Republic of the Philippines Province of Camarines Norte MUNICIPALITY OF TALISAY
The municipality of Talisay, the smallest agricultural town in Camarines Norte, in the Bicol Region is very much IRA dependent. Having very limited opportunities for advancement commercially and industrially, considering that 96.0% of the municipal land area are highly restricted rice and coconut lands, all that was left to pursue the development thrusts of the municipal administration, in view of very limited financial resources to be appropriated for various development programs, is to seek financial help from the different government agencies, the national government and the foreign funding institutions.
The province of Camarines Norte have 12 municipalities and the smallest in terms of land area is the municipality of Talisay with total land area of only about 3,076 hectares or just 1.33 % of the provincial land area. The municipality is composed of 15 barangays, one (1) urban, three (3) coastal and eleven (11) rural barangays. 2003 CBMS data showed a total population of 221,524, 10,928 of which are males and 10,596 are females. Likewise, total household population is 4,557, average household size of 5, and annual growth rate of 4.08%, upstaging other large municipalities of the province and the capital town of Daet.
Talisay is characteristically flat with no mountains and valleys. Bordering the coastal side of Talisay is the Pacific Ocean in the northeast, by the municipalities of Vinzons and Labo on the northwest, by San Vicente on the southwest and by Daet on the southeast.
With regards to land use, of the total municipal land area of 3,076 hectares, agricultural areas dominate comprising 95.08% or 2,924.66 has., divided into irrigated rice lands – 1,368.70 has., rainfed areas – 141.0 jhas. And coconut lands – 1,414.96 has.. The remaining areas are divided into Wetlands – 30.7 has., Beach sands – 59.06 has., built-up areas – 30.76 has., and grasslands – 30.76 has.. Traditionally, the main livelihood of the people is farming, seconded by government services and fishing comes third mostly of foreshore type..
A fifth class municipality, Talisay is generally IRA dependent. Of the total income of Php 22,026,215.59, Php 20,294,092.80 of which came from the Internal Revenue Allotment while only Php 1,732,122.79 or 7.86 % came from the local income.
The burning of the Municipal Building in April, 2003 , put the local government unit in a very grim and depressing situation. All the records and equipments were destroyed and burned to ashes, leaving nothing to start with. But this situation did not discourage the local administration to continue with all efforts to improve the life of the community.
The introduction of the Community Based Monitoring System in the Province of Camarines Norte, specifically in the Municipality of Talisay by the MIMAP-Philippines Project Management Office sometime in April 2003, is very timely, considering that all documents in the all of the municipal offices were destroyed during the fire. The possibility of data reconstruction is very remote and gathering of new information is the only recourse.
The CBMS as a tool in collecting basic data has been adapted by the LGU with the primary aim of : 1) generating firsthand record that could be use in the daily management of local government social services, specifically in the allocation of budget and other resources from the 20% development fund and, 2) as a benchmark data in making project proposals for submission to other funding institutions. The LGU rely heavily on foreign funding sources and national programs to be able to implement additional poverty reduction programs.
The data generated from the CBMS survey which were made available in November, 2003 have been the only source of information for the municipality of Talisay. Other municipal offices like the Agriculture, Social Welfare and Development, Health, Budget, Planning and Development as well as line agencies like DILG, DOH and DSWD and the Provincial Government are likewise relying on the data obtained from the CBMS.
Some of the important information that resulted from the CBMS survey were:
Health Proportion of HH’s with child deaths 0.17
Nutrition Prevalence of malnourished children 12.28 Housing Proportion of HH’s who are squatters 1.15 Proportion of HH’s without residential land 53.08 Water & Sanitation Proportion of HH’s w/o access to safe water 10.40 Proportion of HH’s w/o access to sanitary toilet facilities 14.07 Basic Education Elementary participation rate 90.22 Highschool participation rate 80.50 Proportion of HH’s who can read or write 98.37 Income proportion of HH’s w/ income below poverty threshold 46.83 Proportion of HH’s w/ income below food threshold 33.62 Proportion of HH’s that experienced food shortage 8.25 Employment Unemployment rate 22.36 Peace & Order Proportion of HH’s w/ members who were crime victims 3.09
Basing from this results, the sectors that the local administration noticed that need priority attention include nutrition, water and sanitation, housing, as well as income and employment .
Now that the gaps have been identified , planning activities were made and consequently, some concrete actions were established.
To address the nutritional problems of children aged 0-5, the municipality has launched in connection with the Nutrition Month and Childrens’ Week celebrations feeding programs for selected day care students funded from the 20% Development Fund. Recently, it has forged agreement with the National Dairy Authority thru the Expanded Dairy Program for Rural Enhancement for milk feeding of the malnourished children by providing 180 ml. pack of safe, reconstituted milk on a continuing and regular basis from Monday to Sunday, for 120 days, with a total project cost of Php 100,800.00. The milk , on the other hand, is being supplied by local-based CBRM NGO whose livelihood project include Dairy Production. Maternal health care programs are also being intensified to counter malnutrition problems during early stages of pregnancies. Also, the accreditation of the Municipal Health Center to the Sentrong Sigla is a welcome addition to the services being offered by the local government .
Water and Sanitation problems have been addressed thru the provision of Water Sealed Toilet Bowls to an initial of 40 households selected from the 15 barangays coupled with the construction of five (5) units Level III Water System with filter box in far barangays. Funding from this two projects came from the KR-2 Project (RP-Japan Increase in Food Production Project). Likewise, Level I water system through the extension of water pipe line in four (4) barangays with Level I water sources. To make the program complete, series of trainings and information campaigns on health and sanitation were initiated by the Municipal Health Office personnel.
The housing problems on the other hand, which covers 53.08% of total households who are composed of those either renting, with consent from land owners to construct dwelling units and even those without consent is very alarming which made the local administrators to pushed the housing programs tapping other institutions with the same projects. At present, the LGU has acquired a 3-hectare, 150 lots socialized housing project not to mention core shelter projects given by the DSWD. Just of late, the Gawad Kalinga Housing Project of the Couples for Christ has already committed 45 of the total 100 housing units being targeted for 2005 and 36 houses were already awarded and occupied by different beneficiaries.
To approach the nagging problems on low family income which is the main cause of poverty among the rural poor, except for livelihood trainings being given to out-of- school youths, women and even to farmers, the local administration has availed of the Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector (InfRES) Project . This project aims to improve and sustain agricultural production through the rehabilitation/ upgrading and construction of farm-to-market roads which in the end, is expected to decrease or lower poverty among the local constituents, notably farmers and farm families. This project is also expected to generate jobs and in the long run, the communities could readily avail of other social services on health, agriculture and education since access infrastructure are already improved and additional roads will soon be available.
With the Regional Development Council (RDC) implementation of the synchronized updating of Socio-Economic and Physical Profile (SEPP) for all the Local Government Units in the Bicol Region, the CBMS data generated has been used in encoding barangay information relative to economic, social and physical characteristics of the Local Government Unit and the barangays . This will ultimately be translated into the Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Plan (MCLUP) and the Zoning Ordinance which is currently being revised by the Sangguniang Bayan to suit the present development needs of the locality.
Recently, and the most significant role played by the CBMS in development planning process, particularly in the preparation of project proposals and in designing other legislative measures, is in the finalization of the 3-year Executive and Legislative Agenda (ELA) and the drafting and formulation of the Childrens’ Right and Welfare Code and the Municipal Development Plan for Children (MDPC) for CY 2005-2025.
The Executive and Legislative Agenda (ELA) for 2004-2006 which is also an essential and important tool incorporating the key aspirations, challenges and concerns facing the LGU and further outlines the set of programs, projects and policies towards the sustained socio-economic development. The ELA is reflective and supportive of and has generated popular support from the various stakeholders in the LGU. It is also an action program that unite the development priorities of the Local Chief Executive and the Sangguniang Bayan . Moreover, the ELA was based on the prioritized issues ensuing from the results of the CBMS, under the five (5) priority sectors that include administration, governance, social services, economic and environment. Some issues and problems that were identified by the Municipal ELA Team, based on the CBMS results which were used to determine the mission, vision, objectives, development goals and strategic direction of the LGU, human resource and capacity development needs of and interventions to address the needs, priority legislative requirements and the resource mobilization strategies were:
1. Lack of job opportunities/unemployment 2. Lack of livelihood programs 3. Limited LGU-initiated health programs 4. Absence of Level III water system 5. Absence of electricity in some barangays , and 6. Limited housing programs and policies
Likewise, the drafting and translation of the Municipal Development Plan for Children, aimed to make sure that every child in the municipality will exercise his/her rights to survival, protection, development and participation throughout his life cycle used CBMS data as indicators in the situational analysis. Among the indicators extracted from the CBMS are the following:
• Health: Infant mortality, access to safe drinking water, and sanitary toilets. • Education : Literacy, enrollment, early childhood education, school participation, and school drop-outs. • Protection : Working children, out-of-school youths, and child abuse cases. • Participation : Membership in youth organizations and participation in various community activities.
As a whole, the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS), is really an important tool in determining the needs of the people and see the extent of certain conditions in a locality, which are partly hidden to reveal the over-all picture of life in our barangays.
The CBMS, is not only an approach using community participation to facilitate assessment of actual needs. It also develops in the community empowerment, in view of their involvement in the consultation process and information sharing through the surveys conducted by the barangay enumerators and the validation of the data and information gathered which are presented to them. With this empowerment comes motivation to participate in all development undertakings of the government which will redound to sustained growth.
With CBMS, we can look forward to participative development. With CBMS as our partner in development, nothing is impossible.