A panacea gone awry: A review of water privatization policy in the Philippines

In 1997, the Philippine government privatized the operations of its publicly owned water service provider for Metro Manila. This was part of the global trend toward privatization of public services that started in the 1980s following a global economic crisis. The aims were to reduce government's role in economic development and in the provision of public services. Two decades later, however, the goals of Philippine water privatization continue to fall short of what it promised to do to the detriment of the consumers, particularly the urban poor. This article argues that the neoliberal development framework of privatization, deregulation, and economic liberalization and the market economy have generally favored corporate interests. The result has produced perennial problems such as the rising price of water and excessive profit taking and the limited and poor water services and sanitation coverage among others.