by Dominic I. Sanchez
ZAMBOANGA CITY, 07 March. (PIA 9) - - The Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program of the government has changed the lives of many IPs, and one of the beneficiaries of the said program testifies how it changed his and the community he leaves in.
“Before the introduction of KALAHI-CIDSS in our community, we were never consulted. It’s as if we weren’t even part of the community,” shares Ahmad Sakandal, a Yakan living in the community of Tigpalay, in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Being a cultural minority in the community, Ahmad said that whenever projects came and went, they were almost always left out. He couldn’t recall the last time when a public consultation was held.
Being a cultural minority in the community, Ahmad said that whenever projects came and went, they were almost always left out. He couldn’t recall the last time when a public consultation was held.
Ahmad is a Yakan IP leader residing in the barangay for years. The Yakans originally came from the island province of Basilan, but later fled to the nearby Zamboanga Peninsula because of armed conflict. According to the Philippine Census of 2000, Yakans comprise about .57 percent of Tungawan’s population.
Ahmad has eleven children. He jokes that tradition demands them to “go forth and multiply”, and he took this literally. Ahmad said that even if he is not rich in terms of worldly things, he is wealthy of love and descendants. Ahmad takes on different jobs from time to time – he is a farmer, a fisher, and even a chainsaw operator – just to provide enough for his huge family. But despite his sacrifices, he takes great pride in having a handful of children to pass on the proud Yakan heritage.
When Kalahi-CIDSS came to Tungawan in 2007, according to Ahmad, “it was an experience not easily forgotten”, especially by his own people.
The inverted approach to implementing projects was something new. Ahmad said that this time, even the discrete minorities were given a chance to speak and voice out their problems during the planning and identification stages of the project. In fact, they were made the main project implementers. “Nobody was left behind” – even those families who lived in the community’s highlands, hours away from the barangay center, were included in the consultations – it was a project belonging to everyone in the community, regardless of how far they are.
During Kalahi-CIDSS consultations, they had found out that many families shared a similar concern. Tigpalay lacked adequate school buildings. Ahmad was particularly concerned since he has eleven children; he worries about their education.
It was learned that every year, in spite of the many socio-economic problems that they face, they would come together to build or repair a nipa shed which would serve as the children’s temporary classroom. Ahmad was one of those parents, and he had repeatedly insisted why a school building was never built; he realized that the agencies implementing the projects were simply not aware of their concern.
Through their own efforts, community volunteers successfully built a two-classroom school building worth 1.1 million pesos, which was inaugurated last year.
“The trainings on how to implement the project brought us even closer as a community,” said Ahmad.
Ahmad realized that being culturally different doesn’t mean that people can’t work together for a common aspiration – their school is a testament to it. (JPA/DIS/DSWD/PIA- ZBST)
The inverted approach to implementing projects was something new. Ahmad said that this time, even the discrete minorities were given a chance to speak and voice out their problems during the planning and identification stages of the project. In fact, they were made the main project implementers. “Nobody was left behind” – even those families who lived in the community’s highlands, hours away from the barangay center, were included in the consultations – it was a project belonging to everyone in the community, regardless of how far they are.
During Kalahi-CIDSS consultations, they had found out that many families shared a similar concern. Tigpalay lacked adequate school buildings. Ahmad was particularly concerned since he has eleven children; he worries about their education.
It was learned that every year, in spite of the many socio-economic problems that they face, they would come together to build or repair a nipa shed which would serve as the children’s temporary classroom. Ahmad was one of those parents, and he had repeatedly insisted why a school building was never built; he realized that the agencies implementing the projects were simply not aware of their concern.
Through their own efforts, community volunteers successfully built a two-classroom school building worth 1.1 million pesos, which was inaugurated last year.
“The trainings on how to implement the project brought us even closer as a community,” said Ahmad.
Ahmad realized that being culturally different doesn’t mean that people can’t work together for a common aspiration – their school is a testament to it. (JPA/DIS/DSWD/PIA- ZBST)