I MET RAMON ANG, president of San Miguel Corp., at an Inquirer forum. In reply to my question, Ang said that his company’s offer to construct the Laiban Dam project in Tanay, Rizal, has been withdrawn because of opposition to it—by business rivals and by squatters occupying land that would form part of its reservoir. That leaves Metro Manila and environs without a new water source when the water of Angat Dam is no longer sufficient for its needs. That would be sooner than we think, just three years, in 2012, or two years after a new president takes over Malacañang. It would take at least three years to build Laiban Dam, just in time to relieve the extreme water shortage that will surely come.

The government doesn’t have the funds to construct Laiban Dam (it has a gargantuan budget deficit). As for other water sources, there are the Laguna and Taal Lakes but water from them would be more expensive because water would have to be pumped up from the lakes. Drilling more wells is out of the question. The water aquifers are almost dry and salt water is already seeping into these aquifers. Also land in Metro Manila are sinking because water that have been supporting them are gone; therefore, floods would be more common.

Luckily, we still have the Wawa Dam up in Montalban, a stone’s throw from La Mesa Dam. Wawa used to be Manila’s main source of water until Angat Dam was harnessed and it was abandoned 41 years ago.

Because of Metro Manila’s regular summer water shortages, a corporation, the San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders & Developers Group (SLRB), has offered to reharness Wawa at no cost to the government. It would shoulder all the costs. It has already obtained the water rights to it from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB). But the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) refuses to give it the go signal to start work on Wawa. SLRB has been making regular follow-ups but the government water agencies do not even give it the courtesy of an answer. They just keep silent and do nothing. Meanwhile, the water crisis looms closer.

This stalemate between SLRB and the government water agencies has been going on for the last 16 years. I have been writing about it periodically, but not once has the government deigned to explain why it is giving SLRB the cold shoulder.

Now it has become clear why: The government wants to give the project to Manila Water Co., Inc. (MWCI). In fact, the MWSS, in 2003, gave MWCI the authority to collect from its customers advance payments, interest-free and without any financial study, for the development of the Wawa Dam project. To date, it has already collected P732 million. MWCI cannot, however, deliver the water of Wawa to its consumers because the water rights are owned by SLRB.

MWCI is also making advance collections for the development of Laiban Dam. What will happen to this collection now that the project has been abandoned by its proponent, SMC? And what will happen to the P732-million advance collections for the development of Wawa?

In its latest press release, MWCI said its water rates would go up by an additional 19 centavos per cubic meter by Oct. 2, 2009. That means MWCI is already collecting this increase. In a letter to MWSS Administrator Diosdado Jose M. Allado, SLRB’s president and CEO, Oscar Violago, said that this “price increase could have been avoided and, on the contrary, its rates could have been reduced by at least P1/cubic meter if MWCI:

• “did not charge 16 centavos/cubic meter for its supposed investment of P732 million for the development of SLRB’s Wawa Dam (which MWCI never developed), and 31 centavos/cubic meter for the supposed development of Laiban Dam for which it again obtained advances, interest free;

• “did not invest in the P120 million 5 MLD treatment plant at San Rafael downstream of Wawa Dam;

• “did not invest in the P1.8 billion Rodriguez water treatment plant for 100 MLD;

• “had accepted SLRB’s offer instead of embarking on its P2.4 billion investment and using three pumping stations instead of one to bring water from Balara to Antipolo;

• “did not drill 64 environmentally-prohibited big deep wells instead of delivering water by gravity.”

MWSS keeps saying that Wawa Dam’s water is “polluted,” but when MWCI showed interest to develop and operate it, miracle of miracles, its water became “crystal clear and potable.”

In his letter, Violago said the “anomalous processing of MWSS’ water application permit for SLRB’s Wawa Dam showed the secret collaboration between MWSS and MWCI. From the correspondence, it was obvious that the water permit was intended for MWCI. This incredible super-fast processing for the MWSS water permit application for NWRB in order to give it to MWCI in only four days was in complete contrast to the obstructions and objections of MWSS (to SLRB) for the last 16 years.”

What’s more, if Wawa Dam had already been developed during the 16 years that the government has been giving SLRB the runaround, the massive floods in Metro Manila and environs during storm “Ondoy” could have been avoided. The waters that flooded them did not come from Angat, Ipo and San Roque dams as is widely believed. Water from these dams flow down Bulacan rivers to Manila. The floods came from the Sierra Madre mountains, the Wawa and Marikina watersheds, and the Wawa, Montalban and Marikina rivers (they have about a dozen tributaries).

“There would have been seven small to medium dams in place, an active reforestation program with rangers to curb kaingins, charcoal-making, and illegal logging by squatters,” Violago wrote.