P1.2 billion set for poverty projects along Magat River

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY – Poverty alleviation projects in numerous communities along the Magat River in Ifugao and Isabela will be enhanced following approval of a P1.2 billion loan from the Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA), a top environment official in the Cordillera said.

Clarence Baguilat, regional executive director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said among the projects to be implemented in the beneficiary communities include reforestation, livelihood and infrastructure which are geared towards improving the living condition of identified poor families in the said areas.

 Magat River and its watershed areas are the source of water that runs the turbines of the 360-megawatt Magat dam located between the provinces of Ifugao and Isabela, particularly in the town of Ramon, Isabela.

“The forest management project for the Magat river was a proposal of the agency that was submitted to JICA for funding ten years ago,” Baguilat said, adding that “we were surprised to receive a positive response from the funding agency ten years later, thus, we have to work double time in order to evaluate and revalidate the projects that were previously lined up for the program.”

 According to him, around 20,000 hectares of watersheds along the Magat River will be rehabilitated in the next ten years with the purpose of providing adequate source of livelihood for local residents apart from providing them with sufficient skills and knowledge on how to significantly improve their living condition after the conclusion of the project.

Baguilat said the project will traverse three provinces, particularly Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela while the other tributaries of the Cagayan river, specifically in Quirino and other parts of Isabela were also provided funds for their long-term forest management programs purposely to bring back the vibrance of the river systems in Northern Luzon to serve as potential source of livelihood of people living in different communities.

 “We have already mobilized the corresponding personnel to oversee the full blast implementation of the numerous projects that were already re-validated and given the green light,” Baguilat stressed, adding that local officials of Ifugao and Isabela were elated to hear the report on the approval of the holistic forest management program that had been pending with the funding agency for a period of ten years.

“We consider the program as a big boost to our unrelenting efforts to preserve and protect the state of environment in the Cordillera because it is still the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon,” Baguilat said, citing that project implementers need the support of local officials and the stakeholders in order to succeed in the realization of the program’s goals and objectives.

By the end of the 10-year project, Baguilat believes people living in the host and neighboring communities of the Magat river shall have established their permanent sources of livelihood that will help significantly improve their living condition and also improve the forests and watersheds that will sustain abundance of water supply for the Magat River purposely for domestic, irrigation, agricultural and industrial uses.