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The Anonang resettlement

Transforming the wilderness

By Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC)

Second of three parts

Overall, the settlers claim that the success of the carabao dispersal project earned for them the respect of other communities. This facilitated the entry of assistance from other groups and even from the government. For example, in 2003, the Department of Agriculture (DA) dispersed four cows to the community. However, the DA imposed its own set of rules and bypassed the organizational processes relative to livestock management. This caused a rift among the farmers who complained that the cows were being privatized.

2. Irrigation System: In 1989, MRDC provided financial and technical assistance in the construction of the first irrigation in Anonang. The Center also facilitated the implementation of another irrigation project in 1993 funded by the Regional Development Center (RDC), a development NGO operating in the Cordillera.

The operation of both projects increased cropping cycles. Farmers were able to practice two croppings per year and expand wet farming areas. However, rice cropping began to decline in 1996 after the water source dried up due to the El Niño phenomenon and unabated encroachment of swidden farming in watershed areas. The organization tried to contain the problem but failed after the kaingineros responded that they didn’t have any alternative source of living.

3. Water Systems: Insufficient water supply had been a major problem ever since the settlers set foot in the area. Women and children spent a lot of time fetching water from the only spring located two kilometers away. In 1991, MRDC initiated the construction of two artesian wells to enhance water accessibility. However both wells eventually dried up. The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNL) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) constructed 16 new artesian wells but only three become functional.

In 1993, after considering all technical probabilities, MRDC launched the construction of a wind-powered pump. The project turned out to be of strategic use as it remained the only functioning water facility after all the artesian wells dried up during the El Niño onslaught in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately, the pump broke down and can only now be operated manually.

In 2003, upon the recommendation of the Tabuk-based Kalinga Apayao Consultative Body (KACB), MRDC provided financial assistance to ACO for the construction of a free flowing water system. It is now the favorite destination of women and children for fetching, bathing, and washing. Excess water is diverted to a cluster of rice paddies nearby built for this purpose.

Alongside the development of water systems was the conduct of seminars related to health and sanitation. The majority of ACO members completed the Basic Health Orientation thus greatly influenced the passing of community ordinances requiring all households to construct sanitary toilets and pigpens.

4. Forestry: The Center also encouraged ACO to immediately reforest the settlement as a natural protection against the scorching heat of the sun. In the process, a nursery was established where different species of fruit-bearing and forest trees were propagated and which become a major source of tree seedlings. All members had a share which they planted in their own backyards and swidden farms. Fifteen years passed and the once barren open field is now a community flourishing with different kinds of trees. Fruit-bearing trees grow abundantly ensuring continuous supply of nutritious fruits to the households. These include mango, tamarind, lemon, jackfruit, star apple, atis, guyabano, tieza, damortis, and guava. Non-fruit bearing trees include gmelina, mahogany, acacia, neem, giant ipil-ipil, Chinese acacia, narra and some unclassified species. It would be safe to conclude that temperature within the community has somehow dropped.

The success of the reforestation project caught the attention of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). It challenged the reforestation program of ACO and launched a Php1.5 million reforestation project in Anonang. It also contracted the services of a non-government organization, the Extensive Assistance Group for Environment Relief, Inc. (EAGER), to conduct community organizing and mobilization. The project required tree planting in selected areas and participants were paid for their efforts. This caused misunderstanding among community members, many of whom felt that the project was deceptive. They reasoned that one does not get paid for planting trees in his/her own land. Accepting the payment might be taken by the government as a tacit agreement that the residents had no legal rights over the land.

Gender roles

The project implementation cycle as conceptualized by MRDC did not bypass the women’s crucial role. While male-dominated tradition is deeply entrenched in all Kalinga tribes, the MRDC-ACO partnership undertook activities to change traditional gender roles through educational campaign on eliminating gender division of labor, prohibition of vices such as gambling and liquor, and training the male population to transplant rice.

Women’s role in community development has slowly gained ground as exemplified by their participation in project implementation and management. They now have a recommendatory power in the identification of projects that would help ease their burden. Such projects include setting up of a rice mill and water systems, nutrition, health and sanitation, and collective farming. These projects which they directly manage, include a credit/consumers cooperative supported by the Cordillera Women’s Resource and Education Center (CWERC) and a rice mill project, which they requested from Congressman Lawrence Wacnang in 2003. Milling fee is very minimal at Php20.00/can of milled rice.

Experiences in government projects

The formation of ACO enabled the people to demand support from the government in the provision of social services and construction of infrastructure facilities. In response, the government embarked on a multi-million peso development plan for Anonang through the construction of roads, bridges, school buildings, multi-purpose pavement and artesian wells. However, only a portion of project allocations had been used in actual implementation while the rest were lost to graft and corruption.

As a resettlement area trying hard to survive, Anonang was seen as a source of instant cash by corrupt government officials and their cahoots in the guise of providing development assistance. Hefty budgets were allocated to projects, which were then awarded to contractors of their choice. Needless to say, officials pocketed large percentages of the budget in the form of kickbacks. The contractors joined in, feasting on whatever project funds left by using substandard materials.

The people did not just stand there and watch. There were occasions when ACO mobilized its members and lobbied the concerned government agencies and LGUs (Local Government Units) to upgrade substandard projects that were abandoned by private contractors. While their effort had produced some results, the corrupt implementation of government projects remains the same.

Continued next week
Click here for first part

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