THE LABO EXPERIENCE POVERTY and ECONOMIC POLICY (PEP) ANNUAL CONFERENCE DAKAR, SENEGAL & OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO June 16-24, 2004
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CBMS: THE LABO EXPERIENCE POVERTY AND ECONOMIC POLICY (PEP) ANNUAL CONFERENCE DAKAR, SENEGAL & OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO June 16-24, 2004 Presented by: Hon. WINIFREDO B. OCO Municipal Mayor Labo, Camarines Norte Philippines (Greetings) Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. In behalf of the people of Labo, I am grateful and deeply honored to be with you here and speak before you about what we have learned from the implementation of the community-based monitoring system (CBMS) in our beloved municipality. But first of all, let me first tell you about my beloved municipality. (Location and Boundaries/Slide #2) The municipality of Labo is geographically located at the center of the province of Camarines Norte and is approximately 335 kilometers south of Metro Manila (about 6-7 hrs. travel by land) and 15 kilometers away from Daet, capital town of the province. It is bounded on the north by the Municipalities of Paracale, Jose Panganiban and Capalonga, on the south by the Province of Quezon and the adjoining province of Camarines Sur, on the East by the municipalities of Vinzons and San Vicente and on the west by the municipality of Sta. Elena. (Location and Boundaries/Slide #3) The municipality of Labo is the biggest among the twelve (12) municipalities of the Province. Its aggregate land area of 64,448 hectares or 648.84 sq. kilometers occupies more than 25% of the total provincial land area. (Location and Boundaries/Slide #4) Labo was once a barrio of Indan, now known as Vinzons and was created a municipality on September 8, 1800. The name “Labo” itself did not came from any legal degree or public clamor but just a product of clashing languages that resulted in bumbling misinterpretation. It was said that a native sailing along a flooded river was asked by a Spanish sergeant “Que Pueblo eso este?” thinking that the stranger was referring to the flooded river, he replied: “Labo (murky) po ang tubig.” The first word stuck since then. Its 52 barangays represent 18.44% of the total number of barangays of the province. Ten (10) of these barangays are classified as urban barangays and the rest are considered rural barangays. The surface of the municipality is generally rugged, hilly and mountainous with some flat terrain. These characteristics and its vast land area is generally devoted to agriculture where coconut and rice are the major agricultural products. 1 (STATISITICAL PROFILE /Slides #5) The municipality of Labo has the following statistical profile before the CBMS was implemented: Population (NSO 2000) - 81,388 Classification of the town - First Class No. of barangays (village) - 52 No. of puroks (sub-village) - 284 Land area - 64,884 has. Dominant Land Use - Agriculture Prime Agricultural Products - Copra, Abaca, Rice & Pineapple CBMS Implementation /Slides #7&8) • August 8-10, 2002 – Mr. Jose Ramon Lagatuz, Economic Researcher from the Municipal Planning and Development Office attended a Seminar-Workshop on Local Government Initiatives for Poverty Reduction wherein one of the topics discussed was the CBMS Palawan experience. • August 28, 2002 – Letter of request was formally sent to the MIMAP-CBMS Network Coordinating Team citing our interest of LGU-Labo to implement CBMS in our municipality. • October 25, 2002 – Initial briefing of the LGU-Labo officials conducted at the MIMAP-CBMS office in Manila • November 19-20, 2002 – Delegates from LGU-Labo attended the CBMS National Conference at Palawan organized by the MIMAP-CBMS Team • January 28, 2003 – MIMAP-CBMS Team attended a Municipal Development Council Meeting for a CBMS orientation to municipal and barangay officials in Labo. • February 1-28, 2003 – Preparation of Household and Barangay Profile Questionnaires incorporating other relevant information needed by the municipality • March 18, 2003 – I issued the Executive Order for the Institutionalization of CBMS in the municipality of Labo • March 19, 2003 – the Honorable Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) passed a resolution authorizing the Local Chief Executive to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the MIMAP-CBMS Team. A total budget of P263, 824.00 was allocated for the CBMS implementation in the municipality. • March 24-26 and 27-29, 2003 – First and second batch of enumerators were trained for data collection. There were 302 participants composed of barangay officials, Barangay Health Workers and Nutrition Scholars, Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council), beneficiaries of the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) and other volunteers. It was also during this occasion that the Memorandum of Agreement was signed by and between the LGU-Labo and the MIMAP-CBMS Network Coordinating Team • April 1-30, 2003 – Conduct of Municipal-wide CBMS Survey Operation • May 8-9, 2003 – Training on Manual and Computerized Data Processing • May 12-30, 2004 – Manual data processing at the barangay level were completed for all 52 barangays. 2 • June 9-August 30, 2003 – Validation of CBMS Results at the barangay level • September 1, 2003 to the Present – Preparation of Barangay and Municipal Socioeconomic Profile utilizing the validated CBMS results. (COMMUNITY-BASED MONITORING SYSTEM IN LABO /Slides #9) When CBMS was established in our municipality, we have gathered the following information from the 52 barangays: • Total Population = 81,586 (as per CBMS Survey Results) o Male Population = 41,952 o Female Population = 39,634 • Number of Households = 15,875 • Average Household Size =5.14 • Average Sex Ratio = 106 males per 100 females CBMS Results in the Municipality of Labo /Slides #10 & 11) • Health • 0.16% - Proportion of Child Deaths (children ages 0-5 yrs. old) • Nutrition • 10.1% - Prevalence of malnutrition among children ages 0-6 yrs old • Housing • 94.1% - Proportion of households living in non-makeshift housing • 96.4% - Proportion of households who are formal setters • Water and Sanitation • 65.2% - Proportion of households with access to safe water supply • 64.2% - Proportion of households with access to sanitary toilet facilities • Basic Education • 79.0% - Elementary school participation rate • 66.0% - Secondary school participation rate • 98.7% - Literacy rate • Household Income • 96.8% - Proportion of households who eats at least 3 meals a day • 32.1% - Proportion of households with income above poverty threshold • 47.8% - Proportion of households with income above food threshold • Employment • 91.8% - Employment rate • Peace and Order • 0.63% - Proportion of persons who were victims of crimes This information only give figures about the condition of our community. A more innovative tool, shared to us by the CBMS Team, is the use of maps which is useful not only to policy and decision makers 3 like me, but also to program partners and stakeholders in planning the appropriate interventions in order to respond to the needs of our constituents. The following slides show us the geographical situation of our municipality. Access to sanitary toilet facilities (slides 12-15) - One of the major problems of Labo is the low access to sanitation facilities. Only 64.23% or 10,195 of the households in Labo have access to sanitary toilet facilities in 2003. Results of the survey shows that households that do not have access to sanitary toilet facilities use close pit (15.3% = 2,430 households) and open pit (6.3%=1,005 households) while 12.0% or 1,906 households have no toilet facility at all. - An ongoing program of the Municipal Health Office addresses this problem through the distribution of toilet bowls to needy households in the barangays. The CBMS data was used in targeting of beneficiaries of the program. A total of 900 toilet bowl units were purchased for this program. 295 and 403 households benefited from the program in 2003 and 2004 respectively. There are still 202 toilet bowl units left to be distributed to needy households this year. - The program is carried-out in partnership with the barangay government units whose counterpart is to provide cement and hallow blocks needed for the construction of the toilet facilities in the households. - The following maps show the proportion of households who have access to sanitary toilet facilities before and after distribution of the toilet bowls. Slide 12 shows the proportion of household with access to sanitary toilet facilities as results of the CBMS survey conducted in April 2003 (before intervention). Slide 13 shows the proportion of household with access to sanitary toilet facilities after toilet bowls have been distributed to households (after intervention). Slide 14 shows the purok and household-level data on access to sanitary toilet facilities of one of the barangays in Labo, Brgy. Sta. Cruz as results of the CBMS survey (26 household beneficiaries; before and after distribution of toilet bowls). Access to safe water supply (slide 15) - Another problem in the municipality that needs to be addressed is the low access to safe water supply (65.2%). Most of the 5,530 households reported to have no access to safe water in the CBMS survey get their potable water from dug wells. - To address this problem, I have allocated the amount of P1,750,000.00 ($31,250) for the improvement of several barangay water system. There is also a proposed IRAP-INFRES project to be implemented in priority barangays. The IRAP-INFRES Project is a national program wherein program beneficiaries will be given financial support for water system improvement. Secondary school participation rate (slide 16) - Slide 16 shows the secondary school participation rate (number of children ages 13-16 attending elementary school over total population of children ages 13-16). Also shown in the map is the location of 10 high schools in the municipality. Results of the validation exercises revealed that proximity to school facility is one reason for the low participation rate. Moreover, some of these children are 4 expected to be economically productive to help their families.