Barangay-operated free water purifying station unveiled in Ecija town
ALIAGA, Nueva Ecija – Barangay San Juan in this town unveiled on Friday a newly-built water purifying station project that was donated by two development-oriented organizations amid a high incidence of amoebiasis among children in the area.
The project, reputedly the first to be put up by a barangay in Nueva Ecija, was realized after the Office of the Vice Mayor and barangay San Juan partnered with the Junior Chamber International (JCI)-Manila and JCI-Japan, said Vice Mayor Erwin Dyan Javaluyas.
Javaluyas said the two JCI groups conceptualized a livelihood component into the project that included a mushroom growing house and a hydroponics system integrated with tilapia-raising in cages.
The vice mayor said he and his wife-barangay San Juan chairwoman Ghia “Gilas” Moreno-Javaluyas endeavored to look for prospective partners to put up the water purifying project because it is “closest to his heart” and he said he believes in the saying “water is life” and “clean water means health.”
He described the entire project dubbed as “Project Smile by Water” as the first and only one ever to be launched in Nueva Ecija that was donated to the barangay by the JCI-Japan and JCI-Manila amid the high incidence of amoebiasis among children.
“Itong water purifying station ay level-up ng mga binigay natin sa inyo noon na mga poso, nagtayo tayo ng mga poso sa mga sitio, at napansin natin naging mataas ang insidente ng amoebiasis o pagsakit ng tiyan ng karamihan sa mga anak ninyo kaya pinangarap natin na magkaroon tayo ng water purifying station,” said Javaluyas.
Also gracing the blessing and turnover of the project that was worth a total of over P1-million were top executives of JCI-Manila and JCI-Japan led by Charles Matthew Gosingtian, president; JCI-Manila, Shuntaro Sumi, project chairperson; Charles Ratcliffe Jr., director for community development; Eikon Conrad Javaluyas, chairman, and Hirotaka Kani, project vice chair.
“Masaya ako today kasi hindi disaster o calamity ang ipinunta ko dito kundi para tumulong sa taumbayan sa barangay San Juan and of course the people of Nueva Ecija.” Gosingtian said.
“Kung hindi dahil sa financial support ng JCI-Japan ay wala tayo dito ngayon. Mayroon akong pakiusap sa inyong lahat, sana alagaan po natin ang mga na-donate dito kasi hindi po natin alam baka gusto ulit tumulong ng JCI-Japan o baka makahanap uli ang JCI-Manila ng ibang sponsors o partners para tumulong sa ating barangay para sa Nueva Ecija,” added Gosingtian.
Barangay captain Javaluyas said that other households from outlying barangays may also avail of the free purified water from their village.
During the event, free plastic water containers were distributed to about 1,700 households that were gathered during the event inside the Gov. Aurelio M. Umali gymnasium.
