THE BID of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to have its charter be amended (P.D. 198) to principally increase its capitalization and foreign borrowing authority to P 50 billion and US$ 2 billion, respectively, got a big boost this week as Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. made a formal request to Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. to start this month public hearings on the three pending bills containing measures to improve the financial capability of the water agency.

Sen. Magsaysay informed Sen. Revilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works and Highways, that the need to immediately schedule public hearings on the proposed amendments to the common charter of LWUA and the water districts should be prioritized in view of the urgent need to accelerate the government's provincial water supply program.

Sen. Magsaysay, author of a parallel Senate Bill No. 2468 which among others seeks to increase LWUA's capitalization from P2.5 billion to P50 billion and its foreign debt cap from US$ 500 million to US$ 2 billion, said the charter change is crucial in enabling the agency to respond to the acute and massive need for safe and potable water supply in cities and towns outside Metro Manila. The authorized capital stock of LWUA has been fully subscribed as early as 1993 hence the need to drastically increase the same based on the government's millennium goal and studies of no less than the World Bank.

For his part, LWUA Administrator and concurrent Acting Board Chairman Lorenzo H. Jamora expressed his deep appreciation for the concern and initiative of Sen. Magsaysay to speed up considerations on the proposed changes to the Presidential Decree No. 198.

Jamora said that aside from Magsaysay, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Sergio Osmena III also filed Senate Bill Nos. 2165 and 443, respectively, both also supporting the effort to improve the financial capability of LWUA. "We're hoping these measures can be given favorable consideration so that we can move on and promptly push through with the modernization of the provincial water supply sector, including the water for every barangay program of President Arroyo," the LWUA chief added.

Magsaysay requested Senator Revilla to call the initial public hearing and signified of his intention to handle the subsequent hearings, if the latter cannot personally preside over deliberations because of his busy schedule. Magsaysay explained that after 33 years since its creation as a government financing institution (GFI), LWUA urgently needs amendments to its charter to positively respond to the need of providing safe and potable water to every Filipino in the countryside.

The increase in capitalization and in its foreign borrowing authority will enable the water agency to avert water supply shortage in the rapidly increasing population of fast urbanizing towns and cities outside Metro Manila. "This means urgent expansion and modernization projects in the areas covered by the already existing 612 water districts," Magsaysay added.

The Magsaysay bill also seeks to rename LWUA into the Philippine Water Utilities and Resources Development Authority (PWURDA) and have the agency permanently attached to the Office of the President. The measure was primarily referred to the Senate Committee on Public Works and, secondarily, to the Committees on Public Services and Finance, chaired respectively by Senators Joker Arroyo and Franklin Drilon.

The Revilla committee was also requested by Magsaysay to calendar the hearing joint with the Arroyo and Drilon committees together with other relevant proposals.

c October 04 , 2006