PIA Press Release
Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Besao communities invest P9.2 -M grant in development projects

BESAO, Mt. Province, Jan. 4 (PIA) -- For its second year of implementing the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) Project, this municipality has set 12 development sub-projects as priorities in a recent Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum – Participatory Resource Allocation (MIBF-PRA).

The 12 development projects are worth P9.2 Million from KALAHI-CIDSS Project grants and local counterpart contributions from the municipality and barangays.

Barangays of Agawa, Ambagiw, Besao East, Besao West, Catengan, Kin-iway, Lacmaan, Laylaya, Padangaan, Payeo, Suquib, and Tamboan were able to get the nod of the community from communities-set criteria to be prioritized in the sub-project implementation by January 2012.

Meanwhile, Barangay Gueday, that ranked fifth out of all 14 barangays opted to waive their slot and agreed to fund their project with barangay and municipal funds.

Barangay Banguitan also waived its rank as 13th overall to give way for the last barangay which was Agawa and allowed other barangays to use the remaining available funds to build their community irrigation system.

A noteworthy improvement to last year’s implementation is the presence of major decision makers in the municipality. Members of the Sangguniang Bayan, municipal inter-agency committee and other key staff were all present and were able to decide right away in crucial points of the prioritization.

This move by the municipality paved the way for barangays Gueday and Agawa to get funding for their sub-projects even over the allotted grant and LGU counterparts. Barangays also set a 15% target of local counterpart contributions of their total project costs with a majority of them complying or even allotting over the agreed percentage.

“It is not whether you win the game or not, but it is how you play the game” said Mayor Wellington Pooten likening the community driven development project to a baseball game in his message as convener of the forum.

“You are now in second base…but you need wise judgment so as not to imperil the chance of the runner in third base who is nearer the home plate.” The second cycle of the municipality is crucial to their project implementation after a model first year that gathered national attention in project implementation.

Also present in the MIBF-PRA was Deputy National Project Manager Thomas Cabueños who gave details on the expansion of the project under its new development partner.

“The total project cost for the KC-MCC is around $168 Million. That’s about P7.8 Billion. That is the kind of investment the KALAHI-CIDSS under the Millenium Challenge Corporation is doing for the entire country...not in my lifetime will I see that kind of money, but we are managing that kind of big project for the entire country for 2011-2016,” he said.

Projects to be implemented by the barangays of Besao include disaster mitigation structures, education facilities, water systems, and access enhancements.

This is the second cycle or year that Besao has gone through the process of community driven development and is now under funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States of America. (PIA CAR/JDJM-DSWD-CAR)