Road changes farmers’ lives in Mindanao village

By JEOFFREY MAITEM
TODAY Correspondent


LIBI, Malapatan, Sarangani - It was just a simple venture, but it changed the lives of B’laan natives in this hinterland village in Mindanao.


Funded by the World Bank (WB), a subproject implemented by the antipoverty drive Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) here gave hope to people who have long been deprived of the basic necessities in life.


Farmer Sabia Kalayog, 40, said in an interview here recently that they were encouraged to plant more crops, such as corns, bananas, peanuts, cottons and vegetables since a 2.3-kilometer road was opened in this remote village on May 18.


Recalling his experience, Kalayog said he was discouraged to plant more farm crops because of the difficulty in transporting the newly harvested produce to the market.


However, he said 60 percent of their crop production had increased since a road linking this sitio to nearby poblacion Libi was opened.


“Imagine, before we used horses as means of transportation. The worst thing we experienced was using the road, which was suitable only for farm animals,” Kalayog recalled.


“We are grateful because it’s easy and cheaper for us to transport our products now since motorcycles can already ply the route to barangay Poblacion,” he said.


Farmers used to pay from P25 to P35 for each bag of produce to the owner of the horse they chartered for transporting their products. Each horse could only accommodate two bags.


Nowadays, farmers pay the same fare to owners of the chartered motorcycles, which can load three to five bags of agricultural products.


Clarito Palalisan, a volunteer worker, agreed, saying the people have already availed themselves of the government’s social services.


“Deadly illnesses among children have been prevented now because they were immunized by health workers who found it difficult to reach their area before because of the road problem,” Palalisan noted.


“Besides, it’s no longer a burden to children aged five to six years to go to school in the Libi Elementary School,” Palalisan said.


“It’s a simple venture for the people living in rural areas, but for people like us, it has a big impact. Through the road opening, other foreign-funded nongovernment organizations and government agencies have been able to bring basic social services, and we are thankful for that,” a resident said.


Palalisan said they learned a lot since they became recipients of Kalahi-CIDSS programs.


“We will not allow ourselves to be used by individuals coming here and making surveys for so-called projects but with no clear results. Through Kalahi-CIDSS, we were empowered,” Palalisan stressed.


On October 28, a Filipino World Bank expert documented the programs carried out by Kalahi-CIDSS here.


Dennis Arroyo, WB consultant, said their officials in Washington were impressed over the impact of Kalahi-CIDSS programs in Central Mindanao region and directed them to conduct case studies of the best bank-assisted projects in the country for global publication.


Kalahi-CIDSS is a P9.3-billion government antipoverty program funded by the WB. “Our office was directed to make a guidebook regarding the best Kalahi-CIDSS projects. The guidebook will be distributed by Washington to other countries in the world where they finance antipoverty programs,” Arroyo told B’laan natives here.


“We should be thankful and happy because what happened here would be imitated by other officials abroad for their respective people,” Arroyo added.


Libi is one of the 12 villages of Malapatan town. Datu Maladian Bagan, more popularly known as Klang Bulol, his clan and followers were the first settlers of Libi. They built their houses after the Liberation, coming down from the mountains of Libi.

He named it Labe, after a palm tree that grew near a spring. When the place became a barrio as part of the municipality of Glan, the name Labe was changed to Libi.


The datu’s older son later became the village chief.


A few Christians later came, headed by Elpidio Cablitas from the Visayas. He assimilated into the B’laan community when he married the datu’s youngest daughter.