RESIDENTS OF BARANGAY AYUGAO CLAIM THEIR RIGHTS

RESIDENTS OF BARANGAY AYUGAO CLAIM THEIR RIGHTS

by Yul Delfin, CASAFI Community Organizer

Barangay site found

 

The Caceres Social Action Foundation, Inc. (CASAFI) implements an AECID-funded convenio in partnership with InteRed in 4 of the 18 barangays in the Municipality of Presentacion. One of these barangays is Ayugao. It is one of, if not the poorest barangay in the municipality. Based on a baseline survey conducted in 2008 by WriteCo., an independent research partner of CASAFI, the estimated average monthly income of a household in Ayugao is approximately PhP 870.00 or €0.49 a day. Most families are engaged in agricultural production, primarily abaca production. Educational attainment of community residents is very low; the health situation is dismal; and livelihood opportunities are limited. One of the pressing problems expressed by the community during project identification and formulation phase was the absence of a barangay site. Data showed that 71% of household in the barangay owned their houses but were squatting on private land.

One of the first activities that CASAFI’s community organizer was to mobilize the core group of community leaders to gather information on the barangay site. Ironically, the records of the Municipal Assessor’s Office indicated that Barangay Ayugao, with its Internal Revenue Allotment, had already bought 3 barangay sites. With information from the barangay captain of Lagha, the community leaders and the CO discovered that the document regarding the barangay site was in the possession of the son of a former barangay captain of Ayugao. Apparently, the son had also been a barangay captain. Barangay Council meetings were then conducted to discuss the matter with the person. The person stated that the land was owned by his parent’s and that his parents were forced to sell the property 41 years ago. Thus, he was of the position that their family still owned the property. After reviewing the document and explaining the legal aspects of the situation, the person acceded to the fact the land was owned by the barangay.

On May 29, 2010, relocation survey notices were distributed to community residents. This was followed by a relocation survey, the installation of boundary markers, and the preparation of a site development plan.  On the first week of June 2010, around 30 families started transferring their houses to the barangay site.

Ayugao energized

At the onset of the convenio, Ayugao was the only barangay in the municipality that had no electricity. Community residents opine that the absence of electricity contributed to insecurity in the barangay and hindered economic development. As a first step, the community organizer mobilized the people’s organization and barangay officials to report the matter to the Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative (CASURECO) IV. The information came as a surprise to CASURECO management, as they believed that Ayugao was already energized in 2008. With the guidance of CASAFI’s community organizer, officers of the people’s organization and the barangay officials followed-up the matter with the congressional representative, the municipal government and the director of CASURECO. On August 16, 2010 Barangay Ayugao was finally connected to energy grid. CASURECO says that a basic orientation of consumers is needed prior to providing connections to households.

With the support of CASAFI, these experiences taught the residents of Barangay Ayugao to claim their rights to human security and development.