Sustainable Upland Development: A Replicable Model

The SUD Model is a strategy to ensure sustainable management of the upland resource base and improve the living standards of the communities who derive most of their income from upland farming.

It encompasses six key schemes namely: 1) Land-Use Based Barangay Development Planning; 2) Agricultural Extension for Promoting Diversified Farming; 3) Barangay Forest Protection; 4) Labor-Based Routine Road Maintenance for Barangay Roads; 5) Rural Financial Services; and, 5) Upland Village Enterprise Development.

The Model is based on the seven-years of experience with UDP implementation in 144 upland barangays in Southern Mindanao. It encompasses a forward-looking scenario whereby development efforts with upland communities are led by the LGUs particularly the municipal and barangay. Private financial institutions such as rural banks and credit cooperatives and private sector entities for marketing of upland produce, also play key roles in the model.

Camiguin: Island Born of Fire

Let Us Talk...

Topic #1: 'NPA not threat to mining, but NGOs'

THE presence of New People's Army (NPA) rebels in mineral-rich areas in Davao Region is not a threat to mining companies operating in these areas. Instead, an official of an aggrupation of mining firms tagged non-government organizations, advocating for the protection of the environment, as the ones that make "our knees shiver."

Hustling Over Veggies

Tagaytay’s tracks and motivating profile...

It is one of the barangays of Magsaysay in province of Davao del Sur. It has a total land area of 1,433 hectares. The soil type is clay and sandy loam, which is best, suited to agriculture. The area is 10-20 percent rolling and 70 percent mountainous. The barangay’s water resource includes nine rivers, 16 creeks and 13 springs.

The barangay has 213 households with an average family size of six. The community is composed of five tribal groups namely: B’laan, T’boli, Bagobo, Kalagan and Manobo. The dialect spoken by the people is B'laan although majority could also understand and speak Cebuano. Six in every 10 persons of the community are literate, being able to read and write at least in the dialect. The high illiteracy rate, poor health services, unsafe sources of drinking water reinforced the sorry state of the people in Tagaytay.

The predominant diseases that oftentimes led to death in the area include malaria, diarrhea, cough and colds with fever, ulcer and pneumonia. The barangay has one complete primary school with only four teachers serving grade school. It also suffers occasional flash floods and soil erosion due to denuded forests.

At the onset of development, problems and concerns on economic enterprise were noted to include the following: insufficient capital to start a business; inadequate alternative source of income other than farming; ineffective trading and marketing support; lack of transportation facility to market farm products and lack of farm to market road. The farmers also mentioned that there are some agri-infrastructure needs that have to be addressed. These include post harvest facilities, warehouse, solar drier, corn mills, and irrigation system and spring development. These needs somehow impede in the economic and agricultural production of the community. As a result, the agri-production is low thereby affecting the income of the farmers.

Despite the odds…

“Hustling over a vegetable enterprise, despite the odds” is a fitting description of the Tagaytay experience. To hustle is to toil and work. This is what TUFAWA, the upland barangay association in Tagaytay did. Theirs is a story of how people manage to organize and unite to address their issues and concerns. However, the road to development is not easy for there are challenges to meet along the way.

The association was organized in 2000 under the auspices of the UDP and was officially registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. It operates as an association offering loans and savings services to farmers and workers. It has a membership of 190 people mostly belonging to B’laan tribe and distributed among four sitios.
Through UDP assistance, the association has formulated its vision and goal statements. The association conducted trainings and activities along diversified farming system and agro-forestry. These trainings made the barangay residents realized the importance of protecting and restoring the environment while at the same time promote and develop sustainable farming system and eventually increase farm income. Presently, the association offers vegetable production loans to farmer members. It collects the loan through its selling scheme of P1.00 per kilogram of vegetables. Other than this, it has a current cash position of P12, 000 pesos generated from the labor payments in the road rehabilitation activity funded by UDP.

The association took charge of implementing the various activities jointly planned by the different stakeholders in the community with technical and financial assistance from UDP. Among the projects it implemented include the rehabilitation of the farm to market road and the barangay foot trail.

The business development and planning workshops resulted to the development of a business plan entitled the “TUFAWA Vegetable Production and Marketing Enterprise” as well as the formulation of the operation manual. The system installation and coaching facilitated major activities and installed the appropriate system, which includes simple recording and bookkeeping for officers and members become familiarize with the actual business transactions.

In its first three months of operation, the trading center has facilitated the trading of vegetable with an average 16 tons of vegetables monthly. This operation of the trading center was made possible due to the enforcement of the municipal ordinance requiring all agricultural commodities coming from the other barangays to be traded at the ‘Bagsakan.’ The same ordinance requires all traders/ producers conveying vegetables through the municipality to present a pass slip from the trading center.

A significant portion of the vegetable supply from the producing areas is traded and consumed locally while the surplus is marketed directly to Davao City, bypassing both Bansalan and Digos City.

In the assessment study conducted, it was revealed that Tagaytay is a producer of a range of vegetables that have sufficient market demand. Production scales maybe relatively small but there is still much room for expansion both in terms of potential production areas as well as market absorption capacity.

At present, it is apparent that TUFAWA does not have the requisite capacity to effectively engage in a vegetable trading despite the enthusiasm, willingness and the presence of entrepreneurial additives. But the community’s dream and willingness to pursue are still on.

The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ
Originally uploaded by vince3166

When I was young at 16 going on 18, I was suffering to become legal. To be officially permitted by my parents to do things my way. Sometime when the going gets tough at the university I wouldn’t be compelled to hear mass on Sundays. My weekends should be reserved for me to do some making up to whatever I think is necessary. It would be my own freewill whether to attend church. They wouldn’t think as if, I’m sacrilegious when I couldn’t make it. I thought that part of my struggle is profoundly normal, and as parents they should understand me and love me even more. I’d assured them of the hope they pinned on me.

What this has got to do with Nikos Kazantzakis’ The Last Temptation of Christ? Well, they said, we all have our crosses to bear. I’d got the book The Last Temptation…actually it was loaned to me by a professor at my creative literature class. The novel seemed to me the effort of an ordinary man to understand Christ’s sacrifices as an insider and to experience it as his own. In order to speak to us, Jesuses or Jesi (?) since he only become Christ after crucifixion, must be made to bear the infirmities of modern times-the doubt, the angst, the fear and trembling, the existential dread, and yes, even the sexual obsessive-ness. At this age of complacency Christ must be tempted not only by evil desires but by the possibility of a life of ordinary pleasure as well-not only by extravagance but also by the life of middle-class satisfactions.

As it was customary in my family to eat together every Sunday after hearing mass, they reiterated the sermon to me since I was absent, as usual. They told me that the officiating priest berated a movie, The Last Temptation of Christ (I’m writing a separate review on this). They said the priest also told them that the author of the book from where the movie is adapted was excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church. As Roman Catholics, even if I pointed out that they couldn't be because we're Filipinos they still insisted to be called as such, they warned us not to watch the movie. They’re infuriated even more when they saw me reading it, they implicitly understood me, and, they hated me? I said to myself that the controversy was somehow helping to make it a bestseller.

I knew that their reaction was temporary since I knew they couldn’t forsake me for so long. I was constrained to read the novel to the finish. It seemed astonishing though that in this time of too much self-assertion and spiritual greed, of increasing list of rights and escalating demands for titles, the theme of self-sacrifice should be so clearly presented, without regret, without disdain, without trivializing. I and many readers of the book have shared these experiences to some extent and it could seem odd that Christians (I’m inactive at that time) should want to condemn the works that brought that about.

The Rape of the Forest

Albagan’s past…

The condition of the forest in Albagan depicts that of Mt. Matutum in general. Where Albagan, in the past, had lush vegetation of highly diverse species of plants and animals, it now only has three hectares of forestland and eight hectares of plantation forest. This condition was brought about by the practice of illegal cutting of forest trees aggravated by ‘kaingin’ practices of residents. The natural springs were not spared from these destructive activities resulting to gradual drying up of existing springs, which threatened the barangay’s water resources. Added to this was the El Niño phenomenon hitting the place in 1997.

Majesty amidst devastation…

Mt. Matutum, which stands at 2,086 meters overlooking the South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos growth area in Southern Philippines, was once a highly biologically rich environment. In 1964, it was declared as a forest reserve by Presidential Proclamation No. 293 to protect 14,008 hectares of its forest cover from illegal logging, timber poaching, hunting, and other destructive activities. In March 20, 1995, it was declared as a protected landscape through Presidential Proclamation No. 552 under the National Integrated Protected Area System as a way of safeguarding the integrity of the traditional interaction between people and nature that, over time, has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and cultural value.

Albagan is one of the 13 barangays of Tampakan, in the Province of South Cotabato. Although the natives of the town are the B’laans, majority of the residents are Cebuanos.

During the later part of the 1930s towards the early part of the 1940s, there was an influx of settlers from various parts of the country. This happened through the National Land Settlement Administration that administered and facilitated settlement. Logging concession, that granted timber companies to cut trees in commercial volume over vast tracks of land, came in the 1960s. This devastated the forest environment not only of Albagan, which used to be a sitio of Barangay Lambayong of Tampakan, but of most forested areas in the country. By the turn of the 1970s, when logging concessionaires abandoned logged areas, it became a rehabilitation site with government pouring in social, economic and infrastructure support. An agricultural support program came in 1995 through the Southern Mindanao Agricultural Program of the Department of Agriculture.

Evolution of a village-based enterprise…

In October 2001, the UDP officially entered Barangay Albagan, the third of four barangays that it covers in Tampakan. After a series of activities following the sustainable community development process, an upland barangay association was organized.

In April 2002, the association came up with the community watershed plan as their basis to pursue community development and environmental management work in the barangay. From June to August 2004, the community-based village enterprise development project was implemented through the Mahintana Foundation, Inc. As a result of the thorough organizational diagnosis, the association was able to define their respective roles and identify various potential community-based enterprises and zero in on seedling production and marketing as their priority enterprise.

After the business planning, MFI engaged the four sitios in the barangay into the production of indigenous species such as lawaan, bakan, nato, hindang, igem, among other. They did not find it difficult to implement the seedling production component of the enterprise, since they already had previous knowledge and experience in doing it.

However, the market or buyer for the seedlings was mostly to MFI, the same service provider assisting them. It shows a limitation in the sense that sales may stop if MFI stops buying, either by environmental conditions when time is not suitable for planting or a change in priorities. On the other hand, data on the market reveal that there may be a large market apart from the MFI that waits to be tapped.

A need for alternatives…

Seedling production and marketing is viable for Albagan. However, demand for indigenous seedlings is highly seasonal and vulnerable to the changing priorities of buyers. Although it is a good enterprise, it is deemed that other activities must be done on the side in preparation for slack or lean period. The communities must therefore diversify to survive trying times.

Paving the Way to Prosperity

Sitio Mapaso illustrated…

San Roque is one of the 17 barangays comprising the town of New Bataan, in the province of Compostela Valley. It is the first barangay one passes through, while cruising the national highway from New Bataan to the next municipality of Compostela Valley. The barangay is three kilometers from the center of the town, accessible by a number of passenger vehicles such as motorcycles, multi-cabs and buses.

In San Roque, one finds the sitio Mapaso, located before a river at the foot of the mountain. The area is generally planted to coconut with banana/cardaba as intercrop. Two springs development projects have been installed and funded by the CRS and the provincial government in order for them to avail of potable water. Access in going up the mountain was to cross the river through a hanging bridge.

Farmers in the locality were limited to mono-cropping, clearing and planting the slopes with corn--denuding the uplands in the process. San Roque has an estimated area of 10,000 hectares considering the irregular terrain of the barangay. Its residents originate from different places such as Bohol, Cebu and Leyte.

Cardaba Trading…

The Mapaso Small Banana Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative is the only cooperative engaged in banana trading in the area. It was organized in June 2000 and become a cooperative in 2002. There are three key services that MASBAFAMCO provide; namely: cardaba trading, lending and health care.

The cooperative started cardaba trading in year 2000 with the aim to provide equitable prices to cardaba farmers. Three years after, the cooperative realized the need to directly link with banana chip processors. It was at this time that the UDP, a partner of the cooperative, provided assistance in establishing direct linkage with the Commodities Corporation (ELCOCO). The direct linkage with the company enabled the cooperative to increase its canvassed volume of cardaba from an average of five tons per month to ten tons per month for two years.

The coop plans to intensify its banana trading to further expand to four other barangays in New Bataan hoping to generate more jobs and employment opportunities in the next three years. From banana dicing, it sets a vision to engage in actual trading of cardaba.

In situations where traders renege on their agreement to buy the cardaba, the cooperative has also undergone the ‘pain’ and ‘loss’ of having to look for alternative buyers for cardaba left along the streets for pick-up. It shows the dynamism of business, as well as, planning ahead for similar problems arising in the future. The plan for actual trading was considered.

The emergence of big markets for cardaba through the development of the banana chips industry gives hope to the cooperative towards achieving it goals. With the town intensifying its campaign for cardaba production and the mayor’s aggressive promotion in planting 10 hectares of land per purok with cardaba, their goal is doable.

The cooperative also provides cash advances to both member and non-member cardaba growers since 2001. The purpose was answering the needs of cardaba growers for small amounts of money necessary for their subsistence in between harvests.

From a few hundred pesos working capital in 2001, this gradually increased to about P12,000 pesos in June 2004. With the increase in capital, cash advances were also increased. Nowadays, the cooperative treats cash advances as short-term loans bearing an interest of two percent per month and a three percent service on a pre-paid basis.

It set-up a fund for hospitalization, also known as the ‘emergency fund’, seeing the difficulty of its members to look for funds to pay their medical expenses in times of need.

The cooperative’s finances show an improving performance with assets increasing from P9,396 in 2002 to P9,487 in 2003. Assets further increased by about 50 percent from January to June 2004. Aside from this, the cooperative has no external liabilities except that of the dividends and patronage refunds payable to its members.

Strip tease to progress

Upo in the shadows of progress…

One of the 19 barangays some eight kilometers away from the town center in Maitum. Estimated population is 1,640 comprising 98% lumads, particulary the T’boli, where only 43% are literate. It has a total land area of 2,430 hectares representing 7.5% of the total area of Maitum. The terrain is 18-30% hilly to moderate slope class and with at least 8-18% of rolling mountains. This barangay used to be marginalized due to the limited utilization of its agricultural land for productive purposes. Elders in the community describe the barangays during the early 90’s as very bare. It was also categorized as one of the poorest barangays of the town under the SRA-MBN survey of the local government. This situation was aggravated by the armed conflict between the government forces and the Moro National Liberation Front in 1999 that greatly affected the people in the barangay.

During this period, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources awarded farmers the stewardship of a total of 80 hectares under its integrated social forestry program. Recognizing the potential for abaca production in the area, the Fiber Industry Development Authority was commissioned to the barangay in 1998 to accelerate the growth and development of fiber industry. On the same year, FIDA has successfully organized 16 farmers. In 1999, 15 farmers signified interest to organize the Upo Valley Multi-Purpose Cooperative. However, the cooperative was not able to take off continuously due to the unstable peace and order in the area that affected the community due to the displacement of some families in 1999. For a time, the cooperative was inactive until 2003.

The greater the obstacles…

Upo is the third barangay covered by the UDP. It is one of the 19 barangays of Maitum.

In 2001, FIDA granted the Cooperative one unit abaca mobile stripping machine to facilitate the goals set in abaca enterprise. The UDP started operating in this barangay in 2002 where the upland barangay association was formed to facilitate and manage the implementation of various projects delivered to them.

The more glory in achieving it…

The use of abaca stripping machine enabled the cooperative to generate income out of the 20% share from the total volume processed. An initial amount of P1,200 pesos was used by the cooperative to start the abaca trading. With only four farmers selling their abaca fibers to the cooperative, the trading gradually expanded now absorbing 600 kilos of fibers from 65 abaca farmers. As of end of December 2005, the total purchases of abaca fibers is P112,000 pesos. This volume is however not sufficient for the cooperative to directly sell the fibers to Davao, and meantime, traders from Maitum come to the barangay to pick up the product.

Mang Perido’s struggle in the community…

Mang Perido Kusin, the manager of the cooperative, recalls that he would count his money out of the proceeds of his abaca fiber in front of many people in the barangay to motivate them to plant abaca in their farms. Though he is a respected member of the clan, convincing other farmers in the barangay to plant abaca did not happen overnight. He had to repeatedly talk and convince them to work and believe in the enterprise. He thought doing this needs his utmost commitment and sincerity to help the people in his community.

This happened almost three years ago, when the barangay had only few patches of abaca plants and only 4 farmers in the barangay used to sell abaca fibers...

Aside from abaca, farmers were also encouraged to plant bananas as one of the major sources of income for their daily needs. Farmers individually sell their products to traders who also come to the community weekly as another business opportunity given an additional capital for operation.

The rapid development process in the community can be attributed to its enabling environment, which can be detailed on the committed, sincere and respected cooperative leaders and officers, supportive local government units, efficient and collaborative efforts among key players and vast resources for productive use.

Success of the different efforts however, was not easy. The cooperative have to deal with the difficulties and challenges that came along the way, such as lack of funds among members to finance production inputs needed to maintain healthy crop stand, insufficient capital of the cooperative to expand the trading business, traditional practices and beliefs that slowed down application of new agricultural technologies, and low educational level of most members that might be difficult for leaders to turn-over or delegate responsibilities.

Nuts Going Bananas

Denuded Palo 19...

It is the second smallest barangay in the town of Tampakan in the province of South Cotabato, and acts as the boundary between the province of Sultan Kudarat. It was once blessed with abundant forest resources.

The families of B’laan who originally settled in the area enjoyed the rich resources but due to a series of logging concessions granted to Habaluyas, Henry Wee, Chonglao and the Bayanihan Logging Company, the trees dwindled to a staggering and deathly number through the years. For almost 20 years, the mountain slopes were cleared of its old and huge mahogany trees and other primary grown forest plants.

The logging operation also brought a great number of migrants from Leyte, Zamboanga and neighboring towns. Most of the already denuded forests were cleared and converted for homes and farmlands. Farmers then were practicing technologies like ‘slash and burn’, mono-cropping, and non-synchronized cropping patterns, soil erosion worsened, and incidence of pest and rat infestation of crops increased.

Even in this remote area, land conflicts between the B’laan and Christians occur and were settled only in 1988. The New People’s Army and the Bangsangmoro groups also occasionally pass through Palo 19 for background checks but there were no major conflicts involving these groups.

The barangay also had very limited physical and social infrastructure. Its roads were of poor quality and in order to reach most areas, one either rode a horse or walked.

There are no post harvest facilities, no electricity, and no health center. Health personnel and volunteers provided only basic health services. There is a high school and an elementary school. The main water sources for the 260 households are undeveloped and unprotected springs.

After the advent of logging, agriculture became a very unprofitable enterprise. Middlemen provided trading, marketing, and credit services, including cash advances and loans to be charged against crops. Selling prices for crops were mainly determined by these middlemen and the farmers have very little to do with their lot.

From miscalculations to community integration…

Looking back, the small and mountainous barangay was formerly the 19th station of a logging company in the 1970s. What’s left of its forest reserves were almost laid bare by a series of logging concessions operating in the area until the 1980s? This fact alone significantly indicated the need for constructive recovery in Palo 19.

Fortunately, the UDP (1999) selected the barangay as its first coverage area in Tampakan. The schemes applied in assisting the community includes, facilitating the formulation of the community watershed plan, training for farmers on sustainable and environmentally sensitive agriculture technologies, facilitating access to and provision of agriculture infrastructure support, and the provision of the marketing and enterprise extension infrastructure.

Today, the story of Palo 19 significantly evolves in its own upland barangay association called the Federation of Palo 19 Upland Farmers’ Association, Inc. organized. It’s primarily purpose is to enter into a community-based forest management agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and secure land tenure for the farmers.

In 2001, a ‘Bagsakan’ center was conceptualized to pave the path for the trading of community’s major crops. The activity strengthened the organization, and revitalized community participation and interest in the communal efforts towards development. The center was intended as a means of consolidating goods and of improving access to buyers and farmers’ bargaining power in the market. Realizing that there was a big market for peanuts at that time, the community went into peanut production. However, the concept that the center would act as a consolidator of products did not materialize, and actual operations were limited to peanut buying and storage.

Miscalculated moves…

In 2002, the membership of the FPUFAI to the Mindanao Peanut Industry and its status as ’Seed Producer in Southern Cotabato’ enabled it to access an institutional buyer in Manila, who required 10 tons per shipment, at P50 per kilo. However, the venture resulted into a huge loss due to rat infestation. Furthermore, the unsynchronized planting and harvesting of farmers accounted for the failure in achieving the required volume of production. Helpless, the center then sold the peanuts to buyers within the municipality, as well as in Tacurong and Tantangan, at less than the procurement price.

The damage caused by rat infestation, the lack of capital, lack of organizational capability to manage a communal enterprise, and other issues relating to management of finances and general operations of the enterprise, led to the closure of the ’Bagsakan’ center operations in 2002.

The revival…

In 2004, the UDP engaged the Horizon Integrated Management and Allied Services, a consultancy firm, to implement business development services to Palo 19. The officers signified their interest in engaging in reviving the operations of the ‘Bagsakan’ center, using the barangay extension center, as the community storage for agricultural products.

To effectively manage the enterprise and provide its members with other benefits such as dividends and patronage refund, the association opted to convert itself into a cooperative. While it will retain its Vision, Mission, and Goals, it will adopt an organizational structure more appropriate to managing business enterprises, and will be guided by its community-formulated business plan and operations manual. It was like a rebirth of its goals.

Trading now will be with four priority crops: banana, gabi, ginger and tomatoes. These crops were identified based on the community’s production capabilities in relation to the prevailing market. Products will be supplied by the farmers, and sold to markets in the cities of Koronadal, Surallah, and General Santos.

To help sustain the trading enterprise and the production of the priority crops expansion of diversified farming among farmers was encouraged and eventually achieved.

The organization now as it processes its application to the Cooperative Development Authority, functions and operates like a cooperative, in preparation for its conversion. Because of increased community interest, its membership, as of December 2005, has increased from 70 to over 200.

Their efforts and plans now are generally focused on improving the quality and volume of products, and on enabling the organization to provide benefits (dividends and patronage refund) and other services to its members.

Significantly, the officers and members believe in the importance of focusing on their vision to stay committed, and united, as a way to address their day-to-day struggles, considering that up to now, the services rendered to the association are still voluntary coupled with the various doubts and intrigues attacking the initial operations of the enterprise.

The Trails of Kablon

Veggies: A Climb tO Flourish

Barangay Kablon is situated at the foot of Mt. Matutum with an area of 4,700 hectares, more or less. It is composing of eight sitios; however, Sitio Glandang is the most populated area in the cluster with an average household size of four. Around 66% of its inhabitants are indigenous people belonging to the B’laan tribe. It has a total land area of 1,004 hectares and 700 hectares is devoted to agriculture.

The sitio settlement buildup is about three hectares. Basic soil type ranges from sandy loam to rocky and it is still rich with organic materials. Temperature is generally cold with no distinct wet or dry season that is why the predominant crop is vegetable. Potatoes, radish, carrots and cabbages are among the commonly planted crops in the area. The average farm size of households is about two to three hectares.

The vulnerability of Kablon’s lifestyle is mirrored by the ‘habal-habal,’ a motorcycle used to transport goods that ply along its roads aside from trekking by foot. Even land tenures are merely covered with certificates of stewardship, which intensifies their insecurity.

Farm financing is being accessed through lending institutions at a rate ranging from 10 to 20 percent per month. This being the case, the residents in Kablon could hardly get by their income. Health care and education are also scarce and expensive in this part of the highland owing to the fact that the nearest school operating in the area is quite expensive. This resulted into a very low literacy rate.

Despite the simple and almost scarce lifestyle of Kablon inhabitants, they enjoy recreational activities such as horse fights and “amyak matutum”-a climbing activity at the peak of Mt. Matutum.

…or a descent to perish?

Ever since, vegetable farming has been the practice in the locality. It is their primary source of livelihood. Commonly produced here are carrots, radish, Kentucky beans, cabbage, tomato, chicharo, bell pepper, potato, squash and chayote. The villages of Glandang, Datal Ngisi, Eil Blel and Palo 3 are the major areas in Barangay Kablon producing vegetables in commercial scale. Trading of vegetables at Glandang normally takes place at the roadside to facilitate easier access on the loading and hauling of products.

The price of vegetables is so unstable that a sudden decline would occur without notice. This would usually happen when an influx of vegetables will flood the market and vendors would engage in price war just to avoid spoilage.

Recognizing the need to improve the trading of vegetable in Kablon, UDP approved the proposed Bagsakan Center facility at Glandang, the center of trade in the barangay. It was completed in 2003, with a rain water reservoir to collect water intended for washing of vegetables. Farmers in Glandang finally experienced that their products were paid at the time of delivery. However, due to limited capital, the group was only able to buy a limited volume of vegetables--such and coupled with some internal conflicts in the association, the operation stopped after two months.

UDP had the situation assessed in 2004. After the assessment, the problems encountered could be summed up in two: 1. technical capability to manage the enterprise; and 2. financing. Recommendations were raised to address the given problems and alternatives were presented for consideration.

Heeding the recommendations submitted by the service provider, UDP provided the business development services to systematically revive the operation of the Bagsakan Center. A management team was formed called the “Matutum Enterprise” that will serve as a subsidiary of the farmer’s association. The business plan and operations manual focused on the rental of the structure and facilities of the bagsakan building and made no mention of how the enterprise would run the center. With the said set up, the group is able to prove that the business is profitable. However, they were not able to make use of the bagsakan center as a trading facility. In a sense, it appears that the group failed to realize and practice the teachings imparted by the service provider and the UDP.

Until now, the Bagsakan Center is still not operational. The members of the organization would merely assert that they still feel comfortable with the old ways and are still hard to accept changes. Nonetheless, vegetable growers are willing to sell their products at the center provided they will be paid in cash.

Life in Libi

Sitios Rancho and Kolambog, are villages located at the hilly eastern part of the barangay Libi, and inhabited by the B’laan tribes since the 1930”s. About 30 households make up the two sitios with a total population of 259. The land area of Rancho spans 205 hectares while Klambog 664 hectares.

There are no health and educational facilities within the two sitios. Prior to the clearing of the road in 2003, the residents and students of the two areas normally had to walk over five kilometers to reach the barangay site where the elementary school and the health center are situated. If one is lucky, horses are available for an easier transportation.

Potable water system was also lacking in these locale. Inhabitants were dependent on open and unprotected springs located far from the settlement areas. Corn is the prominent crop in both sitios with normally two cropping in a year. Rice is grown for consumption but corn, cassava, sweet potato and banana are alternative staple food.

In essence, life in Libi is a miniature reality of basic, simple, and unsecured lifestyle…crying out for a space to grow and advance their lot.

‘To win, you have to risk loss’

These two sitios in barangay Libi are in the town of Malapatan in the province of Sarangani. They became recipients of UDP sometime in July 2004. The latter engaged the Families in the Holy Spirit Mabuhay Multi-purpose Cooperative, a business development services provider, to conduct an organizational diagnosis and to assess their existing, and potential village-based enterprises that can be managed by the upland barangay association. The FHSMMPC was again contracted to assist KRANFO, an upland barangay association formed from the two sitios, in preparing the business plan and operations manual. Also, they are there to provide coaching and training in the management of the enterprise and install enterprise systems.

To date, KRANFO has written their business plan and operations in June 2005 but their proposed enterprises are not yet started. The organization is composed of 62 members, 30 of whom come from Rancho and 32 from Kolambog.

UDP’s partners in the implementation of its projects in Libi include the municipal government of Malapatan that allocates counterpart funds to the Programme, maintains a municipal project team headed by the town’s agriculturist, and assigns technicians and other personnel to provide technical assistance and facilitate the implementation of the various UDP projects in Libi. There is also the Rural Bank of Sarangani, a partner financial institution, has also been tapped by UDP to extend loans to farmers using the loan model packages developed by the Programme.

During the business planning stage with the business service provider, the farmers identified the trading of agricultural products, particularly banana and peanuts, and of consumer goods as the enterprises to be managed separately by each of the villages. Of late, however, the villages in Libi still struggle with the changes. Their pitfalls usually mean backward steps for the association. It was realized that so much are still left undone and every step to progress would somehow lead them astray from their goals. Notwithstanding the present scenario, the farmers are still willing to make a stake at progress because they are given first hand experience how helpful UDP’s ideas on development.

Pastor Guinang Fucal, one of the chairmen in Libi in their dialect said, ‘Before, we were always short of cash. Before UDP came, we only had corn and coconut. But UDP taught us to plant all types: from the long-term crops, coconut, mango and coffee; and then medium term, banana; and then short term crops which are mongo beans and peanuts.’

Here, we will somehow see that communities are like the people who make up the organization. Their issues, small successes and torrential set backs are part of the process. Let us uncover the continuation of community struggles in Kiamba, Palo 19, Tagaytay, Sitio Mapaso, Albagan and Upo… as we keep track of their tales by uncovering real stories of community formation, orientation of new ideas for development, their pitfalls, challenges and feel for success…

Tinagak: Knocking Doors of Opportunities

‘Only those with brave hearts and unrelenting commitment to steer development would dare go and beat the odds.’

Accessibility and mobility are leading problems in the upland communities. This situation does not exempt barangay Maligang in the town of Kiamba. The barangay has about 261 households of mostly indigenous people. Their main livelihood is farming and source of income. The area is highly suitable to abaca production.

The Fiber Development Authority (FIDA) opened Kiamba ‘door of opportunities’ for Abaca. Unfortunately, the first attempt to organize in the community failed.

In 2001, UDP rekindled their interest in tinagak making, the knotted abaca fiber, by working closely with FIDA in conducting skills training and exposure trips. Thereafter, the Sitio Malayo Tinagak Producers Association was formed. Despite lack in capitalization, the association made a trail for Tinagak production.

Sitio Malayo is a village in Maligang, it is undulating with rivers to traverse, and its roads are hardly passable on rainy days due to slippery stretches and gullies. In this area, Tinagak making is a flourishing industry that preoccupied the people.

Abaca, the primary crop in Maligang became a tool in empowering the indigenous people; women, youth and children by engaging into tinagak making.

Knotting dreams in Maligang…

Fiber became the ‘string of life’ at Maligang; they are now into trading abaca fiber and tinagak. Aside from the Upland Development Programme, there are about 7 more agencies and organizations that provide assistance to the community.

The enterprise started in 2001 and managed by the association and later into a cooperative in September 2003.

The odds…

The nagging problem of farm-to-market roads is still among the major struggles of the community. The deteriorating quality of abaca due to age and diseases is also a serious concern to sustain the enterprise. However, this scenario even pushed the people of Maligang to work harder and achieve their goals.

The knotted strength…

From its lowly beginning, the association is now known as United Maligang Farmers Cooperative with 181 members accumulating a capital build up of some P38 thousand pesos. It has also increased its production of tinagak from 8.35 kilos in 2001 to an average of 140 kilos per month, employing about 115 individuals, most of whom are women, youth and elders. The enterprise has contributed an increase in household income of about P700 to P5 thousand pesos per month. The growth of the cooperative can be attributed to multi-agency efforts with active participation of the community.

The task…

However, despite the success reaped by the cooperative in enterprising, more efforts will be needed to strengthen their cooperative; including the building of capabilities among its officers and intensified education of its members. Achieving the objectives of improving the socio-economic plight of upland dwellers with due concern for the environment is gradually taking shape with the integrated development approach for tinagak production.

Bringing development to Maligang, especially Sitio Malayo, is a formidable journey but seeing how development gradually creeps into the lives of the people is inspiring.

‘Doing knots of fine fibers require patience, perseverance, determination and craftsmanship.’

The Knots in Maligang's Past

Leftovers of the armed struggles against the government were heavily felt in the upland where lawlessness is freely exercised because to distance and obscurity. Struggling communities are often displaced to fear and uncertainties. The social unrest prevents them to see beyond their next harvest, and fearful that the rebels will again attack and raid the fruits of their labor.

Barangay Maligang was once a forested area that provides ample food, and was gradually depleted upon massive entry of people. Notably, the peace and order in the villages hindered the early years of development in the area. Disturbance of bandits, and other outlaws directly deterred the assisting agencies like the Upland Development Programme, in frequenting the villages. Some troops of New People’s Army or bandits would trek the mountains of Maligang and occasionally passed through the villages robbing whatever property found of value from the residents.

Poverty in the place is heavily felt due to lack of employment opportunities. Most household members were unproductive—women gossiping, children out in the fields playing, youth open to various mode of delinquencies and the elderly with nothing to do. Employment opportunities were limited to farming and some ethnic craft production but on a very limited scale. With the limited employment opportunities, women, elders, youth and children were commonly seen in the field providing farm hands in the production of various crops. Government interventions were limited to town and barangay centers due to peace and order problems and the impassibility of roads.

These are the threads of the past knotting Maligang’s endeavor to realize better opportunities in the future.

The Tale of Elsa

Elsa, one of the young married women in the village, is into selling processed food from rice to root crops. She has to spend most of her time roaming around the village. Everyday, Elsa has to walk the difficult roads and even reaching the town center under the scorching sun or the soaking rain. Worst, Elsa has to leave her 2-year old child to her mother while toiling additional income for the family. In a day, she can only earn about P50.00.

In 2002, Elsa started joining in tinagak making. This is among the enterprise supported by UDP to flourish in the area. With tinagak, the only capital Elsa has to raise is for transportation, which costs her about P40.00; or if she has no money, she can always opt to take a 30-45 minutes walk from her house to the cooperative to get and deliver the escuhido fiber. She sells her tinagak at P230.00 per kilogram to the “coop”. Hence, Elsa gets a net proceed of P140.00 to P180.00 per kilo after deducting all expenses.

A kilogram of tinagak is usually finished by Elsa in four days with an average of 4-6 hours work or about P35.00-P45.00 a day without leaving her child. At the same time, she does the housekeeping while her husband earns as a driver.

When asked of the significant difference between vending around the village and tinagak making, Elsa was quick to say that the latter is a better option. With tinagak she is at home tending to her child and still earns to augment family income. She need not worry for her capital because she can get the escuhido fiber at P50 per kilo from the cooperative (SIMATIPA) and just pay upon delivery of the tinagak.

These days, Elsa earns about P700.00 to P1, 125.00 per month. She need not wait for her husband to buy some of the household needs anymore. Slowly, she now enjoys accumulating simple but necessary fixtures in the house like kitchen utensils, beddings, clothing and other household supplies.

Elsa’s experience is common to many women in Sitio Malayo. However, hers is not an isolated tale. Other upland villages that welcome changes in their lives share similar stories of hope. The gradual change of upland folks in the ways they earn a living comes to fruition because the UDP and other key players of progress are unrelenting in pushing for its mission of, 'improving the living standards and prosperity of communities who derive most of their income from upland farming.'

Impressions of Community Building- The UDP Story

(A documentation on upland enterprises in southern Philippines)

The major purpose of this documentation is to amplify the interplay of realities presented, met and subsequently addressed by the Upland Development Programme in its struggle to facilitate the embankment of its mission to the lives of upland folks in southern Philippines.

For almost seven years, UDP has threaded the dreams of improving lives in remote terrains found in mountainous topographies. Despite the many pitfalls and setbacks, it continues to struggle and reach out to better the lives of the upland folks and communities. This is its story woven and entangled by the challenges, failures and successes of true people engaging to make a stake at progress...

Pictures of Upland Realities
in yesterdays struggles…

The traces of the past are essential tools in dealing with the future. It is the memory of lives spent hurdling with difficulties. Sometimes it posts barriers for improvement, making its trail strongly felt to burden the present in the struggle to reach a better future. The upland is practically the most difficult road to traverse. Its remoteness may prove to be unfriendly and hard to transgress...most of the time; it is left out and hardly awakens by progress.

This is an attempt to unveil the past pictures of upland communities…the struggle of its people on the road to rehabilitation and positive changes.

An abstract of the lives of eight villages scattered in the hilly and mountainous terrains in southern Philippines will somehow paint a replicating picture of common realities lived by and survived by upland folks. Let us try to imagine the lives of people resplendent with mediocrity, simplicity, and scarcity by journeying into the flashes of their past before the UDP and other key players for progress started working on the new pictures of their struggles…

Synchronizing Goals Through Community Formation

Another facet of this documentary is snapshots of realities found in the many faces of upland lives when the UDP started its journey in the realm of its mission and goals.

We will attempt to immerse and become acquainted with the endeavors of initiating little changes in communities as a means of staking bigger and more practical schemes for development. The upland folks are the major stakeholders of progress who are rarely afforded the opportunity to grow beyond the confines of their ordinary and customary day-to-day struggles. Yet when the UDP alternative and more systematic stance against all forms of scarcity became felt in their communities, motivating changes gradually beat common insecurities and apprehensions.