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The Anonang resettlement

Transforming the wilderness

By Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC)

Last of three parts

Assessment of Partnership

When MRDC phased out from Anonang in 1996 to concentrate in other impoverished areas in the Cordillera, it had left a strong people’s organization - the Anonang Community Organization. The community has the following gains:

1. Capacity to implement and manage finances and projects. MRDC reinforced the innate cooperativism among the people by promoting the pooling of resources and helping them develop collective and appropriate mechanisms to manage their projects. It also strengthened the abbuyog, an indigenous system of cooperative labor, by integrating it in the project implementation structure.
2. Capacity to promote order in the community through the formulation and implementation of policies and ordinances.
3. Capacity to mobilize the community to address issues and problems affecting the people.
4. Capacity to solicit the support/services of the government and other groups.
5. Linkage-building with regional and national-based organizations - Being victims of state neglect and national oppression, ACO did not limit its activities in the community level and participated in broader actions. It allied itself to the struggling masses by affiliating with the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). ACO’s sectoral organizations have similar affiliations with Innabuyog (a network of women’s organization in Cordillera) and Anakbayan (a national youth organization).
6. Enhanced capacity of the village to protect their resources through organic farming, planting of trees, pastureland development, etc.
7. Access of community members to consumer goods and lenient credit facilities.
8. Increased land and labor productivity.
9. Changing roles of men and women.

After seven years of working with MRDC, the people concluded that indeed, they were provided hope and encouragement to improve their lot and the impetus to participate in the struggle for a better society. On the other hand, they anticipate that their partnership with the Center would continue.

Challenges

The people of Anonang have gone a long way since they left their villages in Tinglayan. Making the land productive despite harsh environment shows how the people are willing to unite and persevere for the good of their community. Today, Anonang continues to progress with the construction of additional houses and expansion of agricultural land to accommodate the growing population. It has now reached a total population of 705 distributed among 128 households based on a census conducted in 2004.

The big break for Anonang has yet to come after the enactment and passing of Provincial Board Resolution No. 2003-104 creating Provincial Ordinance No. 2003-01 separating Anonang from Liwan West, its mother barangay. Upon the initiative of ACO, Congressman Lawrence Wacnang filed a bill in congress seeking the creation of Anonang as a new barangay. For the meantime, it shall remain an interim barangay.

As an interim barangay, Anonang is awarded a total land area of 2,590 hectares. Land use includes residential and institutional areas, communal pastures and forests, and agricultural lands. All agricultural lands are already privatized and equally sub-divided among the residents. On the average, each family owns three hectares of land.

Anonang’s development remains hampered due to lack of vital public infrastructure and poor delivery of basic social services. The four-kilometer road linking it to the rest of the province remains rugged, muddy and impassable to vehicular transport during heavy rains. This prompted tricycle drivers to charge exorbitant fare of Php100.00 per trip with a maximum of 3 passengers. Other basic institutions like the Anonang Elementary School, is undermanned with only 4 teachers. Health services are very limited that most of the time, patients prefer to go to Poblacion or Tabuk for medication.

Categorically speaking, the settlers are poor as indicated by the type of dwelling and tools of production they have. Most of the houses are still in their old form with minimal changes or improvements despite the increasing number of occupants. Household income is very low at Php3,000.00 per month due to lack of capital to develop the land into productive use. Food production remains inadequate and not enough to supply the household all year round. As a consequence, a considerable number of farmers go out of the community to look for jobs that may provide them with cash to buy food and other household needs.

What’s alarming is that the households have started selling their lands to their peers and even to outsiders due to the increasing demand for food, education and other household needs. A total of 30 hectares had already been sold to outsiders and that 12 hectares more are in the offing.

One of those who were able to buy land in Anonang is a well-to-do farmer from Nambaran. He is now preparing the land for corn production in his effort to entice the farmers to plant cash crops as a way of increasing their income. There is very little interest among farmers considering that they have limited capital for production and that corn is a high-risk crop nowadays which could lead them to bankruptcy.

Apparently, the farmers prefer to raise carabaos instead. Every Anonang farmer owns a carabao or two aside from the 32 heads owned by the organization. Based on a survey conducted by ACO last year, the 600 hectares pastureland is already crammed with 375 large cattle. This becomes a major problem especially during summer when the cattle compete for food and grazing grounds. Mortality rate is very high at 5%-8% amidst lack of food and outbreak of diseases.

Organizationally, ACO had deteriorated in terms of capability and influencing community decisions in development initiatives. Values and principles of members had weakened due to lack of educational activities related to socio-political issues. Some blamed the premature phaseout of MRDC. Worse, the CPLA who drove them out in Tinglayan in 1988, have entered the community to recruit members. Many active officers and members of ACO had been lured to join the second batch of CPLA integrees although they backed out after the integration did not push through.

There remains strong indicator that ACO would again be re-energized if the experiences are summed up since the MRDC phaseout and reaffirmation of the vision-mission-goal of the organization. Some ACO members believe that whatever the gains since 1988 would be sustained if the organization conducts more educational sessions to raise consciousness and enhance skills; revive the practice of constructive criticisms (the practice of openly giving and accepting feedback to self and fellow community members); implement village/organizational laws/policies strictly; and further strengthen indigenous cooperativism in the community. #

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