Community volunteers of Barangay Angilan and Barangay Esperanza warmly welcomed Pia Peeters and Malou Padua of World Bank.

They visited these two (2) barangays of Aloguinsan, Cebu to see for themselves the success of KC in empowering the community volunteers and how they managed to finish their sub-projects.

The sub-project in Barangay Angilan is a 400-linear meter concrete access road worth more than P1.7 million. The sub-projects in Esperanza are the two 18-meter foot bridges worth more than P1.1 million.

After the site visit, two separate focus group discussions (FGD) of World Bank representatives with the members of Municipal Inter-Agency Committee(MIAC) and community volunteers were done.

During the FGD, the volunteers expressed the difficulties they encountered especially that it was their first time to be involved in implementing a community project.

“Naglisod mi sa procurement kay pag mag-canvass mi og mga materyales, dili mi tagdon kay dili makatuo ang mga supplier nga kaming ordinaryong tawo mao ang mamalit sa materyales alang sa among proyekto nga access road. Magbalik-balik gyud mi para lang mak canvass gyud mi.. Gisulayan gyud among pasensya (It was hard for us during the procurement because the suppliers could not believe that ordinary people like us were the ones procuring the materials for our access road project, so they would not attend to us. We repeatedly went back to the store to be able to get a canvass form filled out by the supplier.  It really tested our patience), said the teary-eyed Teresita Dealaton, Chairperson of the Procurement team of Barangay Angilan.

Dealaton said their willingness to learn the KC processes which would eventually empower them is what keeps them moving, slowly but surely.

Oscar M. Canino, Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator said Kalahi-CIDSS helped him to be an effective Planning officer.

“For me and the rest of my group, there is really a need for us to go down to the community for us to see and listen to the real needs of the people because most of the time we are very engrossed with paper works in the office,” Canino said.

Vice Mayor Cesare Ignatius G. Moreno thanked Ms. Peeters and Ms. Padua, DSWD and Kalahi-CIDSS staff for the financial and technical support that helped the community people realize their dream of improving their lives. The process of Kalahi-CIDSS in empowering the community has already made the people responsive and participative in the community affairs. They have now sense of ownership and they value the sub-projects that they worked hard for the good of the community,” Moreno Added.

In the exit conference and feedback session, Pia Peeters shared her appreciation to the dedicated volunteers and to the honest public servants who were openly admitted their shortcomings.

“I am extremely impressed by how they talked about the Kalahi-CIDSS process and what they learned from it,”Peeters said. She added that as the newly appointed task team leader she will be

staying here in the Philippines for 3 years, and will definitely remember Aloguinsan, her first site visit.

Amante Sabangan, Island Cluster Manager and Asec Alex Glova of Kalahi-CIDSS National Program Management Office together with Kalahi-CIDSS Region VII staff headed by OIC-ARDO Ms. Grace Q. Subong also attended the activity.

Aloguinsan received a total fund of Php 12,442,500.00 in the 1st cycle and was able to complete 8 sub-projects like footbridges, access roads and solar streetlights. ###

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