Traveling comfortably is always a luxury especially to communities located in far-flung areas. But, nothing can halt them on reaching the main district to acquire their needed supplies and services. One of those communities is Barangay Canlong in Garchitorena, Camarines Sur.
From Naga City, people must travel five (5) hours on a bus going to the municipality of Garchitorena. Upon reaching the town, they must ride a small motorboat for 30 minutes crossing the river surrounded with mangrove trees. From the makeshift port, they need to tread an uphill trail for an hour withstanding the distress walking on mud.
According to Gemma Clores, 48, barangay treasurer, the main source of livelihood of residents are fishing and agriculture. She also said that the barangay needs basic facilities which are pathway and evacuation center.
“Noon, pagnaglalakad kami kapag maputik aabutin sa isang oras. Sa ngayon, nasa five (5) minutes na lang na habal-habal at 40 minutes kapag papunta sa bayan (Before, we must walk for one hour on a muddy trail. Now, it only takes 5 minutes of motorcycle ride and 40 minutes going to the town),” Clores shared.
Through the Department of Social Welfare and Development Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS), the community has constructed a two (2) kilometer concrete pathway.
Kalahi-CIDSS is a poverty alleviation program implemented by DSWD which strengthens community participation in local planning, budgeting and project implementation.
Clores explained the difficulty to be part of the prioritized projects of the program due to the needed documents required.
“Ang pinakaproblema namin na makakuha ng dokumento ay yung right of way para ma-prioritized kami ng Kalahi-CIDSS (Our problem is to acquire a document on the right of way to be part of Kalahi-CIDSS prioritized projects),” she added.
She also said that they have to get the barangay map and lot number with its corresponding owners to be used as basis for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to release the certification.
“Sa pagtarabangan kang mga volunteers, napakarhay mi ang project proposal at iba pang dokumentos na requirements kang Kalahi-CIDSS para ma-prioritized kami (With the help of the volunteers, we were able to create a project proposal and acquire the needed documents for the prioritization of Kalahi-CIDSS),” she recounted.
The Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum – Participatory Resource Allocation (MIBF-PRA) is an activity that identifies projects to be funded by DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS using the criteria approved by barangays and community members during the MIBF Criteria Setting Workshop.
ROAD TRIP TO NEW BEGINNINGS
The residents of Barangay Canlong saw a big difference especially when they had a pathway. Before, they find it problematic to reach the municipality in times of emergencies.
There is one instance that a child died with pneumonia because of the lack of medical care which is only available at the town.
Clores also described the difficulty in informing people about the importance of the project and how each of them should help in the implementation.
“Sa umpisa, talaga masakit paintindihon pero sa kahaluyan nasabutan man ninda dahil sa mga trainings na tinao kang Kalahi-CIDSS (At the start, it was tough to make people understand but through the training of the program, they already appreciate the essence of the project),” she stated.
Due to their community project, some people bought motorcycles as a form of transportation and an additional source of income.
“Nakikita ko na lahat na problema namin noon ay ngayon, napagaan. Yung mga produkto na dapat namin dalhin sa bayan ay napapadala namin ng mabilis (Now, I see that our problems before were solved. Even our products that need to be transported to the town were delivered swiftly), she added.
For Cristy Iglesia, 39, Barangay Sub-Project Management Committee (BSPMC) chairperson, they have produced good results through volunteering and collective action of the community.
“Gusto ko po maitao sa sakuyang ka-barangay ay ang padagos na pagserbi po sa sainda, padagos pakikipagtabangan sa sainda para sa karahayan sa samong barangay (I want to continue serving and helping the community for the development of our barangay),” she explained.
“Dakula man ang sakong pasasalamat sa kapwa volunteer na nagsuporta sa samuyang proyekto (I am also thankful to my fellow volunteers who showed support for our project),” Iglesia continued.
Despite being mired down, the unwavering support for the community has turned a thousand steps of anguish into a 5-minute extraordinary excursion of collective action. /ramsertan/
About DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS
Camarines Sur has implemented Kalahi-CIDSS in 35 municipalities with a total implementation grant of PhP 1,950,716,688.10 and local counterpart contribution of PhP 75,273,846.32 from barangay and municipal local government units (LGUs) to fund community-managed sub-projects.
DSWD had allocated Garchitorena with PhP 50,978,599.46 with a counterpart from the LGU of Php 4,597,199.14.
The construction of the pathway has a total project cost of PhP 3, 627,006.23 which benefitted 156 households.
For more details about DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS, follow this link: