Photo Release

What is the future of our country if we do not have water?: Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking, poses this question to her colleagues Wednesday, March 22, 2023 as she appeals for their support in ensuring people’s access to clean water. Cayetano, in her privilege speech, cited the connection of lack of access to clean water to the country’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) particularly SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being; SDG 5, Gender Equality; SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation; and SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities. Cayetano pointed out that the Philippines, being a signatory to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, is committed to integrating the SDGs into the national development plans and policies. “So your honors, it is important that when we think of clean water and sanitation, we must also see it through a gender lens. Like most crises, the effects are never gender-neutral, and the effects on women are proportionally higher than men,” Cayetano said in her speech delivered in commemoration of World Water Day. (Senate PRIB photos)