Clean water for Alegria villages

Eight out of nine barangays in Alegria town will soon have access to clean and potable water.

This, after the Cebu Provincial Government, the Alegria Municipal Government and the Department of Agriculture (DA) broke ground for the construction of a P95.5-million integrated portable water system in Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Guadalupe yesterday.

The project, which aims to provide potable water to 3,187 households, is partly funded by the World Bank, the National Government through the DA’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) and the LGU.

The World Bank allocated P76.4 million, P9.5 million from the PRDP and P9.5 million from the LGU.

The project will benefit house- holds in Barangays Compostela, Guadalupe, Valencia, Madridejos, Montpellier, Poblacion, Legaspi and Sta. Filomena.

The ninth barangay, Lepanto, was not included in the project because it’s on a highly-elevated area.

But Alegria Mayor Verna Magallon said a separate water system worth P8 million will be in place in Barangay Lepanto.

Magallon said the project also aims to prevent water-borne illnesses from affecting her constituents.

Magallon admitted that Alegria has been hit four times by a typhoid epidemic due to the lack of clean water facilities in most of the barangays.

Typhoid epidemics hit the town in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Engr. Tito Cavalida, Alegria Municipal Planning Development officer, said the project will be a Level-2 water system, where the waterworks end in communal faucets shared by five to six households.

Lawyer Salvador Diputado, DA 7 director, said the project was made possible due to the town’s initiative to apply for a grant before the PRDP.

Diputado urged other LGUs to apply for developmental projects under the PRDP especially that the National Government is now negotiating with the World Bank to increase its allocation.

In a separate interview, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said the portable water system to be built in Barangay Guadalupe will ensure constituents of potable water.

Meanwhile, Davide gave 695 plastic chairs to six elementary schools in Alegria.

He also gave a check worth P6.6 million to the Alegria Municipal Government to help finish their municipal and legislative halls. /

SUNSTAR FOTO / ALLAN DEFENSOR BENEFICIARIES. Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III poses with the pupils of Alegria Central Elementary School, which received 150 plastic armchairs from the Cebu Provincial Government. Some eight barangays in the town will also benefit from a water system...