DENR inked MOA for SWIS management and maintenance in Guimaras

Sibunag, Guimaras- Access to water supply is of paramount importance to environmental projects.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was recently inked between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6, the barangay local government unit of Tanglad in the municipality of Sibunag, Guimaras province and the Tanglad Agro-
Forestry Farmers Association, Inc. (TAFFAI), a legally registered People’s Organization (PO), for the maintenance and operation of a Small Water Impounding System (SWIS).

DENR 6 Regional Executive Director Livino B. Duran, Punong Barangay Charlie R. Gallano of Brgy. Tanglad, and PO President Eva E. Garvilles are signatories to the MOA.

Also present during the signing of MOA with Director Duran are Guimaras PENR Officer Edgardo M. Rostata, DENR 6 Planning and Management Division (PMD) Chief Evangeline Regino, PENRO Guimaras Technical Services Division (TSD) Chief Juliet Gabayeron, and Supervising Ecosystems Management Specialist (SVEMS)/Assistant TSD Chief, Leonora Magno.

The SWIS, with a project cost of Php1.484-million, was constructed in Brgy. Tanglad, Sibunag. Guimaras under the Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Program of the DENR – Provincial ENR Office in Guimaras and can hold a total water volume of 22.3
cubic meters. The structure is located within the proposed Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) area and the existing National Greening Program (NGP) plantations and the Enhanced NGP (ENGP) with agro-forestry, fuel wood and bamboo commodities, including the arboretum project that covers the three barangays of Tanglad, Millan and Ayangan. Water source for the SWIS is from a spring located in Sitio Tigbi of Brgy. Tanglad, Sibunag, Guimaras.

A total of 154-hectare plantations are taken cared of by members of the TAFFAI, namely: the 118 hectares in Brgy. Tanglad (NGP and ENGP) planted with agro-forestry species, fuelwood and bamboo; the 18 hectares in Brgy. Ayangan, and another 18 hectares in Brgy. Millan, both sites are planted with bamboo (ENGP).

“This support facility is a big help for our People’s Organization, the TAFFAI, for them to maintain the plantations and operate water provisions together with the Barangay LGU even as it also seeks to mitigate the impact of water scarcity in the area,” said PENRO
Edgardo M. Rostata.

The SWIS is constructed to also boost the effective management and maintenance of the established plantations, stabilize soil condition, eliminate and reduce the impacts of flooding and soil erosion, particularly in the established bamboo plantations inside the Community Based Forest Management Project (CBFMP) and the NGP/ENGP sites.

“We have been campaigning for this and we believe it is high time our POs and our local government units put value in their Small Water Impounding System (SWIS). I hope the necessity of taking care and ensuring the sustainability of this important structure will
now resonate in their consciousness, seeing that we have experienced water crisis at the height of the El Niño,” said DENR 6 Regional Executive Director Livino B. Duran.

The TAFFAI is yet on the process of its application for a Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) with the DENR 6 that would allow them to develop the 72.88 hectares of timberland for 25 years./DENR 6