Filed under: Stop climate change, Project Clean Water, Life at work, Philippines | Tags: SONA, President Noynoy Aquino, State of the Nation Address, Nereus Acosta, Bebeth Gozun, Fr. Robert Reyes
Every year the President of the Republic of the Philippines, opens the resumption of the joint session of the Congress to report on the status of the nation in what we call the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Early this morning a handful of Greenpeace volunteers and concerned citizens together with Fr. Robert Reyes, Former Representative Nereus Acosta and Former Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary, Bebeth Gozun braved Commonwealth Avenue, in Quezon City all the way to Batasan Pambansa, starting their march from Quezon City Hall, where Fr. Reyes was able to speak about the ‘real state of the nation’ in as far as the water crisis that Metro Manila and nearby provinces in Luzon are experiencing as the Angat Watershed’s dam reached a historical low of 157.55 masl last July 16 despite the rains, triggering interrupted water supply in Metro Manila. Prompting water utility companies to implement a water rationing scheme to address the dwindling volume of water in the reservoir.
Along the way we were met with other groups of various political persuasions, causes, campaigns and ideologies. What 
can be found to be interesting here is that the number of us marching for clean water and addressing climate change impacts is but insignificant as compared to the sheer crowds that flocked the way to Batasan Pambansa –in a way giving us an idea about how far we are still in the struggle for clean water and the need to protect and conserve the remaining water supply.
Our march ended when we were finally able to reach Barangay Batasan Hills as we were forced to stop right before St. Peter Parish as the Philippine National Police has blocked it with barbed wires and container vans in order to prevent the growing number of protestors from the groups that will be marching later in the afternoon from reaching Batasang Pambansa.
For our part Greenpeace is demanding that the administration of President Noynoy Aquino take immediate steps to address the climate impacts that are now affecting the Philippines every year. Climate change is undoubtedly the biggest challenge the Philippines faces today, and the vulnerability of our water resources to this phenomenon is a reality that can no longer be ignored. We hope that P-Noy’s SONA message will sound the alarm and catalyze genuine climate action and protection for our fresh water sources.
Chuck Baclagon
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Greenpeace Southeast Asia 
Have you ever wondered why the ABS-CBN is passing the blame to Napocor?
Aren’t they the owners of the major water concessionaire in the Metro Manila?
Comment by Ronald Redito July 26, 2010 @ 6:47 amThis is a great leap for the nation to know why we should conserve. A big ideal is for our administration to furnish orders that will resolve this or else, everyone will be affected eventually. One small part that we can do though that can make big difference is for us to check on ourselves.
Comment by chris July 27, 2010 @ 8:12 pmwater is very essential to us…and it is pretty scary to know that we are now encountering problems to this…let us not wait for the administration to solve this…why not start to ourselves…there are lots of ways to conserve water…take initiative!!!
Comment by chito August 4, 2010 @ 4:59 ami think it’s about time we force the government to come up with real solutions to pasig river’s pollution problem.
we need pasig river to be revived not only for beautification but also as a pro-active step towards water supply sustainability.
pasig river can be a source of freshwater again if we start working on rehabilitating it, now.
Comment by pasigriveravenger August 30, 2010 @ 5:25 pm