SCUTTLEBUTT

Miserable Boac

Amid President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to government agencies to focus on providing water to the 40 million underserved population with no access to a formal water supply — and electricity — in far-flung areas, Boac town in Marinduque province has been reeling from a water and power crisis for years, as bared by its long suffering residents.

A netizen recently revealed that the scarcity of water in Boac has been a perennial problem for its inhabitants. “What is happening with Boac? Our problem with the water supply decades back remains a problem today, which is the lack of a stable water supply,” she said.

She said this was the reason that life remained very hard in Boac — but that citizens are mum about it out of fear. She urged the provincial and municipal governments to wake up from their deep sleep.

The source said the water concessionaire has gotten the franchise in 2018, but up to now their faucets remain periodically dry.

In an interview, a Boac resident who requested anonymity divulged that the power supply is also inadequate as brownouts persist every other day.

“Even to this day, we don’t have electricity. Business owners are so sick and tired of the situation. You feel their infuriation because their small businesses are affected by the erratic power and water supply here,” he said.

Many residents are up in arms, airing their ire on social media. Students also bear the brunt of the lack of electricity as they cannot use their devices to research for their assignments, aside from not getting enough sleep because their fans and air conditioners are useless, the resident said.

“Madalas nga buong isla walang kuryente, pero ngayon madalas na naman ang rotating brownouts, kagaya pa rin nung nangyari nung summer. Malake ang problema ng Marinduque pagdating sa kuryente at tubig,” he added. (Often there’s no electricity on the island, a lot of times we have rotating brownouts, like last summer. Marinduque has a big problem with electricity and water.)

“What’s worse is we do not hear from our politicians here. We are left to ourselves,” he lamented.

Marinduque’s governor is Presbitero Velasco, the father of former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, while the mayor of Boac is Armi Carrion.