuated a solution for the problem, which is to follow the Singaporean model of water management and sewage treatment.
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crab Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:47 am
ikumpara ba naman ang singapore sa luzon
moron talaga itong si benignO 
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BongV Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:08 am
e kung buong Pilipinas kinumpara sa Singapore lalong naging mukhang moron si crab – moron talaga itong si crab
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waranabatokwa Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:14 am
i don’t think we should be really adapting the water management system of singapore.. those solutions presented there are already being taught to engineers in the philippines..
we already know what to do.. the government just wouldn’t listen..
and as mel and everybody pointed out, the best engineers are out of the country.. tough luck for all of us..
let me share a post of mine on my take on the water crisis..
http://waranabatokwa.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/water-crisis/
i am not really a good blogger but i still try my best to point out the idea..
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NFA rice Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:42 am
@waranabatokwa
Well I think Metro Manila, urbanized as it is, can be compared with Singapore. Of course urban planners of the metropolis (if they really exist or function) need not copy the Singaporean system. Singapore doesn’t receive torrential amounts of water in the form of typhoons as Manila does so there’s the difference. However, there’s a lesson to be learned. But as you said, it is ignored.
ChinoF Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:05 am
For me, it’s not just centralization in Manila that’s the problem. It’s more like centralization in the oligarchs. Who owns the water companies… oligarchs. It’s not Manila vs. outside Manila, but oligarchs vs. the Philippines again.
Hyden Toro Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:03 am
We are doing Constructive Criticism: that is, making them aware of themselves: they are not fitted for the Jobs. They have no capabilities to solve the country’s problems. Because, they themselves, are the problems and stumbling blocks: by claiming they are competent. In truth, they are not.
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why did my post end up there? that was a reply to the article..
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ChinoF Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:32 am
Latest first-in-the-branch posts end up above, but branch replies appear below the first-in-the-branch post.
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waranabatokwa Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:34 am
oh.. i figured out what happened.. i was initially going to reply to crab pero tinamad ako.. i forgot to click the cancel reply button..
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Water czar? Why not energy czar, considering that he used to work in a nuclear power plant in Springfield? Hur hur hur!
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may tubig pa raw sa Times St. kaya di pwedeng magdeklara ng state of calamity.
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waranabatokwa Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:56 am
comment of the week material..
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These are the problems I was talking about in my earlier Blog comments. They are now surfacing, one at a time. Can you solve these problems by EDSAs, or by sloganeering? Even,if you claim your parents were famous and heroes: it will not be of help in facing and solving these problems. No amount of political gimmicks will drive them away. If you fight them. They are sure to fight back in vengence.
This is where the Gray Matter(Excellent Brain) is badly needed for a President. Advisers and political minions will not be of help. Because, most of them are just there for the Ride. Most of them are just plain political opportunists. They will surely jump ship; if they feel your ship is floundering, and is about to sink….
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@mel,
maybe Manila remains as the seat of administration, while Iligan city or Davao as seats of learning.. Cebu maybe a cultural and commercial center, central luzon, negros, and bukidnon become agricultural centers., Others can become industrial centers.
Anything that transfers some power concentrated in Metro Manila, develop other provinces, and eventually decongest Manila.
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mel Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:20 am
@NFA Rice
Yeah, right. That is a good idea!
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NFA rice Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:11 am
@mel,
thanks, it would be nice if every regional unit has some for of independence without losing interdependence with one another. As i see it now, everyone depends on Metro Manila. So all attention, as well as checks and balances, are focused there. Ironically this results to events in the provinces ignored at the national level because everyone is looking at the national leaders only. Only few people concern themselves with the local political climate. There is also the corrupting effect of huge bureaucracy when power is centralized.
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… daaang
… flipland is inundated with torrential rain; with plentiful waterfalls, rivers, bays and esturaries… fresh water abound, the envy of the civilized world who are tapping the oceans for consumption
… 2 to 3 months of any given year, flipland suffers from cathastrophic flooding…
… the rest of the year, flips suffer from drought… ano ba ‘yan???
… kasi, flips, puro gung gongs!
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Nakakapagtaka talaga kung bakit sa Maynila ay problema ang tubig samantalang sagana tayo sa tubig ulan at napapaligiran pa ng mga reservoir. Magandang aksyon na sana ang pagsasapribado ng supply ng tubig dahil mas matutugunan ng pribadong sektor ang ganitong serbisyo. Ngunit sa kabila nito ay andyan pa rin ang problema.
Sa Saudi kahit disyerto ay sagana sa tubig. Sa isang taon halos 100 USD lang ang binabayad. Ang tubig pampaligo, gamit sa toliet at iba pa ay binabalik sa treatment plant para magamit ulit. Meron din silang malalaking desalination plants na kung saan ang tubig dagat ay nililinis para magamit sa pang araw araw na supply. Ang bottled water naman ay mas mura ang halaga kesa sa Pinas.
Sa indonesia, wala ring problema sa tubig. Wala pa ngang 10 USD ang bayad namin kada buwan meron pa kaming swimming pool nun.
Sa Haiti, yung mga malalaking bahay tulad ng natirhan namin ay may imbakan ng tubig ulan. Tapos nilalagyan ko lang ng chlorine para luminis. Di lang tubig ulan ang source kungdi makakabili ka rin ng tubig na galing sa ilog dala ng truck kada bahay.
Sa mayayamang bansa tulad ng US at Sweden, yung tubig galing sa toilet sink ay pede ng inumin. Meron pang hot and cold agad at flouride treated.
Sa madaling salita, mahal na nga ang bayad natin sa Pinas ng tubig pero di pa rin maganda ang serbisyo. Madami rin naman pedeng pagkunan ng tubig kaya dapat walang problema na. Malinaw na ang nangingibabaw na sistema ang puno’t dulo ng problema sa tubig.
Ang solusyon dito tingin ko ay pagliliberalize ng industriya tulad ng ginawa sa telecom. Kapag pinapasok ang maraming player, madalas na mangyari ay magiimprove ang service at bababa ang presyo. Papasukin ang lahat ng gustong mamuhunan hindi lang 2 – Maynilad at Manila Water. Samahan na rin ng pag gamit ng teknolohiya. Dagdagan ang source ng tubig di lang mula sa La Mesa at Angat. Isama na ang Wawa, ang Laguna lake at iba pa. Kung may BOT na desalination plant, okay din. Magandang potential talaga ang liberalization. Let the market dictate the prices and drive the performance. Lagyan na rin ng imbakan ng tubig ang bagong design ng bahay.
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