Save for a decade and some change, Eileen Dela Vega witnessed the transformation of the Local Water Utilities Administration or LWUA throughout the years.
LWUA, founded in 1973, is committed to its mandate to provide safe water and sanitation services to all households in the countryside through self-reliant and sustainable Local Water Districts (LWDs).
Economic gains usually follow suit after one solves the basic needs for water, according to Dela Vega, the agency’s first-ever woman at the helm, saying that they strive to develop these water districts because we all know that the need for water is neverending.
Dela Vega now acts as the Officer-In-Charge for LWUA which is now celebrating its 49th founding anniversary. Dela Vega, on the other hand, has been with the agency for the past 35 years.
She started out as an analyst for the finance group before going up the ranks and eventually being promoted to her present position by former LWUA Administrator Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong.
She is the first woman to lead the 286 dedicated employees of the agency. And when it comes to handling the affairs of the institution, the amiable executive is no stranger to whipping up quick fixes to solve challenges from the simplest to the most complex.
But her qualifications to blaze the trail does not halt at having the instincts and meticulous evaluations of an empowered woman.
Backed by decades of experience and the valuable erudition from her predecessors, Dela Vega said that the lessons she learned from the past administrators of LWUA serve as the touchstone to which she now adheres in her role as OIC in the past six months.
“One thing I learned from the past admins is to work for the people and consider the social dimension of things. That’s why we try to keep interest rates low. Another is that you must learn to listen to the people below you or around you,” Dela Vega said.
Senior Undersecretary, DPWH
“In my tenure here, I have learned from the advice of my superiors to voice out my concerns for the betterment of the whole organization. I learned to take every opportunity to be heard. Vice-versa, a good administrator should be a good listener. As the head of the agency, we do not want the monopoly of all ideas coming from us so we listen to the concerns of the water districts in order for us to improve our service,” she added.
Dela Vega further explained that despite limitations in her authority as OIC and even with the technical limitations of her role, she is thankful that the board of trustees, composed of the heads of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Finance (DOF), and the Department of Health (DOH), is supportive of LWUA.
Moreover, Dela Vega said that although the challenges of the pandemic still linger, LWUA and its partner water districts have found their footing in no time and have thrived since the shaky start to 2020.
Undersecretary, DOF
“Just like other government offices, we did not know how to tackle the pandemic at the start. So we needed to quickly adapt. We implemented hybrid work schedules, but apart from the lockdowns and low collection adjustments we made to our workflow, the impending situation meant that collection by our water districts had to halt, especially during the first few months of the pandemic,” Dela Vega added.
“Surprisingly, the water districts bounced back in remittance to LWUA after going through difficulty in collecting payments, especially from customers in the far-flung areas” she explained.
Moreover, the refiling of the Department of Water bill paved the way in jumpstarting the discussion for a more holistic discourse to create the department as this is also one of the priority agendas of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” said Dela Vega
OIC Undersecretary, DOH
“We see that there are still small water districts that need LWUA’s help to become bigger and more successful for them to become more attractive to potential private investors and really thrive more in the process. This is the role I hope LWUA maintains when the proposed Department of Water will come to fruition,” she added.
LWUA has formed almost 800 water districts scattered all around the Philippines with 532 of these operational. Dela Vega said that the partnership and collaboration of the local government units, members of the private sector, and the water districts, enabled LWUA to serve the rural Philippines for close to half a century.
“The key here is really collaboration, and this falls in line with the theme of our 49th anniversary: Tulung-tulong sa pagsulong; Pantay-pantay sa pag-agapay,” Dela Vega said.