BIYAHENG TOTOO: A barangay in Masbate still cries for clean water, toilet 

Residents of Barangay Kinamaligan in Masbate province were supposed to be relocated to a new homesite where they would have had potable water and sewerage facilities last June. Their transfer was postponed because the area's electricity posts have not yet been installed.

 

"The project does not only give them homes, it also gives them water supply," Masbate City Housing and Home Site Officer Ma. Cristina Valencia said. 

 

Kinamaligan residents, who are among the 8.4 million Filipinos yearning for clean water and the 7.5 million waiting for better access to a clean toilet, may have to wait a while longer—probably until after the last State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III.

 

Over five years ago, GMA News sent its reporter Chino Gaston to Kinamaligan where he met Criselda and her mother, Deolita Laurio. Criselda appealed to the then incoming president to give their barangay water and sewerage facilities.

 

When Aquino took office in 2010, the local government with the help of GMA-7's "Wish Ko Lang" program built a toilet for the barangay residents. Also installed was a faucet for flowing clean water. 

 

But that situation did not hold for long. Kinamaligan residents were so poor that they could not pay for the water services, so they reverted to using their old groundwater pump.

 

When GMA News sent Gaston back to Kinamaligan recently, Criselda was no longer there. Poverty had forced her to leave her mother, the barangay, and Masbate.

 

"Ang gusto ko hindi kami magkakahiwalay kaso lang nadadaig talaga iyong kahirapan namin," Criselda's mother said. "Iyong hinihiling ng anak ko na CR, hindi naman nagamit kasi wala namang tubig."

 

Kinamaligan is a target beneficiary site of the government's Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat (Salintubig) Program. Some 455 municipalities in the country are on the target list, including 12 towns in Masbate. 

 

As of May 2015, the Salintubig Program was at 45 percent completion.

 

Masbate: Then and now 

 

When Aquino took office, Masbate was one of the poorest provinces in the country. There has been some improvement, though ever so slightly.

 

According to the Masbate Provincial Health Office, four out of 10 families didn't have access to clean water in 2010 and six out of 10 families had no access to a clean toilet in the same year. 

 

By 2014, the province said only three out of 10 families have no safe water and five out of 10 families still have no access to a clean toilet. 

 

Masbate remains one of the poorest provinces of the country.   — Trisha Macas/ELR/JJ, GMA News