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Sun.Star Cebu's  Carvajal: "How long?" WITH the onset of heavy rains, we can declare victory over a long and nasty drought. But the remarkable thing is we survived it in spite of the absence of pro-activeness in our political leaders. We survived it by pure luck or, as the bishops might want to claim, by God’s answer to their oratio imperata. Local officials did nothing but declare a state of emergency (which causes no water to spring from the ground) and distribute free water containers. But how crazy is it to give people water-containers when there simply is no water to put in them?  Yet, previous to this drought, they had a water summit. People were glad then to hear that, in addition to declaring a state of emergency and distributing water-containers, they will build water impounding systems and reservoirs. But the rains came and water impounding systems were nowhere to be found. Hence, the last drought was even worse (for water) than the previous one they had a su...

Philippine Star  "Water and jobs" Think about it: if people in underdeveloped communities do not have to trek for several hours just to get water for their households, they could instead spend those hours learning livelihood skills or, for children, in getting formal education.  The United Nations estimates that about 1.5 billion people work in sectors where water plays an important role, including fisheries, farming, manufacturing and energy generation. Their work, earnings and quality of life could be improved with the efficient delivery of clean water.  As World Water Day is marked on March 22, the UN is focusing on the links between water and jobs, and consequently to poverty alleviation. Adequate supply of clean water is also indispensable in public health and sanitation. This is important in developing countries such as the Philippines where millions of households still lack piped water and modern toilets.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Crucial swing vot...