SANIAG, AMPATUAN, Maguindanao - Water is life, a reason why around 200 Teduray, Manobo and Muslim families in this mountainous village have to flock along the bank of Cauran River, which, in the past, did not only provide them drinking water but also a "market for viand" -a source of fish.
The vanishing of the fishes is a reality that has long been accepted by the natives, many of them still worship huge trees and rocks, but pointing at Cauran, as culprit of "serial killings" that victimized mostly children and aged was difficult for the villagers to accept.
In 2002, 49-year-old Ungga Anggay recalls having difficulties in convincing fellow natives to share their labor to construct a potable water system that would tap water from two spring sources some 3-5 kilometers uphill from this village. "Many would not believe that Cauran had been killing children," Anggay, now chair of the Saniag Teduray, Manobo Ancestral Domain Claimant Organization (STEMADCO), relays in an interview.
A baseline survey of a Cotabato City-based non-government organization, the Kadtuntaya Foundation Inc. (KFI), that produced a health profile setting morbidity and mortality rate of 36 for every 1,000 live births, was but an "empty figure" for many of Anggay's constituents.
The survey further concludes: "Death tolls are usually attributable to waterborne diseases, measles, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and dengue. Waterborne diseases are due to the inaccessibility of clean and safe water," yet, despite this, some villagers, adds Anggay, were not bent on abandoning their one-foot-deep open wells dug along Cauran's bank.
While this belief of the natives hindered STEMADCO from mustering 100 percent community support in the construction of two water impounding units designed to gather pressure required to transfer water from the impounding ponds to two reservoirs, the eagerness of those who shared their labor to finish the project enabled them to complete the construction two months ahead of the six-month completion target as stated in the project proposal the KFI submitted to the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the conduit of the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP) that shelled out around half a million pesos for the potable water system project. Salido Panalon, a member of the Project Management Team the STEMADCO and KFI created to oversee the implementation of the water system project, describes the post construction obligation of every family-beneficiary to be "very simple and easy," but, at first, he adds, "not all would cooperate." He enumerated the obligations as: 1) to help in the maintenance and cleanliness of the water system project, and, 2) to pay P5 per month for the wear-and-tear of the project.
Three months since the potable water system was operationalized in June of 2002, STEMADCO Secretary Orlando Santos' record shows a "significant decline" from five to 10 occurrences of waterborne diseases per month to 0-2, a reason he cited for the increase of active members from 112 to 167 families.
Anggay, Panalon and Santos were already contented with the "value of the consolidating effect" of the project to their organization, but they said they were more grateful with the coming of what they describe as "another premium beyond our expectation"-the decision of their women members to form their own organization, the Umfongay de Libon Tagna Tao d'be Saniag g'ne (ULTAS), a Teduray phrase which means Organization of Lumad Women in Saniag.
Sally Bansigan, 27, mother of three kids, said that organizing ULTAS, which now has 67 members, was thought of in one of the informal for a they had. "Because of the potable water system project, we did not only prevent more children from dying but it (project) also made household chores easy and fast for us housewives, so, we have enough time to discuss how we mothers could help improve ours and that of the community's welfare," Bansigan says.
Again, because of the water system project, the ULTAS decided to implement a Food for Work Gardening Project at a one-hectare land, tapping water for watering the plants from the pipes traversing through their vegetable garden that earn P800 a month for each of the women members involved. The organization has considered expanding the gardening project. For both STEMADCO and ULTAS, those they have mentioned are the only benefits they could identify from the project, but KFI Monitoring Officer Joel Dizon has a list of other equally important premiums. "They have been taught how to prevent tuberculosis, proper garbage disposal, personal hygiene, mother and child care and we have lined up trainings on sustainable agriculture and environment preservation and protection training workshops for them," he says. (PBSP)
Again, because of the water system project, the ULTAS decided to implement a Food for Work Gardening Project at a one-hectare land, tapping water for watering the plants from the pipes traversing through their vegetable garden that earn P800 a month for each of the women members involved. The organization has considered expanding the gardening project. For both STEMADCO and ULTAS, those they have mentioned are the only benefits they could identify from the project, but KFI Monitoring Officer Joel Dizon has a list of other equally important premiums. "They have been taught how to prevent tuberculosis, proper garbage disposal, personal hygiene, mother and child care and we have lined up trainings on sustainable agriculture and environment preservation and protection training workshops for them," he says. (PBSP)
No comments:
Post a Comment