The weather was fair. We crossed the sea for more than an hour through a motorboat to reach Daram, Samar- a 4th class island municipality in the province of Samar, where the convergence strategy of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is being implemented.
For the Social Marketing and Advocacy Component of the department, it is always a great pleasure to hang around with our beneficiaries and stakeholders. Hearing their testimonials on how the department’s programs affect their lives and the community, is what keeps us going as advocates.
Reaching the far flung barangays is a challenge, yet inspiring. It drives us to make more, to commit, and do our part as program advocates as we come face to face and hear them disclose the change of feelings, values, behavior and attitude as beneficiaries and stakeholders of the program.
Together with the Social Marketing counterparts from the Central Office, we reached Daram on a Sunday afternoon of January 20, 2013, with one passion- that is to hear the community speak their side of story. All were enthusiastic to get to the island municipality which lies within the western part of Samar Sea and the Zumarraga Channel. We were bonded as a team with an ear to hear the voices of our beneficiaries. That time we were accompanied by the Municipal Mayor of Daram, Dr. Lucia Astorga after we paid courtesy call in Catbalogan City, the point where we could cross to Daram.
On a Sunday, the field staff assigned in the said municipality organized some parent-leaders of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya), volunteers of Kapit-Bisig Laban Sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery and Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) and the President of Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) association to meet us.
A forum took place in a barangay hall where more than 30 beneficiaries, staff, and stakeholders attended. Everyone was so eager to share insights and stories on how the Convergence Strategy is being implemented in the barangay.
With a population of 41,322 and a total land area of 10,147.0 hectares, politically subdivided into 58 barangays or villages, Daram has 4,161 Pantawid Pamilya household- beneficiaries, with 26 KALAHI-CIDSS projects, and six seaweeds associations under the Sustainable Livelihood. The team chose to visit the barangays of Baclayan and Cabac, where the three poverty reduction programs are being implemented.
The next day, at 5:30 in the morning, we moved out to the municipality’s port to capture sunrise through a video, as part of the documentation for advocacy, and crossed to the island barangay, Baclayan.
There we paid courtesy call to the barangay captain and meet the barangay councillor from whom we heard heart-warming testimonials of stakeholders.
“Kon an hadto, an mga babaye ngadi, ada la ha sulod han balay bug-os nga adlaw para mag- bantay han mga anak, yana, interesado na hira pamiling hin pamaagi para masustinir ira mga panginahanglanon ha kada adlaw, ngan pagbulig ha komunidad,” (Before, if women were just left at home the whole day to take care of their children, today, they are already interested in looking for ways to sustain their daily needs, and be able to help in the community) says Barangay Councillor Paul Cueso of Brgy. Baclayan, Daram Samar who confidently described the changes that happened among the lives of Daramnons specifically in their barangay.
Brgy. Captain Agner Isidro also shared that most of the time, it is the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya who take the initiative in community activities. They (beneficiaries) need not be told what to do when they are called for an assembly, he said. Isidro confidently uttered that it is through the three poverty alleviation programs under the Convergence Startegy that makes them move. “An proyekto liwat han KALAHI-CIDSS nga Fishing Boat Berthing Facility, dako nga bulig. Kon kanan pundo la han barangay, diri talaga kaya nga makapagpabutang kami hin Berthing Facility, Dako ito nga bulig para han nanginginabuhi hin pangisda. Waray na kami kabarak-an kon may bagyo. “(Also the project of KALAHI-CIDSS- the Fishing Boats Berthing Facility, is a big help because if it will be just from the funds of the barangay, we could not put up a berthing facility. It really is a big help to those who makes fishing as a source of living. We no longer worry when typhoon comes.)
Cueso added that the community was so decisive in putting up the project because they knew that this will protect their boats which they use for fishing their source of income.
A berthing facility is a designated location in ports for vessels or boats for loading and unloading purposes. Daram is an island municipality with island barangays, the berthing facility serves as safe haven for fishing boats of the townsfolk during typhoon.
They also shared how SLP helped empower the women, especially housewives, who compose mostly of the members of the Seaweeds Association. According to them, it was the beneficiaries themselves who proposed for a seaweeds project. The reason is that it is one income- generating for women in the locale that requires less attention and effort. Presently, these beneficiaries on livelihood are visibly striving effort to sustain the project that at times, the weather serves as a challenge.
Isidro said that it is then visible how the townsfolk care about the community. They do coastal clean-up from time to time. Cueso told us that the DSWD programs on convergence strategy is harmoniously working with one another. He also believes that 70% of the townsfolk could adapt the learnings they have acquired from the programs as it is not all about the assistance that drives them. What they see is a change of attitude among individuals.
Cueso even used a quotation that says, “Kung ang bato nga ay lumalambot sa ulan, ang puso pa kaya ng tao, sa tinagal tagal ng panahon?” (If the stone can be softened by rain through time, how much more the heart of a man?). He smiled as he delivered the line, which somehow lifted our spirits, again inspiring us to write and advocate more of the DSWD programs.