This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 14, May 15-21, 2005

Life Springs in Remote Samar Barrio through Self-Help

A remote barrio in Samar has benefited from a research conducted by an NGO and the resulting intervention based on a survey of the villagers’ economic needs and demands.

BY JAZMIN A. JERUSALEM

Contributed to Bulatlat 

Barangay Yabon, a poor farming community in the hinterlands of Hinabangan, Western Samar, in central Philippines attests to the poor state of most barrios in the region. Basic social services are nil. Most villagers are poor who make a living from farming, with vegetables as their main crop.

Yabon further is hardly accessible to transportation. One has to hike through mountain trails and abandoned logging roads to get to the barrio. It is about a 2 ½ hour hike (9 kms) from the town proper of Hinabangan.

In 2001, the non-government organization (NGO) Samar Rural Assistance Program (SRAP), conducted a baseline data survey in Yabon. The high poverty indicators in the survey showed the urgent need for economic support services. Based on the findings, a series of community consultations were launched to finalize SRAP’s development intervention in the area.

SRAP was established in 1986 through the assistance of the Manila-based Appropriate Technology Center for Rural Development (ATCRD). Its program services focus on cooperative development and appropriate technology with the end goal of improving food security for the rural poor. So far, SRAP has extended economic support services and livelihood assistance to at least 67 communities in 17 municipalities in the three Samar provinces.

Self-help initiatives

Despite the seemingly desperate situation of the poor farmers in Yabon, self-help initiatives have been done since the setting up of a community organization. These simple self-help efforts have evolved into organizing a cooperative store to supply cheap basic goods to the members, and eventually to the other villagers.

Formed in 2004, the cooperative store now has 37 members. Prices of products are increased by only 3 percent compared to the individually-owned ones who jack up their prices as much as 40 percent. Members benefit from the cheaper prices and individual shares from the cooperatives profit.

All residents of Yabon are allowed to become members if they are willing to abide by the policies of the cooperative and responsibilities of individual members. Recruitment was doubled toward the second year of the cooperative store’s existence. In fact, some storeowners joined in.

SRAP Executive Director Engr. Wilfredo Parrilla said, “Building on traditional forms is SRAP’s approach to cooperative formation. Through the cooperatives, the barrio folk are able to pool knowledge and resources to address their common problems. The cooperatives serve as structured and functional local support systems to enhance community solidarity and self reliance, thus a venue for developing farmer leaders.”

According to Dovie Parrilla, an active leader of the cooperative and a barangay councilor, “The cooperative store has helped us in giving an immediate solution to our short-term economic needs. Before the cooperative store, our lives were at the mercy of the usurers who exploited us to the last peso. Now my fellow villagers have our cooperatives which are for us poor people. It is a reliable weapon against those opportunist traders.”  

She added, “Although obviously limited in their capacity to resist broader forms of exploitation, the cooperatives provide social and political space to address specific problems and draw up coordinated strategies in a way never experienced through government efforts or other groups organized by politicians.”  

Cooperatives are vital links to achieving food security for a large number of the poorest sections in society. With the advancement of the cooperative movement in the rural barrios, meaningful economic development may yet be achieved. Bulatlat

 © 2004 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

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