ILOILO – Tubungan has emerged as the first municipality in this province to attain the Department of Health’s (DOH) Grade 2 (G2) certification under the Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhATSS) — a milestone that local officials say is driven not by prestige, but by a commitment to public health and disease prevention.
The G2 or Basic Sanitation Status recognizes communities that have eliminated open defecation, prohibited toilet sharing among households, and ensured that all public establishments — including schools, markets, churches, and covered gyms — are equipped with functional sanitation facilities.
Mayor Roquito Tacsagon credited the municipality’s achievement to the collective effort of barangay leaders and residents in upholding strict sanitation practices.
“We campaigned and tried to ensure that their constituents have their own comfort rooms. Even if they are in the same household but different families, they should have different comfort rooms,” Tacsagon said.
He explained that while each barangay receives minimal financial assistance from the local and provincial governments for toilet construction materials, the main responsibility rests with the households.
“We let the people understand that it is their primary responsibility to establish their own comfort room. It is necessary because if they have their own CR, we can avoid diseases,” he added.
Tacsagon emphasized that Tubungan’s sanitation drive, covering nearly 6,000 households, aims not merely for recognition but to safeguard residents from sanitation-related illnesses.
“We do not target just for recognition, but the purpose is to avoid diseases,” he said.
According to Iloilo Provincial Health Officer Dr. Maria Socorro Quiñon, all 48 barangays of Tubungan — including those in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas — have achieved G2 compliance.
“The target is for all barangays and municipalities of the province to achieve G2 status by 2028,” Quiñon noted. “We encourage all barangays and municipalities to support our call for G2 declaration since this initiative is a very crucial and fundamental health intervention.”
The province earlier attained its Grade 1 (Zero Open Defecation) status in 2022, marking another step forward in Iloilo’s goal of province-wide sustainable sanitation by 2028./PN
