Jail Officer 3 Blanche Aliño told SunStar Cebu on Monday, April 17, 2023, that the CCJ gets its water supply from a reservoir run by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“Not having a direct connection [from MCWD] has been our concern for many years. This has been the problem faced by the wardens when they come to the jail,” said Aliño, spokesperson of Cebu City Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
An MCWD official has said that it will help in solving the city jail’s problem, especially now that the state weather bureau reported the possible occurrence of El Niño—a weather phenomenon characterized by below-normal rainfall that can lead to dry spells and drought—in the third quarter, between July and September.
Aliño also asked the Cebu City Government to help the city jail in getting a direct water connection with MCWD.
According to Aliño, CCJ’s male dormitory alone currently houses almost 6,000 persons deprived of liberty, which is way above the jail’s capacity of 2,000. The city jail has a female dormitory, but it has fewer detainees.
The DENR reservoir is situated near the Camp Marina grounds of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in Kalunasan.
“That is where we get the supply to fill up our water tanks inside the city jail,” she said, adding that the water they fetch from the reservoir is potable.
Aliño further said the city jail has applied multiple times for a direct connection to the water line of MCWD, but it has failed to get a connection because the facility is located on elevated ground.
She said CCJ has had no connection to MCWD since it opened in 2006.
El Niño threat
Aliño clarified that so far, the facility has not experienced water supply interruption since the onset of the dry hot season in the country on March 21; however, that might change in the coming months.
She said they are implementing water-saving measures, adding that the state weather bureau had reported the possibility of the El Niño phenomenon occurring in the second half of the year.
“El Niño is coming, so we are really saving water,” Aliño said.
She said they limit the water usage of each PDL (persons deprived of liberty) and encourage them to use water properly, including reusing their bathwater to flush the toilets.
“Especially for basic use like cooking, drinking, and bathing of PDLs. But now, they are recycling their water. For example, they save the water they use for bathing to flush the toilets,” she added.
Alfredo Quiblat Jr., chief of the Visayas Pagasa Regional Services Division, already warned the public on March 28 about the likelihood of the El Niño phenomenon occurring in July.
“The effect of this dry hot season plus the possibility of El Niño will result in a scarcity of water,” he said.
Additional supply
MCWD spokesperson Minerva Gerodias said on Tuesday, April 18, that they had already met with city jail officials to discuss the concern last week.
She revealed that the jail facility had indeed applied for a direct water line with them. However, due to the elevation of the facility’s location, they are having a hard time accommodating the request.
Gerodias said what they can offer is the creation of an MCWD account for the city jail, which will be connected to a meter standpipe in one of their stub-outs in Oprra in the lower part of Kalunasan.
“They will just extract water from there since they have their own water truck. They can transport it from Oprra to the jail themselves,” she said.