The Iloilo city government is delivering water to its drought-affected barangays while waiting for the budget to be taken from the calamity fund, which will have to pass through a tedious process of bidding.
Melchor Tan, the city mayor’s executive assistant, admitted he is spearheading water deliveries upon requests of the punong barangays of affected villages to augment the water needs of their residents.
Tan said that the punong barangay of Lanit, Jaro had requested deliveries to the Iloilo River Plains Subdivision Phase I twice a week.
These deliveries used four water tankers of the city engineering office and two tankers by the Iloilo City Action Group (ICAG) and the Iloilo Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
The city government spent for the gasoline of tankers while the water is free from a source in Hibao-an, Pavia.
Tan said that mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog did not wait for the calamity fund to be released but immediately acted on water deliveries to the barangays since more than three weeks ago. Although limited in scope, the delivered water helped ease the discomfort of barangay residents.
The city disaster risk reduction and management council had identified the severely drought-affected barangays while the city council approved last week the declaration of the city under a state of calamity due to lack of water.
The declaration paved the way for the usage of some P3 million from the calamity fund for water deliveries. [via PNA]
