Disputed Sagada waterworks project and a tankful of questions

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Bad engineering design is obviously the reason why the waters of Boasaw  are not reaching  Poblacion supposedly  brought by the P36 million project Boasaw  Irrigation System and Construction of  Tanulong  Tribe Irrigators Association Water Services.

This was made known in two previous inspections  Jan. 21 and June 23 this year attended by  the implementor Local Government Unit of this town,  Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP) and northern barangay folks.

And with the rains continuously pouring and  Boasaw waters  not yet in town,  something is perceived to be wrong with the design of said waterworks that started  mid year of 2012 and still not fully functional.

         Additional 230 pipes, 4 inch in diameter  are up to be installed along a 1.5 kilometer  waterline  towards  the distribution tank at Palidan, Bangaan hoping  to bring this whooping million peso   project to desired  15 beneficiary barangays in town.   The  230 pipes  shall continue a  two lane  4 inch diameter  pipes  earlier installed on a two- kilometer pipeline.

        CHARMP  supervisor  Beverly Pekas is hopeful  the  new installation shall  bring the desired 13.5 liters per second to the Palidan tank.

         For an “experimental” project as former  Mayor Eduardo Latawan himself claimed during the January 21 inspection,  this P36 million waterworks with a 320 day  project duration was awarded to Cotabato-based  FF JJ Construction  tells the assumption that the  project went on a  costly tryout of a  water joy ride which in the end is left to the locals to figure out for themselves what the problem is why the waters  are  not reaching their faucets.

          Otherwise assumption is that the project design identified the necessary fittings but that these may not have been  implemented such as a ‘skyline’  pipe installation  which cropped up during the June 23 inspection-meeting.

Breaker tanks

With waters that don’t reach town, sources here say there is need to add pressure so water shall move faster  to maximum  capacity from a  6 inch pipe connected from the main source flowing to a concreted open canal on to an 8 inch diameter pipe T-split in two 4 inch diameter tubes.

 Thus the need for  breaker tanks as  CHARMP engineer  Filemon Salvador said during the  Jan. 21 inspection this year.

         Two breaker  tanks however  were not installed Salvador said as LGU authorities informed him that a ‘water drum’ to test  the desired breaker tank did not do any much better to bring pressure for water to flow to the distribution tank.

 So the installation of 230 pipes perceived to  add more pressure for water to reach the Palidan watertank.  Tanulong  barangay captain Ben Ayawan is  hopeful installation of the two lane 4 inch diameter pipes shall bring more waters to the distribution tank.

          Asked what if the 230 pipes shall still  not bring the desired 13.5 seconds per liter to the Palidan tank,  Salvador said the desired breaker tanks shall be installed. 

200% plus slippage rate

The question of why  these 230 pipes are installed  30 months after the project duration says design and implementation is a failure with the hankered Boasaw waters not having reached  this water-needy  tourist town accented by a number of business establishments catering to  tourist accommodations at the central business area at the Poblacion.

 And  more so after  the reported ‘completion’ of the project  by  outgoing mayor Eduardo Latawan to then Senator  Teofisto Guingona  during the senator’s  visit to Sagada January  7 this year, further asks the question ‘ so where is the water’.

          A slippage rate of 200% plus obviously shown by  these new installations since the local government unit of  Sagada  awarded  in December 2011  the project  to Cotabato based FFJJ Construction   over  other three bidders  tells the winning  contractor- is either a fake or  an expert in waterworks stalling  the people of Sagada for not having delivered the desired  waters till now.

          Northern folks are seen working on the waterworks instead which creates the impression that they sub contracted the project much as FFJJ men are not seen working on said  project, folks observe. To think that the waterworks is still not fully and functionally complete makes the said construction  company accountable  for such incompetence  along with the implementor LGU-Sagada then led by former mayor  Eduardo Latawan and CHARMP.

Incompetence that is left to the people of  Sagada to shoulder, grin and grumble much as no one is legally complaining except a citizen from Baguio City who filed  a corruption case at the Office of the Ombudsman against Latawan relative to the 36 million  peso waterworks project.  

An additional P2 million was sourced from the Bottom Up Budgetting funds in 2013 to  finance the purchase of  pipes to reach  eastern and  Poblacion barangay after the Sangguniang Bayan in 2012 chaired by then vice Mayor Richard Yodong asked for the redesign of the  project  considering technical issues including the stopping of the pipeline only at sitio Kapinitan  some two kilometers from the main town.

The  amount of  P18 million from  Guingona’s  priority development assistance funds  (PDAF) has been allotted  for the  Boasaw waterworks to reach Poblacion Sagada.  This fund served as the counterpart of the LGU  to match another P18 million from CHARMP for said  waterworks project.

Frustration

Exasperation is noted from all quarters concerned.

Constituents  from 15 barangays are meant to benefit from the dual waterworks project to serve both irrigation waters to Tanulong and domestic water supply to Poblacion and eastern barangays. 

But people in the central town say Boasaw waters only reach the  munisipyo and the Rural Health Clinic and a very few households for reported illegal connections.

Forwarded  during the May 2016 electoral candidates forum is the assumption that northern folks might be cutting off the pipelines preventing the waters to reach the Poblacion area.  

Northern-based candidates earlier said even they themselves want the Boasaw waters  to benefit everyone.

Tanulong  folks are not satisfied  due to  decreased  pipeline  in diameter at 4 inch instead of  5 inch contrary to previous agreement.

Those in  south central Ambasing where a water tank is installed say Boasaw waters have not yet reached the village. And so with the eastern barangays where folks here only tasted  the  waters  for two months in the summer of 2014  then disappeared till now.

Exasperation  is further noted with publicized reports that  the Boasaw  waters  reached town  during the  visit of Guingona January 7 this year where he was named Gatan by the LGU  with the conduct of  ‘apoy’ thanksgiving ceremonial services that waters arrived.

Indeed, gurgling  waters were seen spouting from the four inch pipe near the ceremonial site at sitio Anga-ang with waters not seen spouting anymore  a few days after the ceremony was over.

Contrary to reports however say Boasaw waters for domestic use have not yet reached  the town’s desired beneficiaries except to the irrigation canal leading to the Tanulong  ricefields.   

Domestic waters

But irrigation  is not the only use for the project. The   project   Improvement of  Boasaw  Irrigation System and Construction of  Tanulong  Tribe Irrigators Association Water Services calls for the supply of  domestic waters to  the Poblacion area .

The  waters should these reach Poblacion  shall be metered and  the water users to be paying fees to the Tanulong  Tribe Irrigators Association who shall ‘exclusively manage’ the waterworks based on the  2011 understanding among the Tanulong folks and as witnessed by Pidlisan  elders and officials together with former Mayor Latawan.

So  the northern Pidlisan folks are as anxious as letting the waters come to town.  This,  Tanulong  barangay captain Ayawan made known  during the January 21 inspection  and  during the  recent  June 23 inspection of the  waterworks followed by a meeting among  LGU and CHARMP officers. 

The  agreement

According to the 2011 agreement, the distribution tank gives off  a five inch pipe of irrigation waters  to the Tanulong ricefields  before the project was accepted by the Tanulong folks from where the waters come from to pursue.

It is only when there are ‘excess waters’ that waters shall come to the Poblacion area. Excess waters mean the ricefields are in their  fallow period  during  rainy months  when the rice plants are not  in need of waters after harvest time and before the planting season.

Excess waters as noted  in said agreement means only when Tanulong ricefields are in fallow during rainy months that waters are directed to the domestic water supply; and in times where ricefields continuously need water that only one hour is allowed every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the week to be released to the domestic water system.

In the distribution tank are two compartments. The first tank  leads to the  ricefields of Tanulong which when filled shall drop to the second tank for the domestic waters of Poblacion. But reports surface that excess waters don’t  flow  to the next compartment but through an opening  just above the floor line of the tank. 

Turnover

Salvador said  turnover shall be done when the project is completed. This may happen in the next  few months he said. Though Ayawan said  turnover shall be accepted by the community of Tanulong when the project is  fully functional.

            Along with the project turnover is the turnover of  nearly  P3 million remaining  funds including 10% retention of the  P18 million from CHARMP. Guingona’s 18 million PDAF has been fully spent by the LGU in the waterworks construction including what should be left of retention funds pending completion of the project. Barangay captain Ayawan said the turnover shall be done when the waters are fully  reaching the town’s 15 barangay beneficiaries and Tanulong’s irrigation canals.

On July 7 the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) who poured in funds for the Boasaw waterworks through CHARMP was due to inspect  the waterworks project.