CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Bernadette Lawas, 44, has lived in Kinawe, Libona, Bukidnon, for most of her life, where reliable, healthy drinking water has always been an issue. Drinking water is scarce and expensive commodity in this part of the region.
Barangays Gango, Kinawe, and Kili-og in Libona, Bukidnon is just mere 15 minutes or 12 kilometers South of Cagayan de Oro, the capital city of Northern Mindanao, and yet Libona struggled to provide water systems for the three barangays which borders this city.
Though the three barangays have an established water system, keeping them running with safe drinking water is a complicated task and its water system program lacks the finances and technical capacity.
Residents in Kinawe complained that they were paying a fixed rate of 150 pesos per month but there is no water coming out of its pipes.
“We have to stop paying because there is no water,” Kinawe resident Cecile Nacario.
For Lawas, she had no memory of water flowing freely from their faucets, “We have learned to survive by harvesting rainwater for our daily needs and it’s not enough,” Lawas said.
Ireneo Nacario, father of Cecile, now in his 80’s said that they have to make do of what little rainwater they can get for their farm.
For residents in the GKK area, ordering one cubic meter or five drums of freshwater from mobile suppliers would cost 600 pesos. In contrast, the Cagayan de Oro City Water District only charges 9.40 pesos per cubic meter.
The GKK area is vast flat farmlands dotted with orchards, ranches, poultries. Since the national highway had been cemented in the last 10 years, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 10 eyes the GKK barangays to be part of the Metro Cagayan de Oro growth area.
Its vast flatlands is prime for residential property development owing to its proximity to this city, a growing metropolis of 800 thousand residents.
Libona Vice Mayor Leonardo Genesis Calingasan said that in his stint as mayor for three terms, the thought of raising funds for the water system for the three barangays seems like an insurmountable task.
“The LGU cannot undertake the immense challenge of creating a water system, we give our full support for this project,” Calingasan said.
Calingasan said that such a project, which requires high technical people, couldn’t be afforded by their town which relies heavily on agriculture.
Since the improvement of the national highway, investors in the farm tourism sector have come but some are forced to face the reality of having little to no access of water. Some big investors have drilled their own deep well, with one investor saying that they have paid up to more than a million pesos to hit the water table underground.
MINDANAO COOPERATIVES WATER SERVICES FEDERATION
To cater to the needs of its residents, the Mindanao Cooperative Water Services Federation (MWCS) a “super coop” created by at least 16 cooperatives from this city has pooled its resources to fund the investment needed to create a sustainable water system.
MCWS’s project will cater to 12,500 households in the three barangays and Barangay Indahag in this city. The four barangays are in the highlands which makes it difficult for water systems operate.
MCWS has raised 184 million pesos to establish the water supply system, an amount that the local government of Libona will not be able to raise to undertake such a project.
First Community Cooperative (FICCO) treasurer and MCWS administrator Isagani Daba said that MCWS has earmarked 184 million to create the water supply system.
MCWS is barely a decade-old “super coop” that ventured into the bulk water supply for Cotabato Water District and established a new water district in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur.
“We are done in those far-flung projects, now it is time to answer the needs of the residents near our city,” Daba said.
The IGKK (Indahag, Gango, Kinawe, kili-og) water system is projected to start its full water supply operations by September this year. “First, we will supply bulk water to the existing micro water systems of the GKK barangays, those who do not have access to these water systems, we will supply them ourselves,” Daba said.
Daba assured that MCWS will help the existing micro barangay water system but at the same time, will connect residents for sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Juan Eduardo Lasmarias manager of Kyogojo Engineering Services Cooperative said that their cooperative would operate, manage and run the water system.
Hanabana Construction and Equipment Corporation (HCEC) will do the engineering development from water intake, filtration, piping, and treatment plant.
The treatment plant is located inside the touristy River Valley Ranch, a lush verdant forest situated at 430 meters above sea level.
HCEC president Neil Bryan Oraiz said that the 10 thousand cubic meters per day they are going to supply would be sourced from the two rivers that pass through River Valley Ranch.
“The water flow here is about 50 thousand cubic meters per day and we are going to get 10 thousand cubic meters to supply the residents,” Oraiz said.
