Eastern Visayas waterless LGUs avail of DILG’s Salintubig project

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February 22, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Three local government units in Eastern Visayas have availed of the Salintubig project of the Department of Interior and Local government, Ms. Ofelia Pido, focal person for Salintubig in the Region informed.

Ms. Pido identified the three waterless municipalities as San Isidro in the province of Leyte, Laoang in Northern Samar, and Taft in Eastern Samar.

The three municipalities are the recipients for 2011, Ms. Pido said, and they have yet to comply with all the requirements in order to avail of the P10 million water system project.

Ms. Pido informed that a coordination meeting was conducted among DILG, DOH and the LGU beneficiaries last week in order to facilitate the fast tracking of the submission of the requirements including the Feasibility Plans and the Program of Work.

The said LGUs pledged that they will complete the requirements in March and by June, faucets must already be in place at the waterless municipalities.

Ms. Pido added that for the year 2012, the LGU beneficiaries have been identified by the DILG. She however, did not identify the LGUs as they have not been informed yet.

These beneficiaries will undergo workshop in the preparation of feasibility studies.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in December 2010 was entered into by the representatives of the DILG, Department of Health (DOH) and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) for the implementation for water supply or Salintubig (Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat) program.

Under the agreement the DILG will be responsible for the capacity development requirements of the LGUs and water service providers for the planning, development, management of the water utility services of the Salintubig Program.

The province, municipality, and agencies which will implement the water supply projects will do the feasibility studies and engineering designs, civil works construction, and management of the facilities.

NAPC will conduct the monitoring and evaluation and will submit the reports to the Office of the President.

DOH will be in charge in the implementation of the infrastructure component including the review, approval, and funding of the water supply systems.

The Salintubig project will provide a water supply system in the municipalities and also to waterless barangays, health centers, and resettlement areas.

For 2011, the Program covers 115 waterless municipalities, 62 waterless barangays, 55 waterless health centers, and 24 waterless resettlement sites, using the P 1.5 Billion Funds released to DBM.

For 2012, the Program will be transferred to DILG and will cover 150 municipalities, 43 barangays, 46 health centers, and 12 resettlement sites.

Under the Salintubig Program, there are two thematic areas. The first is the poorest/water-less barangays with high incidence of water borne diseases and resettlement area, and the second is the Rural Health Centers without access to safe water.

For the water-less barangays, the beneficiaries in Region 8 is Bobon, Northern Samar which will be given P6 million; San Jose, San Vicente and Mondragon, all in Northern Samar, which will be given P2.5 million each, after their papers are processed.

Also to benefit in the same thematic area are Limasawa, Southern Leyte with P5 million, Maasin City with P2.5 million, and Calbiga, Samar with P2.5 million.