Water feud between two provincial brgys settled

The three-year water feud between barangay Malbago in Daanbatayan town and barangay Panugnawan in Medellin town was settled yesterday, the solution included an agreement on a sharing scheme in the proceeds of the operation of a well.

In a half-hour meeting with Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday morning in the governor's conference room, the parties agreed that barangay Malbago shall finally unlock the well located in the said town that used to supply water to adjacent barangay Panugnawan.

Provided, however, that barangay Panugnawan shall pay P1.50 per cubic meter for water extracted from Malbago.

The sharing scheme will be that P0.50 shall go to the owner of the property where the production well is located, another P0.50 to barangay Malbago and the remaining P0.50 to the Municipality of Daanbantayan.

This shall be covered in a memorandum of agreement to be forged by the Capitol, Municipality of Daanbantayan, barangays Malbago and Panugnawan, and which shall be witnessed as well by Medellin officials and the Provincial Board's fourth district representative on June 26.

Also to be laid out in the MOA is the installment of a separate water pump in Daanbantayan to supply water to sitio Looc and other sitios in barangay Malbago.

Under the MOA, it shall be the responsibility of the provincial government to provide technical assistance to come up with a plan and design of the piping for a separate reservoir for sitio Looc, and to test the meter-per-second capacity of the production well.

Also, the provincial government will help rehabilitate the water pump and pipelines servicing barangay Panugnawan, as these might have deteriorated already due to non-operation for three years now.

The governor was glad that the problem, which in the past had been elevated to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, was finally resolved.

The chiefs and council members of both barangays concerned, Daanbantayan town Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot and Medellin town Mayor Manreza Lim were present during the meeting yesterday. - Cristina C. Birondo