Funded from Sen. Guingona’s PDAF: Abra execs demand stop to Sagada water project

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province – A project funded from the Priority Development Funds of Sen. TeopistoGuingona to bring water to this tourist town is being protested by officials and folks of adjacent Tubo town in Abra.  

A meeting was held Sept. 9 in Baguio City between local  government officials of  the municipalities of  Tubo, Sagada  including Besao town also of Mountain Province with officers of Cordillera Highland  Agricultural  Resource Management  Program  (CHARMP) to settle the problem

Tubo officials and  elders demanded that the Boasaw waterworks be suspended considering there was no “free prior informed consent” among concerned communities as required by law.

All parties agreed to return to their communities to get the stand first of the people on the matter.  

Implementation of the P36 million waterworks project included construction of a 140 meter tunnel to let passage of a 6-inch diameter pipe from the Boasaw Creek to reach 15 barangays of Sagada. 

Tubo elder Francisco Cayasen said during recent meeting that construction of the pipe tunnel did not observe FPIC from the people of Tubo.

The improvement of  Buasaw irrigation system was funded with P18 million from the PDAF) of Guingona  and another P18 million from CHARMP.

It was awarded to Cotabato-based FFJJ Construction and programmed for construction in February 2012. 

To make concerned LGUs be informed of  Tubo’s sentiments, Tubo officials  passed a resolution  dated  June 26, 2012  protesting the  CHARMP project that draw waters from the Buasaw creek  leading  to Sagada -  irrigation  canals for  Tanulong  and  Madongo rice fields and the main town’s  domestic water supply.

Former Sangguniang Bayan councilor Camilo Dalingay of Tubo who personally delivered the resolution to Sagada Mayor Eduardo Latawan, said the recent September meeting should have been prevented if Latawan kept his promise and visited Tubo, June last year.

NCIP regional director Sancho Buquing in a separate interview said issues- social and technical, raised by Tubo officials and elders should have been resolved through FPIC process.

Tubo mayor Guilbert Ballangan said people of Tubo would be deprived of the usual water volume going to seven affected barangays of the town with the full implementation of the project.

Elder Francis Cayasen said an earlier agreement between Tanulong and Tubo noted the latter’s consent to have the water flow diverted to Tanulong “until the TuboMaeng tribe does not need it.”

The water naturally flows to Tubo and the direct watershed is common grounds of Tanulong, Tubo and the adjacent barangay of Agawa, Besao. 

Cayasen said the release of water to Sagada is not the issue much as Tubo allowed waters to flow to Sagada in the 1950s.

Tubo’s concern now was the decrease of water supply, he said.

Sagada councilor Eduardo Umaming raised questions on volume of discharges of the Boasaw creek during the rainy and summer seasons of the year.   

A visit to the site has yet to be scheduled by representatives from Sagada and Tubo.

Lack of consultations on the project was earlier aired within the Sagada local government unit with protest from the former Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada annulling their authorization for Latawan to enter into an agreement with CHARMP due to claims that the project ends at sitio Capinitan and servicing only three northern barangays instead of the intended destination to 15 Poblacion and eastern barangays.

Among questions on technical inconsistencies, the former legislative body of the town noted discrepancies in number of proposed tanks to identified sites in the feasibility study.

Questions led the leadership of  Sagada LGU to ask for a five month extension for CHARMP to thresh out issues before the 13-month project contract could start August last year.

With Tubo’s June 2012 resolution not addressed by the current Sagada leadership, the new leadership of Tubo forwarded another resolution to CHARMP dated July 2013 to “please stop any CHARMP assisted project that draws water from the Buasaw Creek”.  

Said appeal was eventually addressed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) who facilitated the September 9 meeting. 

“We are the ones at a disadvantage here”, Tubo mayor Guilbert Ballangan said when Latawan appealed to Tubo officials and elders not to suspend the project.

Urged by the facilitator, a one on one talk between Latawan and Ballangan led to the agreement of both municipal mayors that the waterworks project shall continue and that other issues be discussed especially on political boundaries.

Nevertheless, despite the mayors’ agreement, it would be subject to consultation with their respective constituents.

Separate talks were agreed upon between Sagada and Tubo officials and elders and respective constituents.

Separate talks were also planned for Besao and Tubo.

Besao sources irrigation and domestic water to Agawa barangay with waters flowing from the same diverted flow going to Tanulong.

An excess of the waters going to Tanulong flows to the lower Besao dam with waters leading to Agawa.   

Boasaw watershed is a common resource ground of Tubo, Besao and Sagada which is also hunting grounds. 

Former mayor Thomas Killip and current consultant of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Peace Process (OPAPP) forwarded the need for guidelines to be drawn up on collective watershed use, sharing and management by adjacent communities accessing this.

Sagada Indigenous Peoples representative Jaime Dugao forwarded the need for communities making use of the natural resource to conduct reforestation activities and keep the waters flowing.

The Boasao project has only reached 30% completion as of September this year.

CHARMP engineer Felimon Salvador assigned to monitor the water works  noted some 65% to 70% slippage rate of the 13 month project since project was programmed to start February 2012.

As of now, the P36 million Boasaw waterworks is  in the stage of laying out pipelines from the main source to the 15 barangays of Sagada after the recent completion of the 140 meter tunnel allowing shortened passage  of the water pipes from the Boasaw creek, preventing circuitous pipelines around the mountain where the waters flow.

Project was earlier suspended following protest from the resolution of the 2010-2013 SB of Sagada annulling their authorization allowing  Latawan to enter into memorandum of agreement with CHARMP.

The SB claimed the project plan ended only at sitio Capinitan servicing only three northern barangays and not reaching other 12 Poblacion and eastern barangays of Sagada.

Among technical inconsistencies, the legislative body noted discrepancies in number of proposed tanks as to identified sites, and utilization instead of more economical and durable materials such as plastic pipes.

With the resolution of issues raised including logistics of where to get additional funds to let pipes reach intended barangays and checking other questioned technical plans, implementation was moved to August 2012 by CHARMP following request by the LGU to CHARMP to extend date of implementation.

Not until Tubo questioned the project June of 2012 with the construction of the 140 meter tunnel towards the end of 2012 noted the momentary stop of the tunneling activities which resumed early 2013.