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NEW ROAD--Residents of Magsaysay, Lanao del Norte, on a new farm-to-market road
Some say a solar eclipse brings good luck to the places where it is totally visible. In October 1995, the town of Languyan in Tawi-Tawi, part of the Mindanao region in the southern Philippines, was one of the few places on earth from where the solar eclipse should have been visible.
But overcast skies prevented the natural phenomenon from being seen — and good luck took its sweet time to reach the town.
Six years later, good fortune finally arrived in the form of the town’s first government project. Two farm-to-market roads were built under the ADB-funded Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP). Residents beam with pride that Languyan was first among Tawi-Tawi’s 10 municipalities to have an ARCP road.
The ARCP, implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform, seeks out the most depressed agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in 35 Philippine provinces to build much-needed social infrastructure and support services, worth about P30 million ($0.6 million) for each community.
The project began in mid-1999 with a total cost of P7 billion ($168.9 million), of which almost P5 billion ($93.2 million) came from ADB, the rest from the Department of Agrarian Reform and local government units (LGUs).
–Manny Piñol, Cotabato Governor
The project’s main objective is to reduce poverty among some of the poorest of the poor in the rural Philippines: agrarian reform beneficiaries.
The ARCP was specifically designed in line with ADB’s strategic framework to support the Philippine Government in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), particularly in providing necessary support to land previously distributed to farmer-beneficiaries.
About 30,000 households will be helped through the 5-year project, representing about 12% of the total ARCs nationwide.
Although the Project got off to a slow start 3 years ago, implementation is now at its peak. As of June 2002, a total of 288 infrastructure subprojects, valued at $47.2 million, had been approved for 130 ARCs in 29 provinces.
Of these subprojects, 81% are farm-to-market roads and bridges, 10% are potable water systems, and 7% are small irrigation systems. More than half are in the poorest classes of municipalities, testifying to the pro-poor nature of the ARCP.
Apart from rural infrastructure and other development support, the ARCP is also contributing to the Government’s goal to accelerate land distribution under the CARP. To date, the ARCP has distributed 11,466 hectares to 4,754 agrarian reform beneficiaries in the Luzon and Visayas regions.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT--Children expressing their gratitude |
MEETING OF THE PEOPLE--A consultation on community priorities in Languyan, Tawi-Tawi |
In Languyan, Tawi-Tawi—as in other ARCP areas—the participatory process adopted by the Project brings about a strong sense of ownership among stakeholders, resulting in the road being constructed and completed almost immediately. This translates promises of a better life for the beneficiaries into quick and concrete action. The ARCP is focusing its activities in Mindanao—where more than half of the subprojects are located—because of the serious need to address the peace-and-order problems related to poverty.
These subprojects are not only expected to contribute to reducing poverty but also to support the national Government’s efforts to sustain peace and development in the southern Philippines. Adrianus Rijk, who led the Project until his retirement in August 2001, noted the success of the Mindanao ARCP subprojects as “doing very well and beyond our expectations.”
For a town to qualify for the Project, it must have some basic ARC organizations such as a farmers’ cooperative or women’s group, it must save enough for ARCP field staff to travel, and the local political atmosphere must be in order. To give communities a sense of ownership in the subprojects, the mayors must be actively involved in the implementation, committing 10–30% of counterpart funds.
For its part, the community must have at least a 10% stake in the Project, such as by providing labor for constructing the road. Under certain situations, however, infrastructure subprojects are allowed to be contracted to construction firms.
The LGUs are also responsible for maintaining the infrastructure for at least 10 years. If not, the grant provided under the Project will be transformed into a loan and deducted from the internal revenue allotment from the national Government.
–Herman Ongkiko,
National Manager, ARCP
According to Mr. Rijk, “Local government units are put in the driver’s seat.” In recent years, the effort has gone one step further to encourage the residents to build, own, operate, and maintain the projects—for their children.
In Mindanao, extra effort is put into adapting the participatory process to the cultural context. In Wao, Lanao del Sur, the mayors say they work hard to maintain harmony between Muslims and Christians.
With the effort of the ARCP, a Muslim-Christian cooperative has been successfully operating and will be nominated for the Best Cooperative Award of the Land Bank of the Philippines this year.
An interesting aside is that almost all the mayors in the ARCP areas were reelected with big margins over their rivals in the May 2001 elections—an indication of the popularity of their hands-on participation in the project.
One such local executive is Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol, who has been actively involved in the project. He impressed Mr. Rijk, who once found him supervising—at night—the construction of an ARCP potable water supply system in M’lang town, where he used to be mayor. One of two systems for the town, people used to haul water from a questionable source a kilometer away.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES--Communities are benefiting from the farm-to-market roads
Mr. Piñol knows only too well the critical role that development work plays in ensuring peace in his province. He is also helping the national Government in its peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“Even if we sign a thousand peace agreements, if our people continue to wallow in poverty, ignorance, and deprivation, there will never be true-lasting peace in our province and in Mindanao. That is why I look at the ARCP as one program that deserves the support of local government units because the program provides for the needs of our people,” he says.
Mr. Piñol says he has seen towns in his province that have had no government presence for 40 years. “These areas are where you will find people who don’t really understand what government is all about. There is simply nothing that will indicate that there is a system, a political apparatus, that cares for them,” he says.
Current M’Lang Mayor Luigi Cuerpo agrees. “Ever since projects like this were introduced here in our town, people realized they are not being neglected. And peace and order really improved.”
TO MARKET--Rosita Porras of M’lang, Cotabato, tends to her piggery, which was funded through the project
The process of identifying the community’s needs begins with a barangay (the smallest government unit in the Philippines) workshop consultation. It is here where the farmer-beneficiaries express their views of development assistance required. These are then prioritized, resulting in an indicative ARC Development Plan.
Development assistance identified ranges from infrastructure, irrigation, potable water system, technical assistance on crop diversification, garbage management, and additional teachers and health workers.
In Wao, Lanao del Sur, the residents identified a farm-to-market road as their priority. The P12.6 million, 8-kilometer Buot-Pagalungan-Milaya road was constructed in 1 year. Using the road, the residents can now transport their corn to town before it rots.
People in Languyan town overwhelmingly voted for “hog wires” as their top priority need: keeping wild pigs out of their fields. When asked about the ratio of wild pigs to humans, Languyan Mayor Hasbi Matba says humans can only produce one child a year—but the wild boars can produce up to 10 offspring twice a year.
Of more value than the physical infrastructure offered by the ARCP is the resulting “human infrastructure,” says ARCP National Manager Herman Ongkiko. “We hope that the roads will be the path for the youth to finish school, the path for farmers to increase their incomes and produce—and improve their lives.”
To the outsider, it looks like a small dam. But to the residents of Alcala, a town in the northern Philippine province of Cagayan, the structure has turned their lives around.
Today the dam, with a storage capacity of 657,000 cubic meters, is servicing a 200-hectare area and enabling 444 farmers to have two crops a year instead of just one. The surrounding area, which has two natural waterfalls, has also been developed into an ecotourism project with activities such as recreational fishing and hiking, as well as a school reforestation project.
When the dam was being constructed, Mayor Alvaro Antonio, a lawyer by profession, was often seen walking in rubber slippers—or even barefoot—along the muddy road toward the dam, overseeing its construction himself, sometimes even late in the evening.
The P14 million dam was completed in just 6 months and turned over to the local government in 2001. Now, other government agencies are coming into the area with their own livelihood programs.
BIG IMPACT--The small water impounding project in Alcala, Cagayan
Most significantly, before the dam and the new opportunities, the majority of Alcala’s residents were driven by poverty into joining the New People’s Army, the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines. However, with the completion of the dam and the opening up of new income opportunities, these former rebels have assumed leadership roles in developing their own communities.
The Mayor says that a remarkable turnaround in people’s attitudes has occurred: from hopelessness combined with anger toward the Government to hopefulness and gratitude toward the positive change in their lives.
"People generally don’t want dole outs. They only want assistance in things they cannot handle themselves," says Mayor Antonio.
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