by magnolia_eic | Sep 18, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
PERHAPS an out-building made of coconut and nipa leaves for a toilet merits no news at all.
But when it eloquently shows a community’s first tentative steps to break a habit that kept generations from
learning the benefits of sanitation and hygiene, it surely gives them the print space.
In Danao, Bohol, communities have started to dig the truth behind health, sanitation and clean environment,
a fact that makes Danao Mayor Thomas Louis Gonzaga hopeful in his drive to bring his town off the hooks of
poverty.
“I believe in good health starts with a clean environment” the mayor said and adds, “education is the key to
good health.”
Unsuccessful in their initial attempt to get the people digging for their own sanitary toilets despite the
town providing toilet bowls, cement and technical help, the need to get people understanding the value of
cleanliness finally got to them through the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (4PS).
Implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the 4Ps in Danao town also
allowed beneficiaries, whom the town granted toilet construction materials, to sit on community assemblies
and family development sessions.
It was through DSWD’s Family Development Sessions (FDS) that program partners sa Department of Health,
LGU and Department of Education picked the opportunity to deal with educating the beneficiaries the
importance of having toilets.
Here, what the town could not do: educating their people was unwittingly advanced by the 4Ps.
Educating the people to contribute to a cleaner environment in line with the town vision of a brisk extreme
eco-tourism activity as an engine for over-all development was then a big problem, Mayor Gonzaga admitted.
We want the communities to install sanitary toilets for health and hygiene purposes, but habit seems to get on
the way, the athletic town chief executive confessed.
Adopting an approach called community driven development, communities identify their problems and map
out solutions to them, explains a municipal social welfare officer of one of the DSWD 4Ps beneficiary towns.
4P is a national government poverty alleviation program that provides social assistance in conditional cash
grants to extremely poor households to help them break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
Its long-term objective is for communities to improve their health and education particularly of children aged
0-14 years old.
To continually avail of the cash grants, the government ascertains that family beneficiaries attend health and
pregnancy assistance sessions, regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines for children, responsible
parenthood sessions, mother’s classes, parent-effectiveness seminar and family development sessions.
To keep the children informed, children of beneficiaries must attend day-care, pre-school, elementary and
high-school at least 85% of the time. (rac/PIABohol/DSWD7)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 5, 2010 | Local News / Bohol Balita
IT is not exactly sleeping with the enemy, but somehow closer to that.
Army soldiers here embrace their enemies and even build shelters for them, one premium they dangle for insurgents who would opt the path of peace.
In Danao Bohol, government forces picked the hammer and pounded to build 18 new housing units for former rebel families who now partner with government in their sought reforms.
“The houses, which the army soldiers built also come with a sizable farm-lots which they can till and get a decent life in their attempt to re-integrate with the mainstream of society,” says 802nd brigade Civil Military Officer 1Lt. Jaicris Jan Mendoza, who helps foresee the program.
In fact, the 18 units are just some of the 25 units set to be constructed in Barangay Remedios Danao, as of June 28.
Some 7 more are up to be built within the next week, says Romeo Teruel who narrated that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) told him the fund can be downloaded as soon.
Funded in part by the President’s Social fund, OPAPP and the local government, the 50 hectare area comprising of house and lots also come with electricity, water services and forest rehabilitation programs the settlers can implement.
This manifests the government’s sincerity in its Social Integration Program (SIP), Mendoza said.
He also reiterates that it gives the former rebels a head start in working out for a decent life and live peacefully.
Not a few poor people in Bohol joined the rebel movement disillusioned by poverty.
But around 185 rebel returnees who have signed up for the government’s program have seen the futility of a fight against a government when their common enemy is poverty, says Provincial Social welfare Constancia Tunacao.
With a fight that bullets can’t solve, local sectors here draft a widespread poverty alleviation initiative that runs parallel to the government’s anti-insurgency drives.
Soldiers then who used to wield weapons now get into community organizing, skills training and implementing anti-poverty initiatives in rural areas to dent on poverty, says peace worker Romeo Teruel.
But without any amnesty program to offer, convincing people to come down was a problem, until it was clear that local peace efforts could proceed despite the stalled national peace programs, he added.
To make good of the intent to place a sanctuary for surrenderees, Gov. Erico B. Aumentado introduced the resettlement project via Administrative Order No. 172 series of 2007, which aims to provide the rebel returnees a chance to be reintegrated into the society, army sources also revealed.
The project, later to be called Kalayaan Resettlement Center was administered by 802nd Brigade and implemented by the Army’s engineer support battalion, the 53rd Engineer Brigade, according to Lt Mendoza.
“Although they were once enemies of the state, when they laid down their arms and returned to folds of the law, they can now enjoy the benefits of the government program,” he reasons.
With the apparent sincerity of local government officials in making a mark on poverty, Maj Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, who used to command army units here said he has seen the day when peace would be made in Bohol.
I had a feeling this day would come, Maj Gen Tabaquero, 8th Division commanding officer bared.
This was documented as one of the most successful anti-insurgency drives in the country. (PIA-Bohol with 802nd Bde reports)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 5, 2010 | Local News / Bohol Balita
“WE are up to the challenge”, says Mayor Thomas Louis Gonzaga, committing to the huge task of sustaining the government help to facilitate easy social reintegration for former rebels.
Gonzaga, heads the host town allowing 50 hectares of agricultural and residential lands for the construction of KR Kalayaan Resettlement Center (KKRC) also helped the government screen the ten families who shall live in the new community with 15 rebel returnees.
KKRC is implemented in line with the government’s Social Integration Program for rebel returnees and by putting up the resettlement program, former governor Erico Aumentado hopes he could continue convincing rebels to lay down their arms and go back to the mainstream working for peace.
Danao has greatly reaped from the benefits of the project, he told media covering the turn over of the 18 units initially built by the government for the resettlement site.
But former guerilla and legendary fighter, Epitacio Ramirez, or Kumander Vargas, who represents the 15 rebel returnee beneficiaries of the KKRC has earlier aired his fear that government may discontinue support after the project turn-over.
Funded by the President’s Social Fund and in collaboration with the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Provincial Government of Bohol, the P6 Million KKRC includes electrification, water system installation and the putting up of a multi-purpose pavement and community Center.
Government funds, specifically the P1.5M form OPAPP could not be downloaded as fast that only 18 of the original 25 houses were completed during the turn-over, says retired Provincial Social Welfare Officer Constancia Tunacao.
The incomplete development of the area has concerned Ramirez who wanted the assurance that the government would still be true to its promise.
Over this, Mayor Gonzaga, who easily reclaimed his town’s to seat when he was uncontested in the last elections assured he will keep the local government working for its completion in as much as he also has 10 civilian beneficiaries living in the center.
8th Division Commander Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, who turned over the project from the government o the beneficiaries also wished that the KKRC sustain and continue to be the symbol of unity and cooperation among the people of Bohol, and among the people in the region.
In his turn-over message, Gov. Aumentado vowed to continue and sustain the project by monitoring its full implementation, as Danao is under his district.
For Mayor Gonzaga, he said we in Danao, as part of Team Bohol look up to it, and we welcome this challenge. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jun 17, 2010 | Local News / Bohol Balita
THE P6M Kauban sa Reporma (KR) Kalayaan Resettlement Center fully opens next week with 15 new houses for rebel returnees in Barangay Remedios Danao.
The resettlement center is established in a 50 hectare area of barangay Remedios and is the second of Bohol’s sites developed to provide a conducive venue to facilitate the government’s social reintegration program under Administrative Order 172, series of 2007, said Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Constancia Tunacao.
With the 15 former rebel families now owning their own houses and a patch of land to held them find a decent source of livelihood, 10 other families would be also living in the center.
The P6M resettlement site is envisioned to be a model community and is funded by counter-parting scheme.
The President, through her social fund gave P3M while the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Provincial Government of Bohol each gave P1.5M for the community.
by Misael | May 13, 2008 | Features
FOR YEARS, elusive capital has evaded Danao leaders intending to shake off insurgency baggage to hitch ride with Bohol tourism development bandwagon.
Without a reliable investor willing to risk and left with nothing but raw manpower and cascading tourism resource potential, Danao Mayor Thomas Louis Gonzaga claimed they could not just easily surrender to fate.
“We have been urging investors to come [to Danao], did not get any,” Mayor Gonzaga said in his message during the ceremonies marking the turn over of DOT grants to Bohol communities tourism development efforts two weeks ago.
Staking his political career on the line, the adventurous mayor confessed that their natural resource and the people here finally decided to get matters in their own hands.
On their drawing boards, they witnessed the slow emergence of a tourism community based tourism package that enhances their natural environment and gives its people the pride in their place.
Then the strategic and impenetrable camp of Dagohoy rebellion, the country’s longest serious uprising against Spanish authorities, Danao’s impenetrable forests, intricate network of caves, steep cliffs and rippling river has also hosted local insurgents supported by residents mired in hip deep poverty.
Now, getting government presence via the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) “Grassroots Entrepreneur-ship and Employment in Tourism (GREET) Mayor Gonzaga, said “this time the government hit the nail right on the head.”
With people now committed to develop and enhance its resources, the town has slowly carved a name as new tourist adventure destination in Central Bohol, admits Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, in his recent visit to the mountainous town.
What used to be historic base camp of the country’s revolutionary leader Francisco Dagohoy, Danao now uses its almost impenetrable forests, riddling caves and deep limestone cliffs also provide a perfect opportunity for development with a new eco-educational adventure tourism (EAT) package.
“We are offering the modern experience of allowing tourists to re-trace Francisco Dagohoy exploits in the mountains here, so we offer caving, zip-lining, root climbing, rock scaling, bouldering, rappelling, navigating the rapids through rubber tubes and this time, with river kayaks,” said a local guide while explaining how to lash the safety harnesses for the zip line tyrolean traverse over the green Wahig river.
Not only that, the tour package also includes community immersion and interaction plus a countless chances for communion with nature in a park that boasts of pristine rivers, creeks, forests and cave with river system experiences.
“Experience respect for nature, the ecosystem and Danao’s history would be the main reason why tourists would come here and with locals getting livelihood, this should be sustainable, the local guide added.
Over this, Mayor Gonzaga added “It has to be the community that takes care of our environment, that is our main resource and that is livelihood for them.”
As to Sec. Durano, he said giving [the people] livelihood helps the community rid of the problem of insurgency.
To this, Gonzaga agrees, while adding that tourism is not just about jobs, but about community livelihood as well.
In addition, the country’s top tourist promoter shared that the Bohol tourism is environment-based and protecting it is just the way Danao is doing.
Now, Danao has proven that investing in its people and the resources can be a profitable experience, not just for the people’s pockets but their cultural being as well. (rachiu/PIA)
