As told by Ellen delos Santos, BHW

Brgy. Malayong, Gloria, Oriental Mindoro

Tiredness creeps into my body as I reached down the hilly slopes of Brgy. Malayong. Inasmuch as I am excited to attend the barangay assembly today of Kalahi-CIDSS, I am doubtful though I try to be optimistic that our barangay’s proposed sub-project will be prioritized in this week’s Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum.

As I neared the covered court where I saw many of our ka-barangays happily chatting, I shrugged off the negativities in my head and joined their cheerful discussion. Several residents that are present are Mangyans, joined by more than half of the Tagalogs.

I am a barangay health worker, and in order to render service to fellow community members especially the Mangyans, I ride a motorcycle to reach the foot of the mountains. But that does not stop there because I would have to walk for three hours to reach the said place.

Surprisingly, this is not the difficult part yet. The three hour travel to the Mangyan area may even extend up to four when rain pours down. Exhaustion probably doubles over for the Mangyans who had to make their way down from the mountains, which is slippery and dangerous.

Though we have always been thankful of rain, we can’t help being scared when droplets of water came trickling down from the skies. Our dilemma rise on the fact that the flood easily rise up to waist because of the river in the barangay. Not only was this dangerous enough for us adults but also poses the same kind of danger to children who happen to go to school located near the place. Many accidents have took place and may take place, though we hope not, when the rain season comes in.

Kalahi-CIDSS helped us with our dilemma. Every time the community facilitator of our barangay gathers us for the assembly, there were no hesitations to attend the said activity. Notably, the Mangyans only missed one assembly out of the five conducted by Kalahi-CIDSS.

Mangyans not only attend Kalahi-CIDSS activities but also Pantawid Pamilya Family Development Sessions and other election-related activities conducted by the municipality. Their eagerness in these type of activities consequently show that they want to be involved in any development related endeavors.

When we undertook the Participatory Situational Analysis, it came out that the Mangyans and the Tagalogs have varied needs. Lack of water system was theirs, while for us the flooding that takes place in the barangay proper when heavy rains occur. However during the votation, votes were not enough for the water system of the Mangyans.

Eventually, it led to the dike sub-project, which earned the most votes at the barangay level. My fellow community members crafted the sub-project proposal which amounted to Php 2,231,000.00. Although it turned out otherwise for the Mangyans, never were they disheartened by the turn-out of votes. The Mangyans have even offered help in terms of labor, if ever the barangay get prioritized. They are quite positive that they will get the water system sub-project come the second cycle of Kalahi-CIDSS implementation. In fact, they are more than prepared to face the challenge of second cycle, that they would face anything head-on.

Truth be told, it was only when Kalahi-CIDSS came to our barangay that we actually worked together as a barangay. The participation of Mangyans in the project tells something of how they are moved to change, in order to better address their needs. Though the Mangyans are treated just like any other resident of the barangay, they now feel that they really belong to the community. They are not hesitant anymore but have become empowered as they already knew that they too, along with the Tagalogs, have a hand in their own development.

I must say that Kalahi-CIDSS brought a great deal of change in our community as it cemented the relationship of Tagalogs and the Mangyans. I hope that it would continually blossom in the years to come.

As our barangay marked another milestone upon our prioritization, it is only a matter of time that the river control sub-project will materialize right before our eyes. From what I know, all documents were already submitted to the region to facilitate fund release. Our barangay couldn’t be more excited to get started. ###