Sagada folks question Church’s water rights

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- - Water was not a problem then in Sagada, Public faucets were installed in strategic spots at Tangeb for water fetchers of Dagdag barangay, at the backyard of St Theodore’s Hospital and at the central part of the Poblacion for nearby households’ access. Some neighbors too had water straight from their private sources so neighbors fetch water from them.

Water was supplied by the “Mission” to refer to the Church of St Mary the Virgin where the church sourced the waters from Danonoy. While the Mission waterworks immediately served the Hospital, it also served the residents. There are some 200 subscribers sourcing their waters from the Mission. The farthest household in Daoangan where the Mission waters reach is located some 300 meters away from home.

We sourced our water from the Mission. Yet some years passed and the waters were going, going, going gone and it stopped somewhere else. Waters were not coming anymore since many years ago. At the same time, the businesses of the church especially St Joseph Rest House, the restaurant and the Centrum proliferated. At the same time, individual businesses including hotels, restos and private water services proliferated. At the same time too, pipes and many more pipes of individual households got connected to the main line from the reservoir at Lallal-ay. No wonder, water stopped.

The public faucets were cut off. Gone was the public spout at Tangeb. The public faucet at the Hospital was fenced off. The household water fetchers in Dagdag and other villagers in Patay have to bring spring waters home. At the expense of irrigation water for rice fields, waters have to reach home for domestic use. One household in Dagdag who locates a spring in their private lot supplies water to at least 20 neighbor- households. And so with other households.

Worse, one participant from Demang during the Watershed Summit held last week of May complained that her neighbor brought home waters from a communal spring to his home and lets the waters from his reservoir flow despite the angry mumblings of his neighbors.

Yet, the practice has to stop as village folks are aware of their fields getting dried up. Many a time in their meetings at Tuking, they always said hosing spring waters should stop, farmer Baklangen Mayocyoc said. Even elder Lakay Binas-o of Dagdag said hosing waters out from springs should stop.

The source of food is a major consideration. And so some gardeners and pumayew (rice field farmers) of Dagdag have to stop a hotel establishment from getting the waters naturally meant for ricefields of Bangbangan, gardeners here recalled. Too, pumayew of Mangitong stopped one household from getting the waters in a spring located in his lot, to his home.

History repeats itself. Here, among gardeners and rice field owners located below Kentaagen spring don’t favor the act of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines piping the waters out from their natural flow. The spring waters provide irrigation for gardeners’ fields and rice fields located downstream at Lasig and Penged.

In their June 2011 petition forwarded to Bishop Brent Alawas of Bontoc-based EDNP and Rev. Prinzel Balitog of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, some 200 gardeners, pumayew and umili of Sagada forwarded that the church stop piping out waters from Kentaagen. The EDNP bought from Poblacion resident Albert Bangsail a 1,000 square meter lot where spring waters flow, and built a catchment and intake tank. The waters were meant to supply St Joseph rest House, St Theodore’s Hospital and St Mary’s School.

Yet, gardeners and the pumayew are not happy and don’t favor the act of the church. While there was no consultation with affected sectors on the project before the installation of the tank and the mini dam, the very act of piping waters out from its natural flow denies them of water for their gardens and ricefields.

The question leads to who has prior and priority rights over the water. Inan Agwiking who has a ricefield at Penged said the waters should flow to where it naturally flows and where it has always flowed , further elaborating that waters here at Kentaagen flow to Mangitong where a number of ricefields are located.

Sagada is basically a farming community. Though Poblacion residents – hotel and restaurant owners, souvenir shopkeepers and tourist guides - source their livelihood from tourism. The Mission’s problem is that waters from Danonoy are not enough, Padi Balitog said.

It’s a water problem in the tourist town of Sagada. More businesses are mushrooming. More people are increasing and people have more increasing demands on the use of water too. Too, water issues are increasing and old water issues are revived.

This includes the ‘P5 million’ water project in the early ‘90s intended for households of Sagada but only a few getting the benefit. UK-based Birch Lingayo still does not feel good about the Mission having accessed the waters of Danonoy without his grandmother being recognized as owner of lot where spring is located. Birch said his grandmother in the ‘80s sawed off the water pipes twice leading to the Mission’s use because of her apparent frustration against the church. Such vehement anger apparently snubbed whatever terms there might have been between Birch’s grandma and the Mission.

An agreement was that the Mission shall use the waters in the daytime and the payew (ricefields) shall have their share too at night, Poblacion resident Dennis Lopez recalled. Yet, one parishioner sawed off the valve regulating the waters going to the payew and Mission, thus denying irrigation waters to the rice fields located downstream, Lopez said.

Also, some hotel establishments sourced out water intended for rice fields of Todey and Tanulong thus denying rice fields here of irrigation water. A major complaint is that some individuals overflowing waters from their tanks while others don’t have ample supply of water.

Worse is when one blatantly removed the hose from another while still loading water for household use. Participants during the Watershed Summit said waters should be centralized in a public reservoir and metered for distribution.

Meantime, water-broke Sagada hangs on to the hesitance of Tanulong people on giving the Boasaw waters to Sagada Poblacion in the LGU’s P50 million waterworks project. The rice fields and gardens cry out for water. Ipeyas nan gawis!