PAGADIAN CITY – The country’s 455 waterless municipalities will have their own water
supply system by 2016, according to Ms. Fe Crisilla Banluta, Program Manager,
Water Supply Sanitation Unit (WSSU) of the Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG).
Speaking in a forum
held here Tuesday on human rights-based local water and sanitation governance,
Ms. Banluta said potable water systems were already given to 36 of the 455
waterless towns in the country under the Sagana and Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat
(SaLinTubig) [Sufficient and Safe Water for All] project.
These 36 towns belong to the pilot
regions comprising regions 2, 5,9,10 and 13.
The SaLinTubig project gets funding
support from the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDGF) 1919
whose goal is to help the poor families and their waterless communities in the
country gain and sustain access to clean and safe water.
In implementing the program, the DILG
partners with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), National
Water Resources Board (NWRB) and the local government units (LGUs) including
the local communities and local water service providers.
In Zamboanga Peninsula, the
municipalities with ongoing SaLinTubig-funded projects are Tungawan, Alicia,
Ipil and Payao of Zamboanga Sibugay, Midsalip, Lapuyan and Tigbao of Zamboanga
del Sur and Katipunan, Kalawit and Sindangan of Zamboanga del Norte.
The forum also tackled the five Cs
plaguing poor communities, namely: corruption, climate change, culture,
conflict and weak communities.
Ms. Banluta also reported that 122,000
households from depressed town in 12 provinces have now access to safe water.
To ensure sustainability of SaLinTubig
projects, citizens’ monitors would be organized in the communities to serve as
integrity watch, enlisting support from people’s organizations, religious
leaders and other stakeholders.
Attending the forum were
representatives from the municipalities of Katipunan and Kalawit of Zamboanga
del Norte, Tungawan, Alicia, Ipili and Payao of Zamboanga Sibugay, Midsalip,
Lapuyan and Tigbao of Zamboanga del Sur, DILG-IX personnel headed by Regional
Director Paisal Abutazil and local media practitioners.
The fund for MDGF 1919 was established
in 2006 by the Spanish government. (PIA9)