Manila, May 7 -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed relevant government agencies to focus on serving the 40 million "underserved population" found to have no formal water supply.

Marcos gave the directive during a meeting with the water sector in Malacanang on Tuesday.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Carlos Primo David said the underserved population consists of Filipinos who source their water from deep wells, springs, creeks, and even rainwater, most of whom reside in Mindanao, especially in Bangsamoro communities.

"We have roughly around 7,600 plus islands but not many people know that 5,500 of those are small islands and many of these small islands do have communities, mostly fisherfolk and ea...