SPO1 Edward C. Mandalunes believes that being a public servant requires a lot of energy and time but when it came to being involved in community development, he did not think twice.

Edward volunteered to help in the implementation of KALAHI CIDSS – National Community-Driven Development Program in 2013, despite the demands of his public profession. Having seen that his neighbors in Sitio Lazaro in Barangay Lapasan needed jobs to help them support their families, he took the initiative to carry out the implementation of the program and eventually became the Barangay Subproject Management Chair.

KC-NCDDP is one of the government’s responses to poverty alleviation by empowering communities to be involved in development initiatives. Through this program, the community members are made to identify problems in their village that hinder them from experiencing a good quality of life. Through this identified problems, they are then given the opportunity to propose a project that will help in resolving these, of which the Department of Social Welfare and Development shall fund to and with local contribution from the local government unit.

Driven to help

Edward has been known by his village as a good family man – a loyal husband and a good father to his four children. As a police officer, he has proven his commitment to public service through law enforcement and has gained respect by his peers and by his village due to his leadership ability and his unselfish desire to help them.

“We are glad that SPO1 Edward Mandalunes is our head volunteer because our members respect him and he can impose discipline to the community members, considering that gambling and different forms of vices is a problem in our area,” a co-volunteer shares.
Edward knows that volunteering requires complex tasks. “I believe that as a leader, I should be a good example to everyone. I make sure that I practice what I say. It is inevitable that some people resist change, but I know that one has to be patient and open-minded so that you can lead effectively,” Edward says.

There were times that Edward wanted to quit volunteering but his neighbors always make him change his mind. “After seeing that my neighbors wanted me to lead them and that they believe in me, it is already enough for me to decide to stay with the program implementation.”

Working as a Team

Edward and other 117 volunteers planned and came up with capability-building trainings for the community members to undergo that will aid them in landing to good-paying jobs.
The Capability Building Trainings done by volunteers in Sitio Lazaro has been a success. A total of 118 beneficiaries have undergone various courses such as technical trainings on Pharmacy Servicing, Motorcycle Repair, Housekeeping, Dress Making and Facilitation for Janitorial Services.

According to Edward, the KC-NCDDP has truly helped his village considering that a lot of their project beneficiaries have landed on decent jobs. “My neighbors Helen Dala, Junalee Galindo, Kossel Endrina, Maridel Galindo, Diana Dorro and Ruchelle Lacerte are now working with different firms. The others are also about to fly abroad to do housekeeping jobs and they are just waiting to their papers to be finalized,” he says.
“Kaya pala namin ang pagbabago,” Edward shares, “dahil bilang volunteers, nakakatulong kami sa aming komunidad na silay mabigyan ng maayos at maginhawang buhay.”

written by Mario Luis T. Arquiza, DSWD

The Safer River Life Saver Foundation Incorporated entered into an agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the use of the government’s data that shows who and where the poor are in the Region.

The data is generated through Listahanan, a targeting system currently used by DSWD and several social protection and social welfare providers to help them course their resources to the right beneficiaries.

Listahanan aims to address poverty reduction through a scientific and target-focused strategy and further ensures implementers that the benefits of their programs and services go to those who are qualified.

Utilization of the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) data is not only limited to National Government Agencies and Local Government Units. In fact, Civil Society Organizations , Private Organizations and Academe are encouraged to make use of this information management system .

The Safer River Life Saver Foundation Incorporated focuses on educating the people living along the riverbanks about the importance of the river to the growth of the city and the role it plays to sustain the development of the community. One noteworthy accomplishment of this organization is that, it has transformed the mentality and outlook of the very people who once contributed to polluting the riverbanks to that of becoming the river’s most -valued stewards and guardians.

Apart from this vision, the Safer River Life Saver Foundation has not limited its concern and advocacy to environmental protection but has even extended their social responsibility to the communities in the riverbanks. When the opportunity was laid to them to engage with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the utilization of the Listahanan database,they took the opportunity along with their commitment, to utilize the Listahanan data in identifying their beneficiaries in their target communities for their various programs and services which includes, provision of toilet facilities, feeding programs, conduct of skills trainings, provision of seed capital, literacy programs among others.

With the approved and signed Memorandum of Agreement from the Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the NGO was able to utilize the Listahanan data in 2013.

To date,the organization has been mobilizing 6,211 volunteers who have been actively involved in their various income-generating and environment-friendly programs and services.

The Safer River Life Saver Foundation is only one of the many Civil Society Organizations in Northern Mindanao who have heed the call of the government to work hand in hand for the best interest of the majority.

Written by Mitzie S. Santiago,DSWD

Cagayan de Oro City — A non-government organization here has built loft for free to the housing units given by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to survivors of Tropical Storm Sendong.

Pastor Alex Eduave, executive director of the Kagayan Evangelical Disaster Response Network, disclosed that his faith-based organization feel the responsibility of transforming the lives of Sendong survivors better by providing the needs of the internally displaced families.

The loft, a space directly under the roof of the house which may be used as a space for sleeping or storage, costs P15,000 each.

“We learn from DSWD that we will transform the lives of the Sendong survivors by not just providing relief goods, but, holistically,” said Pastor Eduave.

He added that, like DSWD and other national government agencies, “we are building better lives for the needy.”

The Christian minister stressed that his organization, a newly accredited civil society organization of DSWD Northern Mindanao, “only responded to God’s commandment.

“Life is simple. Love God and love others,” he said.

Built through the DSWD’s Core Shelter Assistance Program (CSAP), and in cooperation with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Cagayan de Oro Local Government Unit (CDO LGU), and Habitat for Humanity (HFH),  structurally strong and indigenous shelter units were constructed in disaster safe relocation/resettlement areas and the families are assured that their new homes can withstand wind velocities of up to 220 kilometers per hour and earthquakes up to intensity four (4).

The KEDRN has finished constructing 500 lofts to houses in Calaanan Phase III inside the 9.5-hectare Calaanan Ressetlement Site in Barangay Canitoan this city. Calaaanan Phase III has 1,262 houses.

The organization has also given free double-deck beds to survivors who are living inside the housing units donated by the Filipino-Chinese community.

Typhoon Sendong hit the city last December 2011 leaving nearly 400,000 homeless and more than 1,200 dead in Northern Mindanao.###smu

Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte — Tingintingin, a hinterland barangay seven kilometers south of this municipality, is the home to farmers who devote to organic farming in Northern Mindanao.

This village is used as a war field between government troopers and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Years of armed conflicts pummeled this community, especially during the all-out war declaration against MILF of former President Joseph Estrada in March 2000.

But, this war-torn village has evolved into a vast plantation of rice, corn, and peanuts.

Christians and Muslims alike agreed to till their lands using techniques to achieve good crop yields without harming the natural by not using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. As such, they recycled and composted crop wastes and animal manures, employ crop rotation, used green manures and legumes, observe careful use of water resources and good animal husbandry.

Malic O. Macabato, village chief, said he and the rest of barangay council members adopted organic farming to sustainably support their farmers.

Macabato emphasized that farming is the first step to combat hunger and to achieve a peaceful community.

He noted that conflict will not erupt if hunger is addressed, especially now that convergence efforts among national and local government agencies and civil society organizations are underway.

Tingintingin, with 204 registered household wherein 132 are Pantawid Pamilya members, has celebrated its first festival dubbed as Organic Upland Rice Harvest Festival on July 22 this year.

Convergence efforts underway

DSWD is one of various national agencies who poured assistance to this village.

Aside from Pantawid Pamilya that serves most of the population, the Sustainable Livelihood Program under the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP) modality extended loans with zero interest rate to at least 25 members of Tingintingin Upland Rice Growers SKA on September 6, 2013.
Each of the members received P10,000, said Maria Lani Bularon, former project development officer of SLP in Kauswagan. According to her, they used the money in growing upland rice in which they harvested it during the village’s harvest festival last month.

Aside from upland rice, farmers also grow corns, peanuts, coconuts, and mung beans. The Department of Agriculture provided the seeds while the local government unit provided a mobile rice mill.

Farmers need not to rent and go down as far as seven kilometers for a dryer in the Poblacion area here. World Food Programme, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and a non-governmental organization constructed a solar dryer while the local government unit constructed the storage facilities for the farmers’ produce.
Meanwhile, DSWD’s KALAHI CIDSS – National Community Driven Development, under the PAMANA modality constructed a peace center, health center, and day care center.

War no more

Macabato is optimistic that arm conflict will erupt no longer.

“I can assure that no one among us here will rebel against the government,” he said, adding that rebels have started to lay down arms and embrace the development because of each in the community are given importance.

“Makakasabi talaga ako na kaya namin talaga ang pagbabago dahil sa tulong ng DSWD at iba’t-ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno. Ngayon, talagang nasa matuwid na daan kami,” said Macabato. (I can prove to everyone that we can make a difference because of DSWD and other national government agencies’ intervention. Now, we are on the right path)
He disclosed that two former MILF commanders and an MNLF commander have been actively involved in organic farming.

The former rebels were engaged in numerous skirmishes and encounters against the military before that took a toll on their lives and those of their families. Now, they live peacefully as they are reintegrated to the mainstream society.

Recently, this town through Mayor Rommel Arnado received the Galing Pook Award for its ‘From Arms to Farms’ program.###smu

Gingoog City – Marietta Salinay still could not imagine how she and her family survived the landslide that swept their house when Tropical Storm Agaton hit their village last January this year. She could still vividly remember how she kept a hold of her children while they ran from the muddy avalanche that, in just a few minutes, destroyed their little shelter they called home.

Marietta’s family was one of the 32 families in Barangay Eureka in this City whose houses were completely destroyed due to Agaton. They are indigenous peoples coming from the Higaonon Tribe.

The local government unit of Gingoog City extended their assistance to these families while identifying Talangisog, a safer location for the families to transfer residence to.

“When we arrived here in Talangisog, we felt that we were transferred in a jungle unfit for residing,” Marietta said. “It had no access to water or electricity; no health centers and no schools, and it was 40 kilometers away from the market place,” she remembers. “Because of the disaster, we lost our sources of income, we had no livelihood.”

According to Marietta, her family and the rest of the evacuees had to find ways how to survive in the new location. They built their own shelters made of leaves and trees with their bare hands; searched and found a small water source – which is just about 50 meters away from their community, and used batteries as alternative source to power.

“It was difficult in the next few months. Personally, I felt like we were abandoned during those very difficult times,” she says.

When Marietta became a beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilya, she admitted that she was wrong about the government’s lack of support. “I thought that just because we are IPs and we live so far away from the bustles of the city, we are good as forgotten. How wrong was I,” she shared.

Marietta explained that Pantawid Pamilya has made dramatic changes in their lives. The cash grant that they have been regularly receiving has helped them provide food and school needs for their children. “the government also made a way to send an Alternative Learning System (ALS) Teacher in our village so that our children can continue with their schooling. We can now also buy medicines as a precaution in case we might get sick,” she says.

And because of the same program, she was introduced to the Sustainable Livelihood Program in which she was able to open her own food stall which she has installed in the city market.

“The program taught me how to manage my small business, how to display my food in such a way that I could get many customers to buy them,” she says. “Every day, I could earn as much as P250 per day, which is really a big help already.” As an initiative, she also plants vegetables at Talangisog and sells them as well at her food stall.

Marietta feels like she has gained a new life knowing that the government is there for her and her family during this difficult period of her family’s life. “Kaya ko pala ang pagbabago, dahil naging matatag ako na makapaghanap ng mabuting buhay sa aking pamilya kahit naging biktima kami ng kalamidad,” Marietta says.###smu

To recognize the Local Government Units’efforts in providing services and assistance to poor families, the Department of Social Welfare and Development through the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) will be conducting the first-ever Gawad Listahanan or the Data Utilization Awards this year. Furthermore, this activity is aimed at promoting the convergence of all social protection stakeholders on the identified poor based on Listahanan’s first round assessment conducted way back in 2009, to effectively address the different aspects of poverty.
Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) is an information management system that the government uses in identifying who and where the poor are and is being spearheaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It aims to address poverty reduction through a scientific and target-focused strategy.
The Data Utilization Awards is open to Municipal Government, City Government, and Provincial Government. The Local Government Units will be nominated to the competition provided that they have an active Memorandum of Agreement with DSWD in Listahanan Data Sharing,must have funded and implemented social protection programs and services providing direct service to the Listahanan identified-poor, must have been able to integrate Listahanan in all its social marketing activities, raising the awareness on the use of the targeting system in identifying beneficiaries of social protection programs and services, and lastly,the local government unit should be 100% compliant to the required feedback report as stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement.
In Northern Mindanao,validation of LGU nominees have been conducted in preparation for the final selection of the regional nominees for the three categories. This awarding will be conducted every year starting this 2014.

Written by Mitzie Santiago, DSWD