Quake-hit areas try to rebuild on their own

CEBU, Philippines - Some communities under the social welfare department's poverty alleviation programs have effectively addressed the October 15 earthquake damages on their own, an assessment said.

It was learned that in select areas in Bohol, community infrastructure projects of the Department of Social Welfare and Development through the Kalahi-CIDSS program, which were either partially or totally damaged, have been undergoing repair through the local government's own initiative, savings or the assistance of barangay offices.

With this, the Millenniums Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) said this is a manifestation of the success of the program.

"Empowerment of communities brought by the Kalahi-CIDSS has been best illustrated through these local initiatives. Communities are now proactively driving the development themselves using their own funds or in partnerships with their local government units," said MCA-P director Andy Moll.

Moll led the inspection team that went to the recipient towns in the quake-hit portions of  Bohol.

Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services is the anti-poverty program of the DSWD whose recipients are living in areas in the country that need assistance , such as some of those in Bohol province.

MCA-P is the office that handles the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant and carries out the implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS.

"MCC is committed to help rebuild the lives of affected beneficiary towns. We are here to assess the extent of damage and come up with proposed solutions for a rehabilitation program together with the affected communities. We visited the hardly-hit Kalahi-CIDSS areas in the province, such as the towns of Buenavista, Carmen, Danao and Getafe," Moll explained.

As component of the Community Empowerment Activity Cycle (CEAC) of Kalahi-CIDSS, the communities have to conceptualize an operation and maintenance plan which includes putting up barangay ordinances or forming an association to maintain their own community projects.

Getafe Municipal Mayor Casey Shun Camacho thanked MCA-P but decided to waive the assistance from the organization saying this will be of help to severely damaged areas as a way of thanksgiving that their town only incurred little damage.

"We are very grateful for the opportunity that MCC is providing us, however, community projects of Kalahi-CIDSS in our town only acquired partial damages, which our communities have already started repairing. We would like to offer this opportunity to other communities which are more affected by the earthquake," he said.

With technical assistance from DSWD, communities from Buenavista, Carmen and Danao are now gathering together in their own towns, prioritizing and identifying needs and crafting proposals to be proposed to MCA-P.

The rehabilitation program is expected to be completed by the end of April 2014.  (FREEMAN)