Reimagining water governance: theo-ethical analysis for virtuous systems and integral ecology

This study examines the Philippine water crisis by highlighting a critical moral gap in current governance approaches. While existing analyses focus on technical and policy shortcomings, few investigate the ethical character of the social structures that shape water access and equity. To address this gap, we apply Daniel Daly’s ethical framework of virtuous and vicious structures (Daly 2021; The structures of virtue and vice. Georgetown University Press, Washington) to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ 2000 pastoral letter, ‘Water Is Life’ (https://cbcponline.net/water-is-life/). Through this ethical structural analysis, we clarify the letter’s implicit critique of governance failures and demonstrate how Daly’s framework deepens understanding of the moral causality embedded in water systems. Findings reveal how structures such as privatization, regulatory fragmentation, and weak enforcement function as ‘vicious’ by undermining justice and human flourishing. The study evolves into a theo-ethical structural analysis as it advocates designing ‘virtuous’ water systems rooted in ecological conversion, as envisioned in the Laudato S i ´ and Laudate Deum . This approach advances ethical water governance by integrating structural ethics, Catholic social thought, and climate justice, with broader implications for Asia-Pacific policy discourse.