By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/Philippine News Agency
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is unable to respond to the requests of local government units (LGUs) to deliver water in the barangays that are experiencing drought due to the El Niño phenomenon.
BFP Antique Provincial Fire Marshal Randy Pudadera, in an interview, said Thursday that towns with only one fire truck cannot use the vehicle to transport water to barangays because it should be on standby and ready at any time in case a fire incident occurs.
“We cannot cater (to) the requests of LGUs that have only one fire truck in their fire station to deliver water to the barangays,” Pudadera said.
He said that except for Sibalom and this capital town, other municipalities have only one fire truck each.
Sibalom has two while this town has five fire trucks.
The towns that have only one fire truck are Belison, Patnongon, Bugasong, Valderrama, Culasi, Laua-an, Sebaste, Pandan, Libertad, Tobias Fornier and San Remigio.
“We have a total of 13 fire stations in Antique right now,” Pudadera said.
Pudadera said that Antique, which has 18 towns, has five remaining municipalities that have no fire stations — Aniniy, Hamtic, Barbaza, Tibiao and Caluya.
Meanwhile, Pudadera said that Sibalom provides the fuel for the fire truck that will deliver water to barangays that have no more water supply.
Water rationing is being done in Sibalom since February, according to Engineer Jonathan de Gracia, manager of the Sibalom Water District, in a previous interview. The lack of water was attributed to the drying up of the Luyang River in Sibalom and the decrease in the water level of Tipuluan River and the Sibalom River.
Water rationing is being done in Barangays Pasong, Panlagangan, Catmon, and Cubay Sermon.
“The BFP fire truck also delivers water to Barangays Lacaron, Esperanza II, Mojon, Rombang and Tula-tula upon the request of Sibalom Mayor Joel Occena ,” de Gracia said.
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