THE MOST alarming part of Iloilo’s preparations for a potentially severe El Niño is not the forecast of scorching temperatures. It is not even the possibility of damaged crops or higher electricity demand.
It is this: people could end up fighting over water.
The Iloilo Provincial Government is already considering possible disputes over irrigation water as one scenario under its El Niño public-safety planning. That possibility should jolt government into action. When scarcity reaches the point where access to water becomes a peace-and-order concern, the problem has gone far beyond inconvenient weather.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. is therefore right to convene the Task Force El Niño and demand comprehensive interventions covering water, food, health, energy and public safety. But the meeting must produce more than inventories, advisories and another government action plan gathering dust on office shelves.
Iloilo needs an operational drought plan — with measurable targets, responsible agencies, deadlines and money behind it.
Water must come first. Inventory the wells and impounding facilities, identify communities most at risk, secure emergency sources and fix water systems while supplies remain adequate. Rules for sharing irrigation water must also be settled before scarcity pits farmer against farmer and community against community.
Agriculture cannot wait for fields to turn brown. Farmers need early decisions on planting schedules, drought-resilient crops and irrigation priorities. Livestock producers need the same advance preparation. By the time crops wilt and animals suffer, government intervention is already late.
Neither can health and power authorities simply wait for temperatures to soar. Rural health units must be ready for heat-related illnesses, while the energy sector must prepare for heavier electricity demand and possible supply disruptions.
This is precisely why El Niño cannot be handled agency by agency. A water shortage can become a crop failure. Crop failure can destroy incomes. Extreme heat can fill clinics and drive electricity demand. Scarcity, left unmanaged, can become conflict.
One crisis can quickly feed another.
Today’s meeting of Iloilo province’s Task Force El Niño, therefore, must be about preparedness rather than reaction. It should end not merely with promises to “monitor” conditions but with specific actions, deadlines and officials accountable for delivering them.
Iloilo has been given something disasters rarely provide: advance warning.
There will be little excuse for scrambling for water tankers when faucets run dry, searching for irrigation sources when crops begin wilting, or mediating fights over water when canals are already empty.
The province knows the threat. It knows the vulnerable sectors. It even knows some of the worst scenarios.
Now it must prepare before scarcity turns into crisis.
The time to secure Iloilo’s water is while there is still water to secure.
