Is water in Dasmariñas, Cavite just a myth? 

Water is one of the most essential things needed in our daily lives, because without it, our throats would have dried up long ago, and we would have turned to dust in our own country. Water is also one of the things that sustains the country, as it is one of the livelihoods that Filipinos do to earn enough money for their families and themselves. However, water seems to be scarce in the barangay of San Marino in the town of Dasmariñas, Cavite, as the tanks, pipes, and faucets of every household have been dry for a long time due to the lack and insufficiency of water supply in their town.

One of the problems faced by the residents of San Marino is the lack of a sufficient water supply in their barangay. Even before Prime Water entered their barangay, they already had no proper water supply due to the lack of equipment to deliver water to every faucet in their homes.

On November 1, 2019, the Dasmariñas Water District (DWD) entered into a 25-year joint venture agreement with Prime Water to provide a proper water supply to every household in some parts of Dasmariñas. According to Prime Water, their entry into Dasmariñas, Cavite, was to improve the condition of their water supply, as the residents had been without a decent water supply for a long time. However, based on the information I gathered from the residents, their situation only worsened, and their faucets eventually ran dry due to Prime Water’s poor service.

The residents have been enduring this problem for a long time, waiting for the water flow in every pipe in Dasmariñas to be fixed, but until now, nothing has been done. The Mayor of Dasmariñas, Cavite, Jenny Barzaga, along with her son, former House of Representatives member Kiko Barzaga, promised the residents that the water supply in San Marino would be improved, but this has become a long-standing story.

The residents are left waiting for nothing, relying on rations from the barangay, which are sometimes dirty, smelly, or discolored. They have no other choice but to spend a large amount of money to buy clean water for their daily needs.

To make up for the lack of water, the water district in Dasmariñas created a schedule to cover up the failure of Prime Water and the Dasmariñas Water District. However, the rations or water delivery to the residents are still insufficient, as they do not receive water every day, and not every day do they have water flowing from their faucets.

Many residents are struggling, waiting, and begging the local government to fix the water supply in their barangay, but until now, no action has been taken. Many senior citizens are forced to fetch water themselves, as they sometimes have no one to help them, so they rely only on themselves.

The cost of this regulatory vacuum is severe. Dasmariñas exceeded the legally allowable 20% Non-Revenue Water (NRW) ceiling by a mile. The resulting financial losses exceeded ₱150 million in 2022 and another ₱134 million in 2023. These are not just abstract ledger entries; they represent billions of gallons of clean water lost to ground leakages while taxpayers paid for air spinning their household water meters.

Yet, politics alone cannot fix broken pipes. While political threats hung in the air, the corporate architecture quietly shifted. In December 2025, faced with mounting investigations by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) under orders from President Marcos, the Villar Group chose to exit, selling full ownership of PrimeWater to Lucio Co’s Crystal Bridges Holding Corp.

The residents of Dasmariñas have been deceived and taken for a ride by the employees of Prime Water and DWD for a long time, as until now, the promises they made are still up in the air. The rations they provide are just band-aid solutions that may seem good and believable at first, but as time passes, the residents are just getting used to this setup because Prime Water and DWD can no longer fulfill their promises.

For the residents, their only wish is to have a proper water supply, as they struggle every day to find clean and decent water without spending money from their own pockets. For the new management of PrimeWater, the public expects them to fix the mistakes left behind by the Villar Group, as many residents still hope to have decent water flowing from their faucets. And for the Mayor of Dasmariñas, Cavite, the people are calling on her to help the residents who have been promised solutions, as they have been begging for action to be taken on the water crisis caused by the current system in their town.