LIGAO CITY, ALBAY -- Barangay Paulba in this city has the enviable problem of having too much water bursting out of its faucets.
The pressure of its new P6-million rural water system is so strong that they have two three-way public faucets open 24/7, just overflowing with water.
Residents do not mind letting the water go to waste so long as they are able to ease the pressure on their pipes, preventing them from bursting.
Barangay Paulba shares the potable water system with Barangay Allang. Capongolan Spring is the source for the potable water system of both communities. The water system was funded by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) $75-million Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector, or Infres project. It benefits 700 poor households and is being managed by the Barangay Water System Association.
Infres benefits local government units in Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, where over 70 percent of poor Filipinos live. Instead of the national government imposing the project on them, LGUs are empowered to identify and develop projects based on their own design and implementation process. Half of the project funds are provided by ADB, while the national and local governments shoulder the other half, in cash or in kind.
The project has the long-term developmental goal of increasing rural income of residents of poor areas with high agricultural potential by providing roads, communal irrigation systems, and drinking water. The project works on the premise that a major cause of poverty is inadequate rural infrastructure. With irrigation improvements alone, annual income from crop production can increase by at least 80 percent. Some 700,000 people from farm and non-farm households are the beneficiaries.
Typhoon-prone Ligao City is classified as a fourth-class city, and 80 percent of its economy is agriculture-based. There was an urgent need to increase agricultural productivity to get it back to its feet after the destruction caused by typhoons Milenyo and Reming in late 2006.
Previously, Barangay Allang did not have a water supply system, even if it had its own Capongolan Spring as water source. In Paulba, only half of the community had water connection. Now, with the project fully in place, there is so much water that they have to let it gush out of their public faucets 24/7 because of the strong pressure. This means that the water may be easily diverted to benefit two or three other communities.
The total Infres project cost for Ligao City amounted to P187 million. It consisted of 56 kilometers of newly opened and rehabilitated farm-to-market roads in upland and far-flung areas, a P48-million irrigation system running up to almost 35 kilometers for 1,145 hectares of farmland, and the P6-million rural water supply system.
The two irrigation subprojects are two-thirds complete, while the five farm-to-market roads are over 30 percent complete.
The city is way ahead of its peers, considering that most Infres projects in other coverage areas are still in the bidding or pre-implementation stages.
The success of Infres in Ligao City is attributed to the passion and hands-on management style of its lady chief executive, Mayor Linda P. Gonzales, once just a supportive first lady to husband, Fernando, when he was Albay governor from 2002 to 2007.
She took over when her husband stepped out of the political arena.
“When I saw the program, right away I told my planning officer, hindi puwedeng hindi natin ito pasukan (we can’t let this project slip away),” Gonzales said.
“The nice thing about Infres is the empowerment it provides, to the executive, to my staff, to the barangay officials because the consultations are there and continuing,” the mayor explained in Filipino.
She herself led participants who attended the capacity-building workshops and training.
And because the city fulfilled all the requirements and submitted the necessary documentation, it immediately got the go-signal and funding for not just one, but all three subprojects, the most number in any single Infres area and in record time.
“All the barangay captains involved in the Infres projects that we have, lahat sila ay napaka-cooperative at (all of them are so cooperative and) enthusiastic,” she said, acknowledging the combined effort of the city council, the barangay council under Shirley Buban, and her staff to ensure the project’s success.
“The water coming out of the public faucet can be used for drip irrigation, horticulture, organic farming, etc.,” Dennis Arraullo, assistant secretary of the Department of Agriculture, says in Filipino. “We would not have been able to see that if we just looked at the project documents.”
The DA is the executing agency of the project.
“We in the ADB are glad that we were able to respond to the community’s needs and that it has made an impact on their daily lives,” says Marita Magpili-Jimenez who represents the Philippines, among other countries, in the ADB board of directors. “But more than that, we would also like to know how it can also benefit others.”
She encouraged the barangay and the water association to share their water resource with nearby communities for additional income.
“We need the beneficiaries to take the opportunity to better themselves,” she added.
According to Aw Siew-Juan, ADB alternative executive director, members of the ADB board would approve projects, not knowing “how these projects are being implemented on the ground.”
“I am really glad we came and saw how this project is implemented,” the ADB official said. “We are very happy to see there is strong community ownership and participation.”
And for M. Jamilur Rahman, ADB principal project management specialist, the project “is definitely a success story, as far as the achievement of objectives is concerned.”
However, Rahman has expressed his concern that “the water pressure exceeds the system design limit, and all faucets are kept open all the time to avoid damage to the pipes.”
“Some damages will still take place over time, even if all faucets are open,” he adds. “Apart from the wastage, excess water will cause drainage problems in the locality, increasing the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The problem could have been avoided with some simple adjustments at the intake point, and the engineers should attend to it before it is too late.”
Director Jose Dayao of the DA Region 5 said the development of infrastructure will reduce their transportation costs and encourage farmers to plant.
“This was achieved through the hard work of the local government,” Dayao said in Filipino.
The devastation wrought on her city by the recent typhoons is still fresh in the mayor’s memory. Yet, she remains undaunted even with the onset of another rainy season as she focuses on what Ligao City has become, and on what she can do to improve the city and make it more productive.
“Infres is a commendable program, worthy of replication in other fields of development, although enhancing the program with intense relevant components to make it more comprehensive will be most welcome,” Mayor Gonzales says.
“Our LGU Special Project Monitoring Board considers it a privilege to have been an Infres implementor. The overwhelming benefits to be derived directly for our marginalized farmers, as well as those for the indirect stakeholders, plus the impact to be gained upon the city’s development, shall be of great significance to Ligao’s progress.”
* * *
(The author is a national officer of the Asian Development Bank.)
