The seemingly never coming waters of Boasaw

HAPPY WEEKEND

By Gina Dizon 

SAGADA, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE - Since  2011 when the  PhP36 million Boasaw water fund has been bidded and awarded by the Municipal government of Sagada to Cotabato -based FFJJ construction with a 320 day contract period, water has not yet reached the Poblacion area where it is intended to reach. That means 700 days  has passed  the  duration  of  the  contract period and the project is still 97%  finished.

Water to first recipients of the water project has not been coming to  the eastern  barangays anymore since July this year, residents say.  The  water connection here has been  installed March  this year with  eastern  villagers  enjoying the Boasaw waters as early as April of 2014 and the Mayor of the town as the first recipient of the waterworks  project  February this year. Must be that water has decreased.

So I came to know  from a Tanulong resident and barangay official  who said water to their rice fields have decreased. Since irrigation is the major  intention of the  P36 million fund,  a big bulk of the Boasaw waters  go to the rice fields of  Tanulong  in this project called  Buasao irrigation  system and construction of  Tanulong tribe irrigators  association water services .

The volume of water  has slowed down seemingly along with climate change  and looking up  at the  P36 million water fund seemingly has no  answer to the water problem  of water- needy tourist town of Sagada.

The  Memorandum of Agreement  among  leaders and elders of Tanulong and Mayor Eduardo Latawan inked three years ago  identified a 6 inch opening to be connected from upstream waters  leading to the ricefields of Tanulong  and excess  waters  with only  one hour flow every  three days  of the week for domestic waters of Poblacion Sagada. Excess waters emphasized.

Said MOA was  witnessed by  four elders from Madongo and Tanulong,  12 kagawad of  Tanulong  and Madongo, secretaries and SK chairmen of both barangays  and Sagada Mayor Latawan.

But the Tanulong  elder said the agreement was not followed with only a four inch pipe in diameter reaching their ricefields. And so the reason why waters to their ricefields is ‘kurang’ as in less than what should be, the Tanulong elder said.  

As it is, a four inch pipe in diameter goes to  the irrigation canal of Tanulong and a 2 inch pipe going to the  eastern villages from the tank in Palidan, Bangaan. A strict agreement  only allowed a six inch pipe in diameter to be  connected from the main source with adjoining Agawa watching.  

A tank has already been  built  in Antadao to serve the  eastern  areas. A tank is being  built now for  Patay  Poblacion and a tank already built in Bitin, Ambasing.  The controversial tank  atop Mobtoc Hill   built on a site where it was not intended to be remains in a quandary of how it shall be  dealt with.

Understandably the tank at Mobtoc is going to service  Demang and the adjoining households. Demang not being a direct beneficiary of CHARMP is considered not to be a direct recipient of the Boasaw waters and so with  adjacent Dagdag.  

And so following this argument, the first to be serviced at eastern  Sagada should be  Tetep-an because  Tetep-an Norte and Tetep-an Sur are CHARMP beneficiaries. But it is not the case because  Antadao  locating the house of Latawan is first serviced . CHARMP has to explain the confusion.

Anyway, pipes have been laid out and seemingly are useless without water to pass through. The water  supposedly to go to eastern areas  the past four months dont’ see water now gushing forth since August this year. And this is October  when the rains are still coming. 

Will there be water that will come forth  to Patay Poblacion down to Ambasing with this decreased water supply from Boasaw.

There is a need as has been emphasized during the watershed  summit  of May 2011 held in Sagada to set up centralized tanks  that will contain water from various  sources  reaching  households and commercial establishments  and not necessarily  rely on the water coming from Boasaw.

***

There are currently  28 water sources  for  Patay- Tanap, Pitak Baka, Danonoy-Mission, Namsong, Lasig, Pilaw;Demang – Todey, Luwagan, Kalimagong; Dagdag-  Pannan, Pukan  and other shared sources servicing Patay;  Ambasing-Kengangud, Matikem, Bitin, Kengakak.  South central with 6 water sources – Inuman, Andepyas;  eastern Sagada with 27 sources- Ampo, Owikan, Mabanway, Kayapong,  Ububan, among others;and southern Sagada  with 12 sources- Pungas, Todey, Lamagan, and water-rich northern with 23 sources with its many sources including Boasaw.

Households currently have a  system with neighbours and relatives sharing in one water spring.  Here in Dagdag  for one, a  spring  services 12 households who have alternate schedules of two hours each. Other neighbours  and  relatives do the same in other water sources.  Sometimes excess water gushes forth from the tanks and spills on the ground.

Other  suggestions talk of  already established water sources to stay as is, and  other water sources from  government funded water projects to be  pooled in clustered areas.

And so in lower Patay are several  households  sharing water sourced from Tanap  while water at  a tourist 

homestay is abundantly  pouring forth making some  disgruntled  residents of Lower Patay  pour forth nasty comments  in a local paper  referring to the 5 million peso water project.

This  P5 million water partaken by  a few individuals including  inns continuously raise questions of how  public funds meant for the public good  has landed for  the  consumption of only a few individuals  of  water-needy Sagada Poblacion.

Said  P5 million fund was then given as a grant from public funds when the town was then declared as a  Special Development  Area  following  the declaration of  Sagada as a peace zone in 1990.

***

Back to the stalled  Boasaw waterworks. It is now October of 2014 and the waters of Boasaw are still as hesitant to reach the intended beneficiaries of  Poblacion Sagada. The feasibility study sent to CHARMP  listed 15 barangays of Sagada with the  exception of four southern  barangays  and so  CHARMP  allotted P18 million to match the  P18 million sourced from  Senator Teofisto Guingona.

It’s now  nearing elections 2016 and  Guingona has nothing to be proud of with not even a drop having  reached Poblacion .

Following  implementation of the  project contract with FFJJ Construction on February 2012 reached snags with  questions from the Sangguniang Bayan why the  project  design does not reach  intended Poblacion areas and only reach  Kapinitan  some two kilometers away from the main town including other  issues to redesign the project  instead.

Following the consultation, Mayor Latawan said other funds  amounting to 2 million pesos shall be  sourced from the Bottoms Up Planning program  from the National Alleviation Poverty Commission (NAPC)  funds  to expense  pipes  and reach intended beneficiaries Poblacion Patay, Ambasing and the  eastern barangays.

In response to the  technical questions posed  by  the SB in 2012, a request for extension of the project reached CHARMP which initiated project  implementation August of 2012.

The technical delay of  project implementation included  gaps on conducting  consultation with  neighboring villages who have a stake on the Boasaw waters particularly Tubo, Abra. And so it was on September  2013 that a consultation conducted by CHARMP invited representatives from NCIP and from  concerned   representatives from  adjoining  Boasaw  areas- Sagada, Besao and Abra to thresh out the problem of Tubo  who forwarded  that  consultation was not  done by Sagada before it  constructed its  water tunnel at the  questioned  Boasaw site. 

It was learned  that  a councilor from Tubo visited  Latawan  in Sagada obviously to talk about the problem with the understanding  that Latawan shall visit officials in Tubo. Latawan however did  not go to Tubo as promised till the issue was brought  to the wider regional level for a simple question of consultation or FPIC that  should have  been  resolved  the  earliest time possible.  Construction was again stalled due to the issues raised by Tubo.

This, and other issues on the  implementation of the waterworks project including water tapping  by the  Mayor, the slow building of tanks including the illegal building of a tank at Mobtoc supposedly to reach households at Demang and adjoining households. And the rest is history with Boasaw waters whatever.