With the destructive rebel attack on Siocon recently, the province of Zamboanga del Norte is again lately in the news reminiscent of the time when the dreaded Abu Sayyaf bandits first gained national notoriety with their daring, devastating daylight raid of the town of Ipil in the early 90s.

But despite the intermittent rebel and bandit pillaging attacks that drew the strongest condemnation of the Filipino nation and response from the government and the military, Zamboanga del Norte remains largely a composite of communities populated by peace-loving, hardworking people.

Sindangan, a coastal town of 78,000 residents situated between Ipil and Dipolog City, is a prime example of its persevering communities. For years, this town has been silently but successfully striving for socio-economic stability and progress such that it is now a candidate for cityhood, potentially the third city to be declared in the province after Dipolog and Dapitan City. Significantly, the development of basic infrastructures and services through the efforts of a series of provincial and local administrations with the support of the national government has been instrumental in the continued transformation of Sindangan from a backwater town to a potential city.

Take for instance the efforts at developing the water supply system of Sindangan which was only begun to be pursued in earnest in the last decade.

Though Sindangan is the largest town in the province in terms of both land area and population, it only had a small water system inherited from the NAWASA era that provided limited water service to just part of the poblacion and a nearby barangay until it finally conked out in the mid 80s. For decades before the NAWASA and years more after the old system was abandoned therefore, the residents had to make do with individual household hand pumps or a few artesian wells for their water supply needs

Today, after a development effort started at the start of the 1990s that culminated with the implementation of a P10 million water supply improvement project, this town now boasts of a modern water supply system.

The Sindangan water system consists of a deep well source with pumping station capable of producing 348 gallons of water per minute, a water reservoir, kilometers-long network of distribution, transmission and service lines that supplies adequate piped potable water to some 15,000 residents through more than 1,500 metered service connections scattered in the poblacion and 14 other barangays of the town.

The present system was built and completed in December, 1994 through a P12 million loan provided by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to the Sindangan Water District (SWD) which was created by the local Sangguniang Pambayan pursuant to the provisions of PD 198, as amended, in 1989 to own, operate, manage and develop the local water supply system. The amount actually utilized in the project amounting to more than P10 million was later on subsidized by an P8.5 million grant provided by then Senator Alberto Romulo in 1996 which was requested by then mayor Cresente Llorente and later released through the efforts of now Finance Undersecretary Juanita Amatong, sister-in-law of incumbent many time-Governor Isagani Amatong and wife of former Congressman Ernesto Amatong.

According to Raul Escabarte who took over as general manager of SWD in September 1994 and completed the construction of SWD's first project later the same year, the water district will soon undertake the further improvement and expansion of the Sindangan water system. The LWUA, Escabarte said, has recently approved the application of SWD for a P12 million loan for the construction of the next phase of the water district's improvement program.

Escabarte said the proposed improvement will involve the construction of an aeration tower to improve the quality of water supply being drawn from SWD's current deep well source that has heavy sulphuric odor. Although the water supply of SWD passes the standards set under the Philippine Drinking Water Supply Standards, Escabarte said the presence of odor in the water supply is a turn-off to many of the water district's potential concessionaires hence it has to be addressed through application of proper treatment technology.

Other components of the project involve the development of an additional well source complete with pumping station, a reservoir booster pump and installation of additional transmission and distribution pipelines and metered service connections. The project stands to benefit an additional 7,000 residents through an additional 1,000 new service connections to be installed in two additional barangays to be covered by the water districts.

Though admitting that piped water will soon be available in only 17 of Sindangan's 52 barangays, most of which are anyway situated in the far-flung, hard- to reach uplands of the town, Escabarte said the establishment of a modern water supply system here like the development of other facilities and amenities like highways and feeder roads, commercial and fish port, cable TV and radio station and telecommunication services as telephone, telegraph and cell sites has helped make Sindangan a better place for both residents and visitors alike.

Now classified as a second class municipality, Sindangan is noted for its main produce such as rice and corn, fish and other sea harvests, mango, coconut and copra. It provides road links to several destinations in the two provinces of Zamboanga: Dipolog City to Zamboanga City and vice versa, Dipolog City to Ipil and vice versa and Zamboanga City to Pagadian City via the town of Molave. Its strategic location and present rate of socio-economic growth aided by the development of water supply and other basic infrastructures and services are the key to its ascendance as an upcoming major urban area in the province and the Western Mindanao region.

Sindangan indeed exemplifies the determination of the people of Zamboanga to continue to strive for development notwithstanding the intermittent distractions of partisan politics and rebel forays.