By Raïssa Robles

At 7 in the evening of Thursday, I am sitting in the dark being stung by mosquitoes.

There is no electricity and no water.

This reminds me so much of the dying days of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ Martial Law, when electric power went on and off and the trickle in the taps went dry for most of the day. I actually had to go to a deep well in the neighborhood to haul water.

Nowadays, there is no deep well near my home from which to draw water. I just have to rely on the very upredictable water service interruptions of Manila Water. The water comes on around 6 AM or 7 AM, or not. If it does, the taps suddenly go dry mid-morning, then resume around lunchtime, or sometimes not. Then around 3 or 4 PM, the taps only make gurgling sounds. [READ MORE…