I have a personal history with San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
Long before San Jose del Monte became a city and long before the Robes family became a political force there, I had already experienced what it was like to live in the community.
It was sometime after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution when my family moved to San Jose del Monte. We stayed there for about a year while we were looking for a permanent home in Metro Manila, particularly in San Juan.
We lived in Mankor Homes – a typical mass-housing community where the houses looked almost identical, a kind of cookie-cutter neighborhood that was common in the expanding communities outside Metro Manila.
But what I remember most was not the houses. It was the water. There were times when water had to be rationed and delivered by fire trucks. For a family trying to live a normal life, something as basic as washing clothes could become a challenge.
And washing white clothes was particularly frustrating. The water quality was poor. Clothes could develop rust-colored stains, and some would wear out or become damaged more quickly. Water was not something we simply turned on from the faucet and forgot about. It was something we had to think about, conserve and, at times, wait for.
That was San Jose del Monte as I knew it in the 1980s. Fast-forward several decades. San Jose del Monte has changed dramatically.
The community I once knew as a developing area outside Metro Manila eventually became one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in Bulacan. Under successive administrations, including the Robes leadership, San Jose del Monte developed roads, public facilities, sports programs and other urban infrastructure that reflected the transformation of what was once largely a relocation and residential community.
The city’s economic base has also grown. The Department of Finance’s local competitiveness data put San Jose del Monte’s revenue at about ₱811.6 million in 2023, making it the top-ranked Bulacan LGU in that particular competitiveness comparison.
This is important because it gives us perspective. San Jose del Monte today is not the San Jose del Monte of the 1980s.
Except, ironically, in one respect: Water remains a problem.
And that is precisely why I find the recent controversy involving Mayor Florida “Rida” Robes and the infamous “Tubig!” chant at a basketball game deeply troubling, not because people have no right to complain, but because we should be asking the right people the right questions.
The issue is not whether San Joseños have the right to demand water. Of course they do.
Water is a basic necessity. No mayor, no water district, no private company and no politician should expect people to remain silent when their homes do not have adequate, reliable and safe water.
But the bigger question is this: Who actually had operational responsibility for the water system?
In February 2018, the San Jose del Monte City Water District and PrimeWater-San Jose del Monte City entered into a Joint Venture Agreement covering the financing, development, rehabilitation, improvement, operation and maintenance of the water supply and septage management systems.
That distinction matters. Because the water problem that San Jose del Monte is confronting today did not begin with Mayor Rida Robes. And it certainly did not originate from a basketball court.
The public needs to understand that the water system was operated under a joint venture involving the water district and PrimeWater. The city government was not simply sitting in the mayor’s office turning a valve on and off.
In fact, the record shows that the Robes administration eventually took the extraordinary step of confronting the problem head-on.
In April 2025, the San Jose del Monte Water District moved to pre-terminate its joint venture agreement with PrimeWater following complaints about water service. The move was welcomed by barangay leaders, who publicly credited the city government and the Robes leadership for listening to residents’ complaints.
Then came the more dramatic action. In February 2026, San Jose del Monte was placed under a state of calamity because of the water crisis. The city government said large portions of the city were affected and began water deliveries through its Task Force TUGON while coordinating with national water agencies for longer-term solutions.
In March, the city council approved an emergency ordinance giving Mayor Robes powers to manage and restore water services.
And on May 5, the city government formally assumed control of water supply operations and facilities previously managed by PrimeWater and the water district.
Let that sink in. A mayor who supposedly does not care about the water problem is hardly likely to assume responsibility for one of the most politically dangerous and technically difficult problems confronting her city.
The Robes administration could have simply blamed the water district. It could have blamed PrimeWater. It could have waited for another agency to act. Instead, it took over.
And then, in June, the city brought in Metro Pacific Water as an interim operator to assess and operate the system while longer-term solutions were being considered.
This does not mean Mayor Robes deserves a free pass. She doesn’t. Neither does any public official.
If residents are still experiencing brown water, intermittent supply or prolonged shortages, they have every right to demand answers. They should complain. They should protest. They should demand accountability.
But accountability should follow the chain of responsibility. That is where the recent “Tubig!” incident becomes interesting.
During the Aug. 24 “Ate Rida’s Cup” basketball tournament at Minuyan Sports Complex, spectators repeatedly chanted “Tubig!” Mayor Robes stopped the game and expressed her displeasure.
The city’s youth sports and development offices subsequently issued a statement saying that while residents have every right to raise concerns about the water crisis, disruptive or disrespectful behavior has no place in youth programs.
I agree with the second part but with an important qualification. People should be allowed to criticize their mayor. A public official is not above criticism.
But criticism should not be confused with the deliberate humiliation of a public official during an event intended for young people and sports development.
At the same time, the mayor must also understand why people shouted. That chant did not come from nowhere. It came from frustration. It came from households that have experienced shortages. It came from people who have had to adjust their daily routines around something as fundamental as water. And it came from a city whose water problem has become a symbol of something much larger: the failure of public-private arrangements to guarantee the most basic public service.
So perhaps the real target of our anger should not be a basketball player, a spectator, or even the mayor. Perhaps we should be looking much higher.
For years, PrimeWater was associated with the Villar business empire. In fact, government documents previously identified PrimeWater as a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures, Inc., which was 99.98 percent owned by Manuel Paolo A. Villar.
The Villar family’s PrimeWater subsequently faced mounting complaints nationwide over water service. In 2025, the national government ordered an investigation into the company following consumer complaints, while the Local Water Utilities Administration said termination of some joint venture agreements was being considered.
The irony is difficult to ignore. The company that once promised professional management, investment and improvement of local water systems became the subject of complaints from communities that expected precisely those things.
PrimeWater itself says its mission is to provide potable, reliable and sustainable water to Filipino communities.
That is a noble mission. But water companies should ultimately be judged not by their mission statements, advertisements or corporate presentations.
They should be judged by what comes out of the faucet. Is there water? Is it clean? Is it reliable? Is it reasonably priced? And when something goes wrong, who answers the phone?
Those are the questions that matter to ordinary families. And here is where the San Jose del Monte story becomes particularly relevant.
The Villar Group has already moved to sell PrimeWater, with Crystal Bridges Holding Corp. of the Lucio Co Group entering into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the company in 2025.
So when people today shout “Tubig!” at Mayor Robes, perhaps we should remind ourselves that the water company itself has already changed hands.
The problem has outlived the original operator. And that tells us something important. This is no longer simply a political problem. It is a structural problem.
It is a problem of water infrastructure, investment, regulation, accountability and the terms under which public water districts enter into long-term arrangements with private operators.bIt is also a problem of political accountability.
If a private concessionaire fails, it should answer. If a water district enters into an agreement that fails to deliver, its officials should answer. If a national agency approved or facilitated an arrangement, it should answer. And if a mayor makes promises, the mayor should answer too.
But the solution cannot be to make the mayor the convenient punching bag for everybody else’s failures.
I am not writing this because I am a Robes supporter. I am writing this because I remember San Jose del Monte before the Robes family became what it is today.
I remember the fire trucks. I remember the rationing. I remember trying to wash clothes with poor-quality water. I remember what it was like to live in a place that was still trying to find its identity and its place outside Metro Manila.
And when I look at San Jose del Monte today, I see a city that has come a very long way. That progress does not erase the water crisis. But neither should the water crisis erase everything else that has happened.
Mayor Rida should be judged on what she does from this point forward. If she promised to restore reliable water, then she must deliver. If the interim arrangement fails, she must explain why. If the infrastructure requires billions of pesos in rehabilitation, she must tell the people where the money will come from. If contracts, assets, obligations and liabilities are involved, the public deserves transparency. And if PrimeWater left behind a system that requires massive rehabilitation, the public deserves a complete accounting of what happened.
No political slogan can replace that. No “Tubig!” chant can replace that. And no press statement can replace running water.
But there is one thing we should not forget. The mayor did not create the water crisis simply by becoming mayor.
She inherited a system that had been operating under a joint venture and, when the crisis became intolerable, she eventually took the politically risky step of taking control. That deserves scrutiny, yes. But it also deserves recognition.
The people of San Jose del Monte should continue demanding water. They should demand it loudly. They should demand it respectfully. And they should demand it from everyone responsible from the water district to the private operator, from regulators to local officials.
Because water is not a political weapon. It is a public necessity. And after nearly four decades, I would hate to see San Jose del Monte return to the days when a family had to wait for a fire truck just to wash its clothes. The people of San Jose deserve better. They always have.
