HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon
BESAO, Mountain Province -- Two years had gone since the people of Barangay Laylaya here accepted the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Research Management Project (CHARMP2) in their community to do research on their community profile in March 2009 and identify their projects.
The deal was for CHARMP2 to provide 40% of the project and the community to provide 60% of the total cost. Following requirements, estimations and project proposals, such were submitted to CHARMP for their counterpart.
It is now September 2011 and the people are fed up waiting for CHARMP2’s counterpart after having completed the necessary documents for their farm- to- market road. Barangay Laylaya was able to source out a P37 million counterpart fund from the provincial government of Mountain Province.
Not only is the barangay fed up of waiting for CHARMP2’s counterpart. Even the provincial government already bidded out P37 million for the Besao to Laylaya road and soon to see implementation by December this year.
Laylaya is one of four pilot barangay- beneficiaries of CHARMP2 aside from Fiangtin of Barlig, Bayyo of Bontoc, and Demang of Sadanga which commenced community profiling early months of 2009. Profiling of other barangay beneficiaries followed July to December last year 2010.
One of the identified barangay beneficiaries of CHARMP2 is Talubin. Too, fed up of waiting for CHARMP’s counterpart despite the availability of a project proposal submitted to CHARMP2 and a barangay counterpart, officials in this remote barangay east of Bontoc fully implemented their P2.5 million FMR with funds sourced out from Congressman Maximo Dalog and not waiting anymore for CHARMP2’s counterpart.
This goes true with Bantey in Tadian. The community proceeded to go on with their water works project having found Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNP) to implement the project rather than wait for years as to when the counterpart of CHARMP2 will arrive.
While the lingering non-release of CHARMP counterpart is persistently asked by the community, Community Mobilization Officers (CMOs) are losing face answering the best replies ever to a question as to when, when, when, and when the CHARMP2 projects will start implementation. So what is the problem?
Noting from CMOs and CHARMP contact persons in the barangay of a process that CHARMP requires, Sadanga Mayor Gabino Ganggangan called for a two-month processing of CHARMP2 requirements. “If CHARMP is not able to respond accordingly, forget the others.”
In a meeting of the municipal steering committee and the municipal management group, Ganggangan called on the engineering unit of the municipality to do the necessary proposals and surveys of some identified community projects and submit these to CHARMP2 by the end of September.
Identified projects include four irrigation systems worth a million pesos apart from other CHARMP2 projects identified in Sadanga. As per project terms, the local government provides a counterpart amounting to half of the total cost and the other half of the total amount to be provided by CHARMP2.
These four projects worth P1 million include improvement of Gagangawan-Sasaar irrigation system in Belwang, Kisob irrigation in Betwagan, Pasdong and Tukok-Churao irrigation canals in Saclit. CHARMP2 has its beneficiary programs in identified barangays of Belwang, Betwagan, Saclit and Demang in Sadanga.
The month of October is set for CHARMP2 to do whatever corrections there might be, and for Sadanga to respond to corrections should there be some changes.
David Lampesa, community mobilization Officer for CHARMP2 assigned in Belwang said the mayor wants the project to be implemented within November to respond to the needs of farmers who need ample irrigation water by December which is the period for land preparation before rice planting. Identification of projects had already been done a year ago following community assembly sessions facilitated by the CMO.
It has been noted that other CHARMP2 barangay beneficiaries are ready with their counterpart funding including Barlig. CHARMP2 requires counterpart funding from the LGU concerned with half of the total amount.
CHARMP2 is implemented in 24 barangays of Mountain Province, apart from other barangays in Benguet, Ifugao, Abra, and Kalinga. Government funds have their timetable of implementation and is best implemented readily within a fiscal year, otherwise such fund may revert to the national treasury.
For sure, municipal, provincial or congressional funds which are the very sources identified by CHARMP community beneficiaries as their counterpart, cannot keep on waiting for a CHARMP process to be finished. Otherwise, the community will lose its sourced out funds. The best way is to implement the ready funds and continue the project with a different source in the later years.
Otherwise, where the process is not the problem, would it be another?
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