On Monday, we expect President Gloria Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (Sona) to count government's program on water services in the list of supposed achievements of the administration in the past year.

The 2005 SonaTechnical Report prepared by Arroyo's spin doctors claimed that 48 out of the 210 waterless areas in Metro Manila or 1,126 households benefited from the President's Priority Program on Water (P3W) implemented through Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Company Inc. This, according to the report, complemented the Patubig ni Gloria project, which provided potable water through mobile tankers to 956,541 waterless households in Metro Manila, and the provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan and Laguna.

Note that the provision of water supply in Metro Manila areas that still do not enjoy such service is the obligation of Maynilad and Manila Water based on their contract with the government after taking over the privatized Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) eight years ago. Thus, even without the P3W, the private concessionaires must fulfill this responsibility.

Further, the report did not say how the achievement of the P3W improved the water supply coverage in MWSS areas. As of 2003, the combined number of people served by Maynilad and Manila Water was pegged at 9.1 million, according to the MWSS Regulatory Office. In Metro Manila alone, the population is 9.9 million as of 2000 based on National Statistics Office (NSO) data, which means that at least 800,000 people in the metropolis are not connected to the system of neither of the private concessionaires.

For the sake of rough estimation, assuming that each household is composed of one family with five members (the official average family size in the Philippines) the P3W's achievement of 1,126 households only translates to 5,630 individuals. Even if we assume that there are two or three families per household, the P3W's accomplishment is still insignificant relative to the huge number of people not yet serviced by Maynilad or Manila Water.

To bridge the gap, Arroyo and the private concessionaires are implementing the Patubig ni Gloria project. To appease the people who have been waiting for years for Maynilad and Manila Water to build a permanent connection, the concessionaires will deliver potable water with government, through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), footing the bill. This project was launched in December 2003 as a publicity stunt for Arroyo in the run up to the May 2004 presidential elections. Aside from Patubig ni Gloria, PAGCOR has spent hundreds of millions of its public relations (PR) and advertising funds for similar projects meant to promote Arroyo's candidacy such as Pailaw ni Gloria (street lighting) and Handog Kalusugan ni Gloria (health services). But the sustainability of these projects is highly suspect due to the gaping budget deficit of the government.

In addition, the Patubig ni Gloria is no longer original because Maynilad and Manila Water have already been implementing similar projects for poor communities in Metro Manila (Bayan Tubig Program for Maynilad and Tubig para sa Barangay for Manila Water) as part of their PR campaign long before Arroyo thought of a similar ploy to win public support.

Both the Patubig ni Gloria and the P3W are meant not only to promote Arroyo but also to assuage the people who have become frustrated with the privatization of MWSS, soaring water rates, and poor service performance of the private concessionaires. In reality, these projects have failed to substantially address the problem of lack of access to water services of many Filipinos. And we have only looked at the situation in Metro Manila (where the 2005 SONA Technical Report on water is focused). In areas outside Metro Manila, the situation is even worse with only 12 million people having access to potable water, as reported by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

But the scandalous Maynilad bailout has further discredited the MWSS privatization in the eyes of the public that no PR gimmick can salvage this policy's integrity, in the same way that the "Hello Garci" tapes have so disgraced Arroyo in the eyes of the people that no PR gimmick can save her beleaguered presidency.