By Minerva Newman TAGBILARAN CITY—Bohol governor Arthur Yap has prioritized local water services as one of his essential programs in the province as he provided some P1 million financial assistance for each of Bohol’s 47 towns in addition to the town’s allocation for the on-going improvement costing up to P5 million. According to a capitol information officer Ven Rebo Arigo that access to clean and safe drinking water is one of the three governance pillars of the capitol leadership which is the “care for the weak.” “Bohol is currently working ‘care for the weak’ strategy is the mapping of waterless barangays for the identification of best-suited interventions. About 22 percent of the province’s 1,109 barangays have already been identified, Arigo said. Many of these waterless areas are reportedly concentrated in the second district, where none or less access to water contributes to the indicators of high poverty incidence based on national data. There are similar areas in the two other districts with existing water supply systems that needed upgrading. Arigo added that the water source mapping intends to provide drip irrigation facilities especially to potentially productive agricultural areas, but which are not reached by irrigation services. On a larger scale, capitol has eyed to develop Loctob spring in Loboc town for added surface water bulk supply to Tagbilaran City and six nearby towns in pursuit of sustainable resources policy, Arigo added. According to Arigo groundwater sourcing is discouraged to avoid saltwater intrusion.  Surface water will be tapped because it is abundant, reliable, and economically viable to invest and surface water sources include spring, rivers, and falls. For one, Cortes Mayor Lynn Iven Lim welcomed the provincial support which he said would help improve his town’s existing waterworks system. As a policy aligned with the auditing rule, Arigo bared that municipal local government units (LGUs) that have no previous unliquidated provincial financial assistance will first get the new aid. Other LGUs have to liquidate previous financial assistance before they will be given the P1-million assistance.   Water was one of those lacking basic needs raised by remote upland and island settlers to the governor during his gubernatorial campaign, Arigo bared.