The poor village of Iyagan in Baao, Camarines Sur worked hard for their first concrete access road. The 1.71 km pathway was completed in 2013 and since then, everyone in the community is reaping the benefits of what they sacrificed for.

Necita Mesa, a housewife with three children, was one of the residents who built their access road. In April 2013, her colleague who belongs to the Barangay Subproject Management Committee (BSPMC), the community implementer of the access path, offered her a construction job to which she accepted without any reservations. She needed to break her back for her family because she just lost her husband, the provider of the family, that time.

“Kaipuhan ko magsikap para sa mga aki ko (I need to sacrifice for my children),” she said.

The construction started in May 2013; she reported from Mondays to Saturdays for almost a month. Necita was inexperienced but she learned to shovel and bag the sand, arrange the sand bags and assist the foreman and other laborers when needed.

Like other male laborers, she received the same compensation of Php252.00 daily wherein Php25.00 was deducted from it as her in-kind contribution to the project.

From her earnings, she bought school supplies for her children in preparation for the opening of classes in June. Aside from extra income, she also gained new learnings from being a laborer. According to her, wearing personnel protective equipment (PPE) in the construction site is very important to avoid accidents. She dutiful wore socks, pants, long sleeves and other protective gears during her construction stint.

“Natutusok ang bitis ko ning gapo kaya mas gusto ko magsulog bota (I preferred to wear boots because rocks pierce the sole of my feet without it),” she said.

Kalahi-CIDSS, a DSWD program that seeks to help alleviate poverty through community-driven development (CDD), funded the construction of the pathway amounting to P2,475,544.00 with a grant of 1,390,779.55 from Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent U.S. foreign aid agency created in 2004 to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by helping countries promote economic growth.

“The program strictly ensures that there are no accidents, diseases and other harmful effects on the health of the workers during the construction period so that they can continue to work as scheduled and get paid for their services,” DSWD Dir. Garcia said.

The program allocates budget for minimum PPE like hand gloves, hard hats, rubber boots and safety belts.