Officials and members of Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-Ibig) and its employees’ labor association, with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and Sayaw Farmers Association, turned over a spring box water system in barangay Tabunan, Cebu City on Dec. 2.
The project is an offshoot of Pag-Ibig’s 143 program that aims to fund long-term projects in adopted communities in line with its corporate social responsibility.
The agency’s other projects with the PBSP are the read-along session and the distribution of food packs, snacks, school supplies and toys to 48 grade 6 pupils of Cantipla Integrated School in Tabunan.
The spring box water system was funded by the P500 contributions of each employee of Pag-Ibig branch that totaled to P60,000.
“We are trying to show a new face of Pag-Ibig by not only helping people through our jobs, but by sharing our personal resources to help those in need,” Pag-Ibig Fund Cebu branch manager III Rio Teves said.
Rodrigo Tecson, an 11-year-old resident in the area, said, “I’m happy that PBSP and Pag-Ibig invited us here for the turnover and read-along session. We’re not only excited to use the spring box, but we also learned a lot about the importance of water and our place.”
He said that before, he would always watch his parents leave at dawn to collect water. “It was only when I assumed the responsibility from them did I realize the arduous task,” he said.
“We had to walk for at least 30 minutes before we reached the water source. And we kept coming back to the place to store water we need for a day or two,” he added.
Tecson was among the school pupils who attended the read-along session.
The session introduced them to books about the importance of water, such as “The Munting Patak-Ulan” by Gloria Villaraza Guzman and “Lilay” by Becky Bravo.
Barangay Tabunan is located within the Central Cebu Protected Landscape. It is Cebu’s major source of potable water as well as home to a number of native and endemic plant and animal species. Though considered the water basin of Cebu, residents still experience difficulty acquiring water.
“Now that these residents were given access to potable water with the help of Pag-Ibig, our next step is to ensure that they do not waste this resource, and one of the best ways to address this is to educate the young people about the importance of saving water through read-along sessions,” PBSP senior program officer Olivia Jabido said.