But the grand water deal Cebu has been counting on for relief is now in jeopardy—and not just because the impending drought has made water more valuable than ever.

The proposed Bohol-Cebu Water Supply Project has run into a tidal wave of protest here, and it shows no sign of abating despite the venture's formidable backers. Many Boholanos fear the environ- mental consequences of such a project, as well as resent yet another attempt by their Cebuano neighbors to lay claim to their resources.

The scheme promises to rival any of the many grand water deals being struck all over the country, and may well finally slake the thirst of one of the Philippines' major economic and political centers.

The ambitious project, estimated to cost at least P3.2 billion, aims to draw water from the Inabanga River in Bohol and deliver it to Mactan Island in Cebu via a 30-km submarine pipeline. Pumping stations in Mactan would then feed Metro Cebu its share of the resource.

Supporters of the project-a brainchild of former Cebu Governor Emilio "Lito" Osmeña-con- sider it a unique and bold response to the water crisis plaguing highly urbanized Cebu and Mandaue cities and the neighboring island of Mactan, home to the only export-processing zone in the Visayas and a tourism magnet.

Only 30 percent of Metro Cebu are being served by the local water district. Many transnational companies based in Mactan's export processing zone are relying on expensive desalination plants for their fresh water needs.

Once completed, the extraordinary infrastructure linking the provinces of Bohol and Cebu is expected to be hailed as an engineering feat, perhaps comparable to the pipeline that supplies Singapore with fresh water from Johore, Malaysia.

It might even turn out to be a model of sorts to the country's development planners who are scrambling for dramatic and drastic solutions to quench the enormous potable water needs of densely-populated metropolitan centers and rapidly expanding industrial zones, which are the country's engines of growth.

The vision of Philippines 2000 cannot be realized without adequate supply of fresh water. But this development challenge has become more compelling with the widespread and continuing deterioration of the natural environment.

As it is, the government has been depending more and more on expensive, often risky technology to compensate for the loss or damage of valuable but fragile ecosystems.

The Bohol-Cebu Water Supply Project itself illustrates another important concern: the struggle to strike a balance between industry and environment. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) considers it a "critical project"-one that would involve major infrastructure requirements and significantly disturb ecosystems.

This was why the DENR's Environment and Management Bureau (EMB) needed to call a public hearing here last July. But the visiting EMB officials seemed to be taken aback by the show of strong dissent by the Boholanos, who staged a protest march through the narrow streets of this coastal town before the hearing began.

A comment by Boholano poet Marjorie Evasco succinctly summarized what must have been running inside the heads of her provincemates. Said Evasco: "The pre-emptive assumption used in the conduct of negotiation of the water deal can be exposed by asking three critical questions: Devel- opment for whom? Development at whose expense? And who are these developers and what do they stand to gain in this enterprise?"

Then again, perhaps the EMB officials should have seen all of these coming, since it was the DENR itself that did a study showing the possible environmental havoc the project could wreak in Bohol. The island may also end up millions of pesos poorer because of the venture, said the DENR paper.

To be sure, Boholanos who got wind of the findings contained in the DENR's Review of the Feasibility Study on the Bohol-Cebu Water Supply Project were very upset. Commissioned by the Bohol provincial government and funded by the United Nations Development Program, the review was contracted to the DENR, which completed it last March.

The Bohol provincial government had requested the review after the Office of the Governor received the feasibility study done by the corporate alliance formed specifically for the project.

Among the conclusions of the DENR review is that by diverting Inabanga River's water to Cebu, the salinity in the estuaries drained by the river would increase, in turn leading to permanent changes in the downstream ecosystem.

Intrusion of sea water may go as far as 9.5 kilometers inland and affect the conditions of nipa and mangrove forests that thrive on brackish water and provide a rich biomass of nutrients to a wide range of marine animals. The fishing grounds off the coast of Inabanga town, said the review, would definitely be damaged.

In addition, the review revealed that approximately 2,875 hectares of coastal and shallow marine areas would be disturbed and might even be damaged heavily since the pipeline will traverse the Northwest Bank, the Olango Channel and the Hilutangan Channel. Engineering studies on disposal of sludge or waste matter from the treatment plant to be set up Inabanga were deemed incomplete.

"We keep telling ourselves to protect the trees, to protect our forests but little is done to protect our seas," said a worried Geronimo Mejia, a fisherman and barangay chairman of Bugane in Inabanga town, who has been told of the findings. "Many families in Inabanga live by fishing. The sea is our life."

What has infuriated the Boholanos most, however, was a finding previously concealed from them by the project proponents.

The corporate alliance formed to construct and manage the project under a build-operate-and- transfer scheme had offered to pay the Bohol local government units P25 million each year for 25 years for the water supply. According to the DENR review, though, the cost of rehabilitating and maintaining just 50 percent of the Inabanga-Wahig watershed would cost P30 million annually. In other words, Bohol would be incurring a yearly deficit of P5 million if the deal pushes through.

Even before the DENR called the July hearing, more and more Boholanos who came to know of the findings had been organizing themselves against the project.

These days, the diocese of Talibon, which has jurisdiction over parishes in 14 of the 16 towns that would be affected by the project, has issued a statement of concern regarding the Bohol-Cebu water deal.

Local environmental activists have also organized the Bohol Nature Conservation Society (Bonaconso). And in the town of Corella, home of the rare and endangered tarsier, the youth have banded together in protest of the project and have expressed their dissent through mass media.

"What we need is an educational campaign so the people can help the provincial government decide and act on the project," says Bert Borja, a community development worker and founding member of Bonaconso.

Many of those whose lives would be changed because of the project in fact remain unaware of it. The residents of Barangay Kawayan, Inabanga, for example, still have no inkling that a diversion weir will be constructed in their village.

They do not have the faintest hint that four huge pumps will be used to get 133,000 cubic meters of water daily from the river for delivery to Cebu after passing through a treatment plant that will also be located in Kawayan. They have not been told that once the Bohol-Cebu water deal pushes through, they will have to be relocated.

In truth, before the July public hearing here, no consultation ever took place between the project proponents and the Boholanos, including the affected municipal government units. At the hearing itself, the sole presentation was made by US-based engineering and con- struction firm Brown and Root, a subsidiary of the transnational Halliburton, and one of the three members of the alliance. No mention was made of the DENR review findings.

It was the alliance that sponsored the hearing, which was supposed to be part of the DENR's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Even the task of announcing the hearing fell on the alliance, of which Anglo-Philippine Holdings, a newly created company affiliated with mining concerns and the current builders of the Light Railway Transit (LRT) in Metro Manila, and Itochu Corporation, a Japanese firm engaged in trading, including the provision of construction materials and equipment, are the other members.

Faced with protesters, the alliance's representatives at the hearing announced some concessions. According to Brown and Root's liaison officer Charlie Jayco, the project proponents would now pay for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the watershed.

Jayco, a former Sevilla town mayor, also said the second phase of the project, which would re- quire the building of a dam and the flooding of local communities, would be dropped. In addition, he proposed the creation of a new corporation involving the Bohol provincial government that would take over the project's assets after 25 years.

But such attempts at goodwill were met with suspicion. "For a long time, there was no role for the Bohol provincial government in this project," said Fr. Romeo Dompor, a community develop- ment advocate in Bohol and co-chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Central Visayas comprising the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

"The (non-government organizations) of Bohol were not consulted," he added. "The Boholanos had no participation and we still don't know the conditions. What is irritating is that those who are calling the shots in this project are in Metro Cebu and Metro Manila."

What worries many Boholanos though is that their protests may be for naught because the project may have had the endorsement of Malacañang from the very beginning.

When a memorandum of understanding on the project was first signed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPVM), the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) and Brown and Root more than two years ago, it took place at the Palace in Manila.

Fr. Dompor noted that Lito Osmeña, who is credited with thinking up the project, was for a long time President Ramos's adviser for economic affairs and flagship projects. Osmeña resigned from his Palace post last August.

"Lito was already pushing for the Bohol-Cebu water deal when he was still governor of Cebu," said Fr. Dompor. "His presence in Malacañang must have been the reason why the project has gained momentum in recent years."