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Visayas Confab Thumbs Down Commodification
of Water
In recent years,
conflicts arose as nations battled for control over oil resources. Wars in
the name of water are very possible at this point when this important
natural resource has become commodified in the age of globalization.
By KARL G.
OMBION
Bulatlat
BACOLOD CITY – Water
is one of the most important natural resources. Just like other resources,
however, water has become commodified in the era of globalization,
depriving the economically-disempowered of access to it.
Speaking at the 1st
Water Conference for Western Visayas, central Philippines, IBON Foundation
Research Director Antonio Tujan said that adherence to globalization has
resulted in water privatization and commercialization.
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Tujan said that
Filipinos have seen the rapid increase in the transfer of control over
water resources and services from the government to the private sector,
mostly transnational corporations. The privatization of water utilities
and the subsequent monopolies that result from it, he said, are creating
problems in Manila, Subic, Davao,
Iloilo, Bacolod
and Cebu.
Consumers rally in Bacolod City vs.
water commodification Photo by Karl G. Ombion |
This happens,
according to Tujan, because the main orientation of private corporations
is profit and not public service.
The research director
of IBON, a research think tank based in Manila, warned that if oil is the
focal point of world conflict now, it is possible that water will be the
next battleground among monopoly capitalists and even nations.
Strengthening water groups
He stressed that the
Water for the People Network (WPN) is being strengthened so that people
can ventilate effectively their sentiments and demands, and address the
water crisis in the country from the people’s perspective.
The water conference
held last Dec. 2 and 3 was attended by around 150 participants from
consumers groups, water district unions and local government units. It was
organized by Konsumidor-Negros (a broad consumers alliance),
Konsumidor-Panay, Alliance of Water Districts Nationwide (WATER) and the
Manila-based WPN.
Alejandro Deoma, a
member of the conference secretariat, said that as the country
commemorates International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, various water
groups find it fitting to give special emphasis on the people’s right to
have safe and potable water. Bulatlat
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© 2004 Bulatlat
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