PAGADIAN CITY – A group of Municipal Planning and Development Coordinators (MPDCs),
Municipal Engineers (MEs), Municipal Health Officers (MHOs), Sangguniang Bayan
(SB) members heading the committee on appropriations and representatives from
water service providers from 10 selected municipalities in the region converged
here recently for a one-day learning
session on human rights-based local water and sanitation governance.
In a press statement
issued by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 9 through its
information officer, Lemuel Mejares, the activity was designed to address the
“big Cs in water” comprising “corruption, capacity-building, culture and
conduct of localized human rights-based water governance interventions.”
Invited resources
speakers were coming from the DILG-Water and Sanitation Services Unit (WSSU)
with Ms.Fe Banluta, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with Ms. Jennifer
Ginete, and National Water Resources Board (NWRB) with Ms. Belen Juarez.
In his welcome
remarks, DILG-9 Finance and Administrative Chief Fiorello G. Elizaga
underscored the importance of holding such an activity wherein the participants
share their best practices and knowledge products that can be adopted or
replicated by the provinces/municipalities in implementing their water and
sanitation programs. Through this activity, the participants would also know
the challenges confronting the local water governance as well as the approaches
to address them.
Also present in the
forum was the “Integrity Watch for Water Anti-Corruption Group (IWAG), a third
party monitoring group based in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, sharing certain
experiences in the implementation of water projects under the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG).
Highlighting the
activity was the “Talakayang Tubig,” a talk show participated in by the
resource persons and DILG-9 Regional Director Paisal O. Abutazil, tackling
issues and concerns relative to the implementation of water governance.
“There is so much
focus on infrastructure development for water but sometimes we forget that the
soft component of the software is equally important, if not more important. For
example, projects that fall by the wayside often lack social preparation and,
therefore, no sense of ownership is generated among the people the project
seeks to serve. That is why I look at capacity development both as a tool and
strategy in the development of water systems and in local governance,” said
Director Abutazil in the talk show.
Moreover, there were
also sharing of learning experiences in addressing cultural issues in local
water and sanitation programs with the municipalities of Kalawit in Zamboanga
del Norte and Tungawan in Zamboanga Sibugay and the IWAG as presenters.
Knowledge products
such as audio-visual films/compact discs on water stories, communication
toolkit, IEC materials and others were distributed to the participants to guide
them in communication planning.
The activity ended
with the filling of “Tubig-Yaman” jar with their commitment and support to the
human rights-based local water governance.
Aside from Kalawit
and Tungawan towns, participants from the municipalities of Ipil, Zamboanga
Sibugay, Lapuyan, Misalip and Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur, and Katipunan and
Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte also came to join the forum. (FPG/DIL9/PIA9)