FOR the first time after almost two centuries of existence as a municipality, Liloan is able to provide direct access to water for the 1,615 people living in the mountains of barangay Tabla.
Sitting at 800 feet above sea level, Tabla had long been bereft of potable water in its midst. Its residents had to go to other barangays daily to buy water, or travel to a river to get some for their daily needs.
The residents of Tabla witnessed a historic day last Jan. 19 as water started flowing from 50 community faucets spread across the mountain barangay.
Senior citizens were glad that they are still alive to witness the day that water will be accessible in their part of the mountains, more than 10 kilometers from the town proper.
“Wala mi nagtuo nga samtang buhi pa mi, moabot gayud ang tubig sa Tabla. Daghan kaayong salamat (We could not believe that while we are still alive, the water will eventually reach Tabla. Thank you very much),” Lucia Salundagit, 79, told Mayor Christina Frasco, who led the inauguration of the communal faucets for the water systems that cost nearly P3 million.
The water is currently free for all residents pending discussions with the barangay.
Mayor Frasco was accompanied by her husband, the Cebu Port Authority commissioner and former Liloan mayor Duke Frasco.
“As we traveled across the newly cemented roads of Tabla which we inaugurated last year, Duke and I met and shared in the joy of mothers and fathers, farmers, school children, lolos and lolas who have lived in Tabla all their lives, and who saw, for the first time, water coming out of faucets in their own barangay,” Mayor Frasco said.