A Singapore-based foundation has responded to the stinking concern of lack of toilets in several localities in the Second District, Bohol's human waste capital based on Provincial Health Office (PHO) record. The Mercy Relief is willing to assist in addressing the problem, partnering with the province thru the Participatory Research, Organization of Communities and Education towards Struggle for Self-reliance (PROCESS-Bohol). The PROCESS is one of the active major non-government organizations (NGOs) in Bohol that cements support to the thrusts, including health and sanitation, of the just seven-month-old administration of Gov. Edgar Chatto. This is one working of a public-private partnership and a model of a participatory and shared governance that both intrude into the anus of poverty.

Blamed to poverty, the high percentage of households without toilets in the Second District and some towns in Bohol's two other districts just passed through the noses of the authorities for years. PROCESS Executive Director Emilia Roslinda described to the governor the Mercy Relief as “our potential partner donor for health-related projects hopefully to be implemented in northeastern Bohol where poverty incidence is very high.” The Singapore-based foundation sent here two weeks ago a team who visited two Mercy Relief project sites for “ecosan” latrines in San Pedro, Talibon and Villa Teresita, Ubay. Ubay and Talibon are among the eight towns in the Second District and 14 provincewide where the PHO recorded high percentage of households without sanitary toilets.

The six other “foul-smelling” towns in the said district of returned Rep. Erico Aumentado, who served as governor before Chatto, are Getafe, Pres. Garcia, Bien Unido, Buenavista, Trinidad and San Miguel. Aumentado had earlier served also as congressman there from 1992 to 2001 and then became governor also for nine years from 2001 to 2010 until his congressional comeback. Completing the ‘stinking 14' are Anda, Alicia and Guindulman in the Third District of first termer Rep. Arthur Yap, who is the former agriculture secretary, and Catigbian and Tubigon in the First District of first-termer Rep. Rene Relampagos, who had then served as governor, too.

The 14 municipalities account for 30,742 households without sanitary toilets or roundly 15% of the total estimated number of households provincewide, the provincial health record says. The Singaporean group's preliminary visit to Bohol was to familiarize with the areas in preparation for a Mercy Relief Overseas Expedition (MOVE) aimed at assisting the concerned communities build ecosan latrines. A latrine is a communal space with multiple toilets, or a single apparatus that is designed for defecation and urination. Latrines allow for safer and more hygienic disposal of human waste than open defecation. They are used in rural areas and low-income urban communities, with significant use in the developing world. A communal toilet of a type often used in a camp or barracks, latrine exists in many variations. But at its simplest, the reason for using it is that waste is controlled and decomposed into safer by-products.

The PROCESS had the Mercy Relief group paying courtesy call on the governor before proceeding to Talibon and Ubay. Singaporean Sahari Ani, Mercy Relief – International Programmes director, led the group along with senior manager Derrick Tan, MOVE executive Siti Saleha Binte Mohamed Ali and two volunteers, who are also foreigners, and Philippine counterpart Laarni Salanga. The eight toilet-less Second District towns happen to also benefit this year from the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The program comes with proceeds from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), established as a bilateral development fund by then US Pres. George W. Bush. Each barangay of the recipient towns gets P500,000 for poverty reduction projects that address basic concerns that include health and sanitation. (Ven rebo Arigo)