The high-level dialogue—organized by the Iloilo Business Club in partnership with the Region VI Regional Development Council and co-presented by AIC—carried the theme: “Water We Waiting For? Advancing Integrated Water Resource Management for a Resilient and Sustainable Western Visayas.”
The event aimed to foster knowledge-sharing and multi-sectoral collaboration for sustainable water management.
AIC president and CEO Cosette V. Canilao participated in the first plenary session, where she made an urgent call for swift, coordinated action to future-proof Iloilo’s water infrastructure.
“Where water flows, progress follows. And if there’s one thing the present demands of us, it’s this—we must not wait,” Canilao said.
She spotlighted the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP), implemented by AIC subsidiary Apo Agua in partnership with the Davao City Water District (DCWD), as a scalable and replicable model. The project supplies 300 million liters of potable water daily to over one million Davaoeños.
Crucially, the project separates bulk water production and distribution responsibilities, with AIC managing the former and DCWD the latter.
“This is not just innovation, this is governance. It’s a model that can work—not just in Davao, but in Iloilo, and beyond,” she added.
“We must avoid dependency on any single provider. Redundancy builds resilience, and diversity improves quality and ensures highest service to the communities.”
Canilao emphasized that governance challenges—such as fragmented responsibilities—often hinder service delivery and accountability in the water sector.
She cited the importance of the newly amended Public-Private Partnership (PPP) law and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) in enabling meaningful private sector participation.
“The newly amended PPP law and its IRR ensure that private partners are not merely middlemen, but investors that take on the risk of putting in capital and in delivering reliable service to the public,” Canilao explained.
'We needed water yesterday': A city and province in crisis
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas acknowledged the urgency, especially as the city welcomes more investors and industries.
“Water is very much needed, and we can only ensure the continuous growth and the continuous interest of investors if we have water. We need water not tomorrow—we need(ed) water yesterday. Water is very much needed,” he said.
"I believe that through our partnership with the private sector, we are investing in a long-term solution for a water-secure future," he added.
From the provincial side, Iloilo Provincial Administrator Raul N. Banias, speaking on behalf of Governor Arthur Defensor Jr., revealed a sobering statistic: Almost half of Ilonggo households in Iloilo are unable to access clean water.
To address this, the province has earmarked P70 million for rural water systems.
Call for national-local gov’t synergy
Canilao emphasized the importance of national and local government alignment.
“Top-down and bottom-up must converge. The LGUs are closest to the ground. They understand—better than anyone—the urgent need of Ilonggos for sustainable, reliable, and safe water. Their insights are grounded in lived realities,” she said.
Her sentiment was echoed by Undersecretary Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos of the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development:
“We should take advantage of opportunities for convergence, particularly in the private sector, to bridge infrastructure and service delivery gaps in the water sector.”
Davao model as a blueprint for Iloilo
In the “Lightning Talks” session on best practices, Apo Agua general manager Ronnie D. Lim shared the Davao project’s operational model.
“At Apo Agua, we believe that understanding the complexities of water, from source development to treatment to distribution, is key to forging strong partnerships with public and private stakeholders that can safeguard these critical resources for generations to come,” Lim said.
He noted that the DCBWSP’s water-energy nexus enables both power generation and water treatment from the same water source. The project has boosted DCWD’s coverage to 96 percent city-wide and earned a 99.6-percent customer satisfaction rating by end-2024. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
