Various government agencies have joined hands recently in signing the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the implementation of President Aquino’s water and sanitation program dubbed “Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat” project that targets waterless municipalities of the country.
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona, National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary General Jose Eliseo Rocamora and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary for Local Government Austere Panadero, representing Secretary Jesse Robredo, signed the IRR that spells out the guidelines in the implementation of the program.
The implementing guidelines contained the strategies in attaining the objectives of the program which include, eligible projects under the program; institutional arrangements for the program; process flow of the program including the procedural requirements under each stage; funds disbursement scheme; and modes in the procurement of goods and services needed by the sub-projects.
The IRR also covers the steps and procedures for the project implementation, arrangement, management structures, fund transfer, and utilization of fund, among others.
Last year, the DILG, DOH and NAPC signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the President’s Water and Sanitation program.
The program now dubbed as “Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat” aims to increase the water service coverage to 155 priority waterless municipalities. “Waterless municipalities” is defined as municipalities with less than 50 percent service coverage.
The breakdown of the 115 priority municipalities covered by the program are as follows: seven municipalities in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); three in Region I; nine in Region II; one in Region IV-A; 12 in Region IV-B; 10 in Region V; two in Region VI; 17 in Region VII; three in Region VIII; 16 in Region IX; 14 in Region X; five in Region XI; 10 in Region XII; three in Region XIII; and three in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The three criteria in selecting priority barangays are poverty incidence, access rate to water service coverage, and incidence of water-borne diseases.
The program promotes shared responsibility between the national government and local government units in providing water supply systems to waterless areas by awarding national government grants and requiring local government counterpart funding.
Robredo said the program will also provide capacity development to the municipalities and water service providers in the implementation and management of their water supply and sanitation services.
Under the implementation arrangement, the NAPC shall serve as the overall lead coordinating agency in the implementation of the program, shall identify the list of waterless and shall ensure that priority be given to barangays in municipalities considered the neediest among the needy.
The DOH shall review, evaluate and approve proposed plans and program of works submitted by the LGUs and facilitate the release of funds to LGUs through the Centers for Health Development.
At the same time, the DOH shall monitor the fund utilization of LGUs and shall provide the funding requirements of NAPC and DILG corresponding to the agreed responsibilities and tasks under this joint programme for purposes of monitoring.
The 2011 General Appropriations Act has P1.5 billion appropriated to the DOH for the provision of potable water.
Meanwhile, the DILG shall develop and implement capacity building program for target LGUs under the program. Jerome Carlo R. Paunan (DILG/RJB/JCP-PIA NCR)
