An individual, given right values and conditions, can spur his or her fellow community members into sharing and sacrificing time, effort and money for the betterment of their communities.

Revolving around constructing a school building, managing community finances and developing community-based associations, these stories may, in the greater scheme of things, be mundane events happening in any small village in the country. But in these five villages, the transformations are nothing short of inspirational.

Their projects are part of the Kapit-Bisig Laban Sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi), the flagship poverty reduction project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Kalahi is a volunteer-empowered poverty reduction program, which has trained more than 138,960 community volunteers, who develop and acquire skills about the project and relevant aspects of community life.

The men and women featured here received early this year the Kalahi awards for outstanding community service.

Building a school in 26 days

It used to be that all Joel Traqueña, 25, had in mind was to go back to working as an entertainer in Japan. But destiny had something else in store for him. At the time he was in between contracts, Kalahi got started in his town of Mondragon, Northern Samar.

Seeing that this would be a good way to keep busy, he started volunteering for activities. He ended up being elected chair of a barangay committee, which is directly responsible for implementing projects, when Barangay Roxas was prioritized for project funding in the first year.

However, it was in the second year of implementation, that Traqueña finally made his mark. It was also at this time that he chose to stay, despite a lucrative contract being offered to him to return to work in Japan.

Reelected chairman for the second year, Traqueña pushed his fellow volunteers to greater efforts, doing overnight lobbying and advocacy, resulting in the approval of an additional grant of P300,000 for a school-building project, even when his barangay was last on the priority list.

When they found out that their documents had been forwarded to Manila for grant approval, they went ahead with the canvassing for the materials and equipment. Documents were prepared in advance, so that when the grant was finally given, disbursement immediately followed, resulting in the early purchase of materials and equipment.

With the planning done well in advance, Traqueña and his foreman (who was incidentally the barangay chair) orchestrated a synchronized implementation. Even as the posts were being put up and doors were being done, steelworks were being crafted. While the GI roofing was being put together, the ceiling was being installed.

All throughout the project, Traqueña and his team maintained a strong sense of discipline among the work force, mobilizing and inspiring volunteers – including women, who did the painting, cutting of steel bars and grouting – to put in overtime work without pay.

Traqueña and his team even slept in the small Kalahi office to prepare documents and guard the supplies stored there.

Community and humane values were emphasized. Volunteers set up a canteen where those working could take their meals so they would not have to leave the campus. Some volunteers pooled resources to set up a small store to facilitate the volunteers’ purchase of basic needs, deductible from their weekly allowance.

Because of these innovations, Traqueña and his team managed to finish the school building in 26 days, instead of the 84 calendar days provided under the plan. Not bad for an entertainer-turned-development hero.

Discipline in fund management

When she was still a member of the project preparation team, Shirley Constantino, 55, already showed the traits of a good community volunteer in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Sur. Appointed bookkeeper of the barangay project management committee for her village’s first year of project implementation, a portable water system, Constantino was meticulous in keeping financial transactions in order – recording each transaction and making certain that the records are transmitted to Kalahi on time.

She was so good at her work that she was commended by the Kalahi area coordinating team.

But it was only when she became chair of the operations and maintenance group that she began to shine as a community leader. Under her leadership, the group got registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Pantaron Waterworks Association Inc.

Significant changes in the management of the organization were also implemented. Documentation became the rule of the day, with the preparation of meter-reading reports per consumer, journal vouchers and cash books.

Constantino hired an independent auditor to check the books. With the auditor’s help, they were able to submit to the SEC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue annual reports such as statements of financial condition and operation, statements of cash flows and of changes in equity, and notes to the financial statements.

But the most concrete evidence of Constantino’s extraordinary discipline was in the bottomline: a positive cash balance of P111,139 as of December 2008. From the long list of stories about barangay-driven projects failing, this is one shining example of how good financial discipline can contribute to a community’s development.

Persistence amid conflict

Ustadz Camar Abdullah Dagadas, 50, played a key role in implementing conflict-management strategies under the Japan Social Development Fund-Social Inclusion Project in his barangay.

It was through his persistence in engaging combatants in a clan war that engulfed his village and community stakeholders in a dialogue for development that space was created for change and transformation to occur in his war-torn village.

Sambulawan is the center of a long-standing clan war in Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur. The struggle between clans based in the community and in a neighboring barangay would erupt from time to time without warning.

The conflict escalated to the point that residents evacuated for safer grounds, leaving the village a ghost town. It was only when Kalahi started implementing a water system project in 2005, followed by the construction of a health station in 2007, that people started coming back.

Dagadas was instrumental in the successful implementation of the water system.

Under his term as chair of the Barangay Sambulawan Water System and Sanitary Association, Dagadas oversaw the registration of the group with the SEC, the setting up of an efficient management and financial system and the strengthening of the organization through regular diagnosis workshops. He also ensured the consistent collection of tariffs from association members. These resulted in a positive balance of nearly P75,000.

He also oversaw the expansion of Sambulan Water services to cover two more barangay, Lucoban and Upper Dimaya, in just one year after the association’s inauguration.

Ordinarily, these achievements would not raise eyebrows in the development field. But when these achievements are contextualized in the never-ending cycle of conflict, and the trauma of war that the community has undergone, the achievements of Dagadas come sharply into focus.

Through his leadership, the community of Sambulawan has managed to transcend the limiting conditions of conflict, and has focused on fostering cooperation to support a social service around which the community thrives. Sambulan Water has become in itself a reason for the community to become hopeful about the future.

Whistle-blower becomes village head

It was a brave thing to do, accusing several councilors of diverting some materials from a road-construction project to the building of walk bridges for selected barangay constituencies, without the knowledge and approval of the village management committee and the barangay assembly.

But Francisca Deliso’s integrity and reputation for honesty resulted in the councilors’ apologizing publicly, paying for or replacing the materials they used.

Deliso, “Tita Sally” to her constituents, was not new to the world of volunteerism. Even when Kalahi was being piloted in her Barangay Pinagdanlayan in Dolores, Quezon, she was already volunteering her services as a health worker, and was an active leader in her village.

She started as a member of the project-preparation team in the health center project during the first year of Kalahi implementation. She was consequently elected project management committee chair for three consecutive years of the project’s Phase 1. These resulted in the implementation of three projects: two for road concreting and one for spring water development.

By 2007, Kalahi volunteers in the area prevailed upon her to run for barangay chair, having observed firsthand her leadership and capacity to manage the projects. She won handily with a 100-vote margin over her opponent.

It was during her term as barangay chair that the three projects were completed, alongside other projects like the rehabilitation of a radio tower that now provides a communication link to the rest of the world.

Clearly, Tita Sally’s transparent management of funds and resources has benefited the people of Pinagdanlayan.

Ata-Manobo empowered

Intot Juan, 30, never lets his lack of formal education stop him. Despite not having completed his elementary education, he rose to become the first Ata-Manobo to win first councilor in Barangay Palma Gil in Talaingod, Davao del Norte. Come 2011, he is a favorite to become Palma Gil’s first lumad barangay captain.

His story began in June 2003, when Kalahi began in Talaingod. At the time, Juan was a community volunteer from the tribal community of Nasilaban, a known “red area” (base of insurgency). During the project’s first year, Nasilaban was one of the prioritized communities, which implemented a corn-mill project.

Although Juan was not a member of the community project management committee at the time the corn-mill project was implemented, he became active during its later stages, which led to his being voted chair of the Operations and Maintenance Association. The association later became the Nasilaban Tribal Farmers’ Association.

Because of his good work in facilitating the partnership of the people with the tribal datus, Juan was elected chair of the community project management committee structure during Kalahi’s second year. In 2005, Juan became purok leader of Nasilaban, and he credited this to the knowledge that he gained from participating in Kalahi workshops and activities.

As purok leader, he was able to bring his knowledge into the Expanded Barangay Development Council, making it easy for him to understand how the barangay operates.

In January 2006, in the third and last year of the Kalahi implementation in Talaingod, he was again elected chair, and this time Nasilaban was selected as a priority for funding of its common-service-facility-motorcycle project. Under Juan’s management, the project was implemented well and ahead of schedule.

Nasilaban also became part of the Japan Social Development Fund-Social Inclusion Project, and Juan again led in the implementation of the Japanese program, using the community project management committee structure. His involvement paved the way for his participation in various capability-building activities at the community, barangay, municipal and regional levels.

The training and activities not only enhanced Juan’s knowledge, but also improved his vision in life, widened his understanding in the service of his fellow Ata-Manobo, and changed his attitudes toward government service. It was at this point that he decided to run for councilor in his barangay.

After the election, Juan came out No. 1 despite the fact that most of the voters of Centro Palma Gil were non-lumad. Juan has finally broken the boundaries that limited the participation of the lumad in barangay governance.

Juan looks forward to becoming a barangay captain in 2011. He credits Kalahi for offering him training –
from understanding the community situation to conducting community planning, and conceptualization and management of a project up to its operation and maintenance. All this has contributed to his widening outlook on serving his fellow Ata-Manobos and the whole Talaingod community.

(Author Oca Francisco is a civil society representative on the steering committee of Kapit-Bisig Laban Sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services.)