The government has announced plans to build water systems for some 319 “waterless” municipalities nationwide as President Arroyo moves forward on a promise she made five years ago to ensure all Filipino households easy access to potable water by 2010.

Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) said the President is closely monitoring the progress of the President’s Priority Program on Water (P3W) even as he reported that the government has afforded potable water services for some 321 waterless municipalities nationwide since 2005 under the President’s special program.

“The President has already seen to the completion of water projects in some 103 municipalities in Luzon; 82 municipalities in the Visayas; and 136 municipalities in Mindanao under the P3W,” Panganiban said.

A municipality is considered waterless when 50% or more of its households have no access to potable water, he added.

In his report to the President, Panganiban said plans are under way to complete water projects for 88 municipalities in Luzon; 81 municipalities in the Visayas; and 150 municipalities in Mindanao over the next two years.

“These projects are now in varying stages of completion. Many of them are in fact almost finished,” Panganiban said.

He said NAPC and its partner agencies in the P3W have also accommodated project proposals submitted by congressmen and local executives for water services in barangays in an additional 188 municipalities nationwide.

“A total 265,412 previously waterless households across the archipelago now have access to potable water because of the President’s hard work and determination. That is an estimated one million individuals served in only four years of program implementation,” Panganiban said.

He said funds for the P3W are now transferred from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the Department of Health (DOH) with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) as implementing agency.