Pozo Mula sa Puso

THE  “ARTESIAN WELLS OF LOVE” PROJECT

[POZO MULA SA PUSO]

THE BEGINNING

 Cabiao is a municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija in the cental plains of the Philippines. Despite its location in the so-called “rice bowl” of the country, majority of the 68,382 people in this municipality  are subsistence farmers. Most of them [spread out in 23 barangays] look up to the government as the only source of development. Political patronage is so prevalent and a personal connection to a government official is a lifeline that every individual has to nurture.

 Sometime in 2009, the barangay of San Vicente entered into a partnership with the Community Based Development Program of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and its partner, the Episcopal Relief and Development. At that time, the community was among the countless villages in the country that suffered the wrath of Typhoon Ondoy and saw its farms and crops laid to waste. The community requested for assistance but rather than availing of relief grant, it loaned out from CBDP the amount of P100,000 for the procurement of seeds and inputs for the rehabilitation of farms. The loan was taken out by the San Vicente Farmers Association, in behalf of its members.

This rehabilitation effort led to another joint undertaking in the construction of a drainage canal that intended to address the perennial flooding problem in Puroks I and II of the barangay. The original plan was to construct a 300 meter drainage canal that would enable flood waters to flow into the natural waterways. CBDP shall provide the concrete aggregates for the project while the people contribute labor inputs. As a result of the active partnership, however, the local government unit [LGU] contributed the sum of P274, 400.00 or 21% of the total project cost, which resulted in the extension of the original length of the project from 300 to 450 meters.

Also because of the un-expected contribution of the LGU, the project fund contribution of the ECP and ERD, resulted in a net surplus. It was at this point that the (then) newly-elected mayor of the municipality, Gloria Crespo-Congco, invited the ECP to use the surplus funds to meet the demand for artesian wells for San Vicente barangay, The mayor committed her municipal government to match every artesian well that the ECP will build. Thus, was initiated the Artesian Well Matching Project that resulted in the construction of a total of twelve (12) artesian wells – 6 funded by the ECP and ERD and 6 by the municipal government. Each well was to service from 5 to 8 households, who shall contribute labor inputs in the construction. Furthermore, the households forming a cluster for each well also committed to build a cluster vegetable garden that shall make use of the waste water from the well to grow and provide vegetable supply to their members.

Meanwhile, the loans borrowed by typhoon victims were all repaid upon the next harvest season. However, upon the suggestion of the farmers, a credit cooperative was subsequently established to address their need a facility that would provide ready source of credit at lower interest. The project added another P100,000 to the initial amount [of a similar sum] that was previously loaned out, for a total of P200,00 lent to capitalize the coop.

The final report of the San Vicente Project mentions the following:

“There are three major accomplishments within the project period. These are: 1] completion of a reinforced concrete flood control drainage canal which was originally set at 300 meters, but was extended up to 450 meters. (133% completion rate).  This has “saved”  Puroks I and II of San Vicente from the wrath of Typhoon Juan in 2010 and is hoped to finally end the perennial flooding problem in the area. Furthermore, the drainage canal is now also effectively used as an irrigation canal that directs water [both rain water and household waste water] to the rice fields. 2) Strengthening of the local farmer’s cooperative, San Vicente Farmers Cooperative, and provision of a capital fund of 200 thousand pesos to jump start operations of its credit and loan operation. 3) Use of project fund savings to provide materials for 6 artesian wells in previously identified locations in 3 communities who are in dire need of potable water, under an arrangement where clusters of households will establish a collective vegetable garden to match one artesian well.”

To both the municipality of Cabiao and the ECP, the project served as a model of LGU-NGO partnership. According to the mayor, the project has concretely shown to those who participated and benefitted therefrom that development can actually be realized through the peoples’ own efforts and serves to debunk the notion that political patronage is the only key for the improvement of the community.[1]

 Word spread fast about the success of groups of people in San Vicente barangay who actually did a lot in improving their community. All they did was organize, plan, and act together. This experience helped jump start other initiatives in surrounding villages who heard the “good news”. One village leader told the CBDP staff once:”We have no doubts about our commitment- for who would not want to improve his/her living condition? Thank you for making us realize our competence in effecting change in our community, despite our limitations!”

 THE 2011 PROJECT

 For 2011, the municipal government invited the ECP to another round of partnership to replicate the successful artesian wells matching program.  Specific requests for the artesian wells were made by the barangays of San Roque, Bagong Sikat, and San Carlos, where an estimated total of 1500 households are in residence. Following several discussions, ECP and ERD then committed to support the construction of 24 artesian wells for identified household clusters in these barangays. As designed, each well shall be located in pre-identified, strategic area where at least 5 or more households can have easier access. The municipal government committed to put up the following: 4 wells in San Roque as against 8 of the ECP-ERD; 3 as against 7 in San Carlos and 4 as against 9 in Bagong Sikat.  In like manner, the beneficiaries had to commit to establish communal vegetable gardens around the well sites. As an added incentive, the municipal government also committed to provide initial chicken stocks for people to raise and propagate. The mayor expressed the goal of the project in the following words: “In a short while, the people will have a ready supply of water, protein, vitamins, and minerals- resulting to a balanced nutrition for the whole family specially children”.

For this new venture, the District Office of the Department of Education was brought in to conduct the necessary  baseline survey for the participating communities. Again, the mobilization of public school teachers to do the household surveys was an exercise of ABCD – making use of existing and available resources.

 The project started with a barangay profiling, where volunteer teachers Barangays were mobilized and instructed by the CDWs to conduct household interviews. As full time public school teachers,  doing the survey  was an added task which consumed several hours of work. Filling up of a 31 page set of questionnaires was not easy as they were also busy teaching and making lesson plans every night, but they were able to do it on time. From the activity, some of them shared the following experiences:

-        One of the teachers conducted interviews within the school campus to parents who are sending their children to school. From her experience, it takes one hour to finish the said interview.

-        Another said that she conducted interviews after school hours, and the 7 sets of questionnaires given her took a month to complete.

-        In one of the barangays, the volunteer teachers set a schedule for interview in a way that they can help each other. They discovered that answering the survey questionnaires was easier if done the participatory way.

 CBDP’s CDWs facilitated the planning processes where the barangay councils of San Roque, Bagong Sikat, and San Carlos were asked to discuss and decide on:  what to do, who will do, how to do the project. Canvass and purchase of materials were assigned to the municipal engineers. Actual construction work was assigned  to the community or beneficiaries of the artesian wells,  including also the establishment of vegetable gardens around the wells.

 The project barely started implementation when the country was hit by successive typhoons that delayed construction work.Some materials like gravel and sand were washed away by the flooding that followed days of continuous rainfall. . However, the barangay councils and the beneficiaries were committed and undaunted. They pooled up their remaining resources and went on to complete the projects. As of this writing only 6 wells for San Roque has yet to be  installed, mainly because  most of the identified areas are still submerged in flood waters from the latest typhoons. The barangay officials of San Roque are committed to complete the remaining wells as soon as the weather and the situation allow it.

 Immediate Results:

 Last November 9, the Development staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines joined the ECP Project Monitoring Officer on a scheduled monitoring and evaluation visit of the project. Separate meetings with the beneficiaries were done in each Barangay, as we wanted to gather firsthand what the people feel and say regarding the immediate impact of the wells. We are now sharing below some comments from the people themselves:

 1]       Barangay Bagong Sikat:

 Merly Bronola, a 51 year old farmer in Purok 1:

 “Before, it always makes me cry due to self pity every time I go to beg for water from a well owner across the road, who always expresses bad comments about my inability to construct my own well. With the project, I and all my neighbors are now enjoying abundant water near our houses. The quality of the water from our new well is a lot sweeter than the one across the road.”

          Aurillo Miranda, a farmer who is a resident of Purok II:

 “The well where we used to get water is very far… and most of the time, there’s a long line. A pail full of water usually reaches our house only half full as half is spilt in transit because of the distance.  At night, we cannot get water. There are times that we do not have water to wash ourselves when we go home from work from the fields, especially at night. Thanks be to God, these hardships are things of the past.”

Teresita Hilo, also a farmer:

“Our children are no longer late in going to school as their chore of fetching water from a far off source has stopped. They also go to school every morning freshly bathed and with clean clothes.”

 2]       Barangay San Carlos:

 Susan Alcera, 40 year old housekeeper who has three children:

 “We used to fetch water from across a muddy path. When it rains, the path is flooded and so we cannot fetch water anymore. Thank God for this new well! We are ever grateful for making our dream of a new well happen. We will surely take care of its maintenance.”

 “We actually planted a lot of vegetables and even medicinal plants around the wells but most of the plants perished during the typhoons. Of course, we have replanted them again…and we aim to plant even more.

Marlyn Villaluz, farmer:

 “Now we are enjoying the benefit of having more than enough water for bathing, cooking, washing clothes, and watering the plants.”

 “The water from our new well is very sweet… it seems there is sugar in it!

 3]       Barangay San Roque

 Consolacion Carpio, 75 years old: “ before the project, the members of my family and our neighbors often suffer from stomach pains and diarrhea because of the water we use. Now we are happy that nobody has suffered from these diseases and we have our herbal and vegetable gardens as well.”

 The happy comments from people who have benefitted from the well are never ending.

The monitoring team asked the barangays to take samples of water from every well and have it tested for potability. The Barangay Chair of San Carlos said that water testing is already scheduled with the Municipal Health Office who readily agreed to do the testing.

 Meanwhile, the cooperative in Barangay San Carlos has been set up and the amount of P200,000 was provided as start up capital.

 Again resulting from the recent typhoons and consequent flooding, much of the crops in the municipality have been destroyed and so, people from Bagong Sikat and San Roque, having heard about the loan earlier provided to the farmers of San Vicente to help rehabilitate their farms, have expressed interest to avail of the same. This is now being worked out in the ECP and a relief assistance is expected to be given by next week. As in the case of San Vicente, and in a very small number of other communities, the people, despite being victims of a natural calamity, are willing to take out the assistance as a loan and not as a grant. 

Impression:

The 2011 Project has yet to be completely terminated and reported but the monitoring team has already validated its success, not only in terms of providing direct benefits but also in terms of enabling various stakeholders to contribute and participate. There is however one negative observation which was observed at the meetings. The beneficiaries  continually express gratitude and attribute the success of the projects to the generosity of the Mayor, the Barangay Chairman, and the ECP-ERD. This is despite the repeated efforts to make them understand that the role of external partners is only facilitative, and that they are the main actors and owners of the project. It may take a much longer time for people to be really empowered in order to “own” their projects.

Respectfully Submitted:

The Staff of the EDCP Development Office

Arianne Carreon

Moreen Annoyan

Johnny Golucan       

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