CUSW defines its mission as the establishment of a more sustainable approach toward the protection, management, and development of Cebu’s water resources. The Central Cebu watersheds and the coastal aquifers are its primary areas of focus. Its immediate goal is the formulation and institutionalization of an integrated water resources and land use management plan for Central Cebu.

Although noble in intent, CUSW was immediately met with opposition from various sectors. A number of political leaders and line agency personnel were lukewarm and non-committal. It has also encountered various allegations of bias since its inception. It was initially regarded as ‘anti-development’ by the government agencies and business communities, and ‘anti-people environmentalists’ by some political leaders. Not fully aware of the mechanics of the consultation, some sectors alleged that they were being excluded from the process.

In the CUSW General Assembly on 07 April 1995, twenty-one sectors were identified as stakeholders.  Individuals or organizations were designated to represent each of the sectors in various consultation and fora.  After the first multi-sectoral consultation and the succeeding dialogues, sectoral positions, interests and views on watershed management were discussed and documented.  These results were then synthesized into what later became the 12-point framework for watershed management and land use masterplan. During the recent General Assembly on 13 October 2000, more sectors were identified among which are local government units, urban people's organizations/residents, professionals, youth/students, women, academe, business, religious, national line agencies, farmers, fisherfolks, civic, cooperatives, non-government and peoples organizations, protected areas management boards, and media.

The Organization

The Board of Trustees is CUSW’s highest policy-making and governing body.  A Coordinating Council, which meet on a quarterly basis, is composed of elected sectoral representatives and serves as the link between CUSW Board of Trustees and member-organizations within a specific sector. There are seven Working Committees open for membership, namely: 1) Information, Education and communications; 2) Special Projects; 3) Research and Planning; 4) Legal and Development Administration; 5) Resource Mobilization and Fund Raising; 6) Monitoring and Evaluation; and 7) Membership Involvement.  CUSW organizes a series of internal strategic planning sessions and regular meetings to map directions and operationalize its goals and activities.

Figure 1: CUSW Organizational Chart

Except for the full-time Secretariat, all the members working for the coalition are volunteers. Regular revenues are generated from membership fees. It receives financial assistance from different sources such as Ford Foundation, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., among others, for various projects/activities.

Resolving Conflicts

Mediation in natural resources and environmental conflicts is a relatively "new" approach in resolving disputes in the Philippines, since there are few professionally trained or certified mediators. The normal response to dispute situations is to seek efforts toward conciliation and harmonization. In general, family-level conflict is resolved through the intervention of an elder respected person, usually a man, who steps in the height of a dispute and pacifies "warring" parties. When transposed to a higher level of conflict, these efforts require the personality of a religious or political leader as third party arbiter and mediator.

In Cebu’s water conflict, attempts have been made to bridge differences where there are clearly divergent views and interests,. Arguments initially focused on several technical understanding of the implications of development activities. During that time, most of Cebu community did not have a clear understanding of the concept of "watershed". There was an obvious need to address this, thus IEC (information, education and communication) on watershed and watershed management was prioritized. A series of fora and field trips to watersheds were conducted. Its initial participants were the NGO community, the business community, and the media, and was later expanded to the greater population.

Recognizing the importance of using accurate and reliable information in the planning process and as a tool in bridging conflict, efforts were made to find ways and means to raise political, moral, financial, and technical support for the conduct of multi-disciplinary studies and community validations. To enhance its technical capabilities, and at the same time promote networking, CUSW participates in local, national, and international trainings, seminars, workshops, and conferences.

The political leadership, during the early stage of CUSW, neither expressed opposition to the call for a watershed masterplan nor offered any support for the plan. The CUSW members recognized that the landuse planning process would help rationalize varying interests, which can serve as a mediation-conflict resolution mechanism. It was then decided that lobbying and advocacy efforts should be centered on the need for a process of formulating a comprehensive masterplan. Support from local, national, and international groups was sought for the technical planning and financial assistance for the process.

The CUSW Now

The CUSW ultimately assumed the role of facilitator-convenor- mediator, although it was not seen that way in its early stage. It gradually evolved into a forum where varying interests and opinions could be discussed by various stakeholders, with water supply and watershed management as its point of convergence.

With ‘sustainable water’ as its unifying agenda and the corollary of improving the quality of life, the support that CUSW is getting has been gradually increasing. It has now become the partner of the City Government in the formulation of the Cebu Water Resources and Land Use Master Plan. It also has successfully developed apparent alliances between landowner-residents and non-resident landowner-real estate developers, and landowner-developers with key political leaders. Through dialogue and diplomacy, networking and linkaging, relationships have been bridged and various sectors are slowly gaining trust and confidence with each other. The Cebu populace is now working together towards the achievement of the planning goal. While steps have been taken to address the conflict over water supply and watershed management, the problem is far from over. The process is still very much an on-going effort.

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