Members of the Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) of Calabarzon conducted a site visit in relation to the Maragondon Bulk Water Supply Project (MBWSP) last January 29, 2015. Aside from the members of the committee, the Board of Directors and General Manager of Maragondon Water District, representatives of the farmers from Maragondon, representatives of MacroAsia Properties Development Corporation and the General Managers of the water districts in Cavite were also in attendance.

A brief introduction of the project was presented before the group had a courtesy call was made to Mayor Rey Rillo. Joined by Mayor Rillo himself, the group visited Mabacao Bridge, where the RPMC team were informed of how far the offtake point is from the offtake point being used by the National Irrigation Administration. The distance helped to alleviate concerns that the site would affect the water supply of NIA for farmers as the offtake point for the Bulk Water Supply Project is after the offtake point for irrigation. This means that the project will only take water AFTER NIA has taken water that they need. As such this means that in cases when the water level is low, the river will be used by NIA first and any excess will be used by the project and if there is no water left, the project will clearly not acquire any from the river.

From Mabacao Bridge, the group visited the offtake point at Barangay Bucal 3, where the group was able to see the location of the weir which was a point of concern for some people for risk of flooding. It was assured by representatives of MacroAsia and MWD that because of the location it would not cause flooding. Several members of the RPMC group also went to the site of the treatment plant to inspect the exact location/land area.

Upon the return of the group to the MWD Office, a presentation was made by Mr. Jonathan Cabrera of MacroAsia to provide more details about the offtake point and treatment plant for the project. He also responded to inquiries from the RPMC team regarding the concerns raised regarding the project. The General Managers of the Cavite water districts who will be beneficiaries of the MBWSP, also stressed their interest and need for the project.

Representatives of farmers from Maragondon were also given an opportunity to raise their concerns, which were answered by Mr. Cabrera. Concerns about flooding, the effect of the project to irrigation and the right of the water district to the water were responded to during the presentation: they were informed that the weir is too low/downstream to cause flooding, the offtake point is after that of NIA and as such will not affect their water supply, and that the water district has water rights obtained from the National Water Resources Board which is in charge of the assignment of such rights. The protection of the watershed area in order to protect the river was also emphasized during the meeting, along with tourism-related projects that will be introduced once the project is operational.

The provincial government representative suggested improving information dissemination about the project to alleviate concerns from opposing groups. MacroAsia and MWD agreed that this would be necessary and will do so.