Students at Lumbia Central School in Cagayan de Oro no longer have to worry about where to get safe drinking water after a civic group and a non-profit installed a filtration system that now serves more than 3,200 children every day.
The project began in 2024 when the BIRTH Club, a civic organization under the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, set out to build classrooms in underserved communities. The initiative aimed to ease congestion and improve learning spaces. But as construction advanced, the group found that students faced an even more urgent challenge: access to clean water.
Many children relied on bottled refills costing one peso per container, while others drank straight from school faucets without assurance of safety.
“The realization struck deeply. How could we invest in education without also addressing the basic health needs of these students?,” said Franco Catajoy, volunteer director for admin of Safe Water for Every Child–Philippines (SWFEC-Ph) and project lead. “That’s when the idea took shape — quietly but powerfully. What if we didn’t stop at classrooms? What if we gave them access to safe, drinkable, life-sustaining water?”
Catajoy then partnered with Kaloy Manlupig, volunteer CEO of SWFEC-Ph, an independent, volunteer-led non-profit that installs SkyHydrant ultrafiltration systems in schools and communities. The system can produce more than 10,000 liters of safe water daily without using electricity or chemicals and can last up to 10 years with minimal upkeep.
In January 2025, the water project was formally approved as an extension of the classroom program. By April, a SkyHydrant unit was officially turned over to Lumbia Central School. Before the installation, students had limited and unequal access to drinking water. Today, they can drink for free.
“This is what happens when different sectors come together with a shared purpose. Safe Water for Every Child – Philippines (SWFEC-Ph) exists to make safe drinking water a reality for every learner. With partners like the BIRTH Club and CDO Masonic Lodge, we turn that vision into something real, something a child can drink today,” said Manlupig.
Globally, 844 million people still lack access to safe drinking water. In the Philippines, around 60 million people are affected, and more than half of public schools face the same issue. Poor sanitation and unsafe water remain among the leading causes of death for children under five.
SWFEC-Ph, working with Disaster Aid Australia and the SkyJuice Foundation, continues to deploy SkyHydrant units to schools, barangays, and disaster-affected areas. Its mission is to help communities safeguard children’s health through equitable access to clean water.