Toward the end of 2019, headlines in the Philippines featured controversies surrounding private in- vestments in public utilities, which spurred renewed debates over privatization and state control. In the 1990s, at the height of globalization-driven economic growth in East Asia, the Philippines targeted to become an industrialized country by 2000. Confronted with the environmental crisis and poor public utility services, the country ventured into the privatization of public goods, such as water services, to aid in rapid industrialization. However, experiences from neighboring newly industrialized countries (NICs) in East Asia (or the Asian Miracles) proved that protection should come prior to liberalization. This essay aims to contribute to the evolving field of political sociology, specifically in the discourses on state-economy relations, reflecting on the current socio-political situation in the Philippines. Re- cent literature maintains that water service privatization failed to deliver on its promises due to market (capitalism), state (vested interest), and governance failures. This essay calls for the reframing of socio-political structures and institutions through policy reforms, alternative and pluralistic models of public goods management, and a new breed of statesmen and community, political, and industrial leaders.

Governance Crisis in Water Services in the Philippines: A Need for Rethinking and Reframing Development Policies in the Country

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