Tacloban City – Four new KALAHI-CIDSS municipalities from Samar and Biliran Provinces committed their support to the Project during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement held Monday, July 4, 2011 at the DSWD Field Office.

The signing of the contract firmed-up the commitment of the Samar municipalities of Villareal, San Jose d Buan, and Talalora; and the lone Biliran province’s Naval to implement the Project.

As of this report, 9of the 9 targeted Samar Province municipalities are all onboard for this year’s implementation of KALAHI-CIDSS funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Naval and Villareal implementation of the Makamasang Tugon modality of the KALAHI-CIDSS will be funded by World Bank – Additional Fund.

In her message to the mayors and the municipal official present during the event,  Regional Director Leticia Corillo told the participants to prepare themselves for the KALAHI-CIDSS experience. This was specifically directed to the Samar Province municipalities of San Jose de Buan, and Talalora, which are going to implement the KALAHI-CIDSS Project for the first time.

Corillo clarified that the implementation had a timeline and it was best to be ready at this point with the municipal coordinating teams who would be attending training in preparation for the different Project stages. All rules and guidelines should be followed in strict compliance with the requirements of the funding agencies. The funding from Millennium Challenge Corporation is a grant not a loan and therefore the funding agency is very strict about the procurement processes.

Director Corillo also pointed out that the municipalities of Villareal, Samar and Naval, Biliran, were secondary recipients of the KALAHI-CIDSS Project because they replaced the municipalities that did not perform well. The municipalities of Villareal and Naval received the grant initially allocated for the original municipalities and were able to implement the Project for two years.

The municipal commitments indicated in the Memorandum of Agreement, include among others, the passing of “relevant ordinances and/or resolutions in support of community-driven development and participatory governance…institutionalization of people’s participation, transparency, and social accountability…allocating local counterpart funds for the KALAHI-CIDSS Project…comply with the Project’s implementation procedures and guidelines…”

Mayor Reynato Latorre of Villareal, Mayor Leonilo Costelo of Talalora, Samar, Mayor Ananias Rebato of San Jose de Buan, Samar, and Vice-Mayor Redentor Villarda of Naval representing Mayor Susan Parilla of Biliran, all conceded that that their respective local government units would do its best to ensure the successful implementation of KALAHI-CIDSS to help their constituents and to reduce poverty at the roots.

Also present during the activity were DSWD Assistant Regional Director Jaime Eclavea and members of the KALAHI-CIDSS Regional Project Management Team and municipal officers of the four municipalities. Director Eclavea also assured the mayors that the DSWD was ready to give technical support to ensure Project implementation would be successful.

The 9 new municipalities for KALAHI-CIDSS this year are Daram, Gandara, Matuguinao, Motiong, San Jose de Buan, Santo Niño, San Sebastian, Tagapul-an, and Talalora.