The nightfall in Barangay General Luna, the farthest barangay of Lope de Vega, has been the cause of terror in almost every home.
Since the place is located in the most interior part of Northern Samar town, distance from the “poblacion” area makes it difficult for the locals to access basic social services. In order to reach the center of Lope de Vega, one must brave a risky boat ride for a maximum of two hours and 45 minutes or endure a perilous hike in the mountains for about four hours and fifteen minutes. Most of the families in the community earn their living through production of abaca fiber (kigi), copra, root crops and vegetables, thus, community folks find it hard to transport their goods.
With only a population of 281 individuals, composing 69 families and 56 households, Gen. Luna could be considered one of the smallest communities in the municipality where every resident knows everyone. Being the remotest barangay of the town, Gen. Luna has become vulnerable to both conflict and poverty, having a poverty incidence of 87.7%.
For almost 72 years now, Nanay Warlita Agte would fear her family’s safety whenever dusk would cover the skies of Gen. Luna. For the small Lope de Vegan community, the night elicits fear of the unknown especially when there are no lamp posts to light their streets. Most of the time it is the children who are terrorized by darkness, provoking the scary night creatures to haunt their pleasant sleep. But in Brgy. Gen. Luna, it is the grown-ups who are most frightened whenever the sun disappears.
“Kun gab-i, nababaraka kami, kay diri namon naiimdan an mga nagkakasulod sa barangay, labi na gud kon nakabati kami hin storya nga may ginpatay na sa sapit nga barangay”. [We get scared whenever night falls especially when we hear rumors of killings from the next barangay.]” Nanay Warlita Agte recalled the anxiety she and her family felt when news of murder in the neighbouring barangay reached them. She stated that it would help if they have streetlights so they could keep watch of people who enter their community.
According to Brgy. Captain Liberato Victoriano, before the streetlight sub-project came into being, crimes occurred more often in the dark street corners of Gen. Luna. There was even a reported incident where a man was beaten by an unrecognized group during the middle of the night. There were also rampant thefts of domesticated fowls.
The disturbing increase in crime rate prompted residents of Gen. Luna to choose the establishment of streetlights in their community as their sub-project, through the Kalahi-CIDSS or Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, a program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that seeks to help alleviate poverty using the community-driven development (CDD) strategy.
The KALAHI CIDSS- National Community-Driven Development Program is the expansion into a national scale of the CDD approach which was tried and proven effective by the Kalahi-CIDSS project. It targets the coverage of 136 municipalities in Eastern Visayas including the town of Lope de Vega. The PAMANA or the PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn which is under the KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP, is the government’s framework for peace and development funded by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). The framework follows a converged strategy of resource allocation and utilization, and aims to sustain all ongoing governance and development initiatives in communities affected by past or ongoing conflicts. The program works for the attainment of three major objectives such as to reduce poverty, improve local governance, and empower communities and strengthen their capacities.
The installation of 25 units of streetlights, which costs a total of Php 317, 111.00, is undeniably the community’s own initiative to prevent and deter crime. Through the CDD approach, residents of Gen. Luna are empowered as they are given the opportunity to identify their most pressing needs in the community and come up with solutions corresponding to the issue by choosing the type of sub-project that will answer the problem. They implement and maintain the said project.
Barangay Captain Victoriano reiterated that after the street lights were set up, reports of crimes such as theft and physical assault have lessened. He remarked on the significant improvement on their locality’s peace and order state. “Yana mahangaturog na kami hin waray na kahadlok [Now we can sleep sound at night without fear]”.
“Nagpapasalamat kami han DSWD ngan Kalahi-CIDSS ug PAMANA san paghatag sa amon sin higayon nga matagamtaman an masuna nga komunidad ngadto san mahimyang nga pamoroko. Diri la niyo ginpalaga an amon dalan, ginpalamrag gihap niyo an amon paglaum [We are very thankful to DSWD, Kalahi-CIDSS, and PAMANA for giving us the chance to be included in the project, providing us a secured community that leads to our peaceful living. The program did not just light our streets, Kalahi-CIDSS and PAMANA also illuminated our hopes.]” he added.
Jenalyn Espelimbergo, a PAMANA volunteer and a mother, expressed her gratitude toward the completion of the sub-project. She said she is not afraid anymore to allow her daughter to visit a classmate in the next street during evenings for school-related queries. “Yana diri na ako mahahadlok kun nagawas it akon mga anak kun gab-i. [I no longer fear for the safety of my children whenever they go out of our house at night.]”
Aside from the restoration of peace and order in the community, Kalahi-CIDSS and PAMANA have also restored the power of women to participate in the community. Today, housewives in Gen. Luna are no longer confined within their houses. Ninety percent of these women are already part of the decision-making process in the community as they are given the chance to speak their minds. The emergence of women’s involvement is a positive response owing to the program’s initiative to mainstream gender equality.
With the scaling up of Kalahi-CIDSS into the KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP, the women of Gen. Luna are already enthusiastic about the expansion and the opportunities that will be given to them.
“Tungod sa Kalahi-CIDSS ngan PAMANA, nagkamay-ada kami aram sa pagpadalagan san proyekto sa barangay. Masisisring namon nga bulig kami siton nga streetlight. Diri la ngay-an kami pan-balay la. Akos ngay-an namon an pagbag-o! [Through Kalahi-CIDSS and PAMANA, we learned how to implement projects in the barangay. We can say that we are part of those streetlights. We thought we are just bound to be housewives. We can make a change!]”, Jenalyn proudly declared. # (jcpaa/daviddoncillo)