FEATURE

Loay’s Balay Tinabangay:

Giving homes, one at a time

No one is so poor to have nothing to give.

A fifth local government unit in Bohol may not have enough resources to start off a key social service to its indigents. But armed with good credibility, fiscal management and transparency, it has hammered and nailed 23 new houses to its residents, and their ‘parked’ pooled resource can finance up to six more houses.

“Local Government Unit of Loay has only to appropriate not less than P15,000 per house, and the rest is given by the private sector in forms of donations and free services,” sums up Loay Mayor and lawyer Hilario Ayuban, while explaining the town’s social service centerpiece in ‘Balay Tinabangay.’

While there Congresswoman Alexie Tutor of the same District is also into giving out ‘Libreng Pabalay,’ to her constituents using her own personal money, Mayor Ayuban admitted personally he has no money and even the LGU does not have the resources to bring out the same service.

It accordingly started in 2020, when there was a family which came to his office for help. To that, he said the LGU can only help as long as the family stays in a house.

The poor family disclosed: they did not even have a house.

The mayor then instructed the town social welfare and development officer to go, survey the family’s real situation and find out how the LGU can help.

Since then, the town came up with a concept of Balay Tinabangay and presented this to the people, their response was enormous, the mayor said.

“Because this is Balay Tinabangay, we need to engage the private sector, in fact the bulk of the funds would come from the private sector,” the lawyer mayor compared his town’s program with that of his idolized congresswoman.

Pooling in resources and putting up a common understanding of the responsibilities of parties, the LGU agreed that the family beneficiary would source out the lumber, or the host barangay can help in securing such, and even the neighbors would be the one’s preparing the refreshments for the carpenters and volunteers.

The vision for Balay Tinabangay is for the beneficiary to share his counterpart, and while everyone helps, the LGU would be supervising the project construction, he pressed.

“We were able to build that first house and came to know that there indeed are still a lot more families who would need a decent house,” the mayor shared.

A town on the southern coast of Bohol and that where the flooding Loboc river empties out to sea, Loay has seen a lot of natural disasters that the past storm has left many houses damaged, forcing families to stay in heavily patched crumbling structures if only to keep them dry during the rains.

Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer Maricel Violago, who leads a team of validators, said in the program, they ask barangay chairmen to submit five possible beneficiaries, poorest of the poor from the barangays.

This, they validate and compare them with the list from other barangays and pick for the next month’s beneficiary, which comes out in direst need of the house.

The aim is to give out one house every month, and we have given 23 already, the mayor said.

Conceptualized when the building materials were still a lot cheaper, Balay Tiabangay’s P100K house is now coating P120K, but still, people are giving, the mayor proudly shared.

Balay Tinabangay builds a small house with a two rooms, a small living and dining room provision, all made from coco lumber or wood and with bamboo slip-weave walls and galvanized iron sheets.

About 90% of the house would come from donations, sometimes from wealthy families, or at times, savings from students, even poor families sharing their little surplus. Everything is a gift, explains a volunteer.

Everything is duly accounted and is available for anyone who wants to see, donations, house progress reports are even posted in the town web page, another volunteer pointed out as she scanned and showed the writer the One Loay page in her mobile phone.

In a place where allegations of politicians playing favorites in the past abound, Loay has just shown that a politics based on pure service is in fact, good politics.

“It is a tough job, but then, when you are doing it to help, it is really worth the trouble,” Violago said.

That incidentally would also fit the entre Balay Tinabangay Team, giving people their home, one at a time. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)

ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS. Taking the bible literally, a roof for one’s heads may seem to appear like this. This however is a house in Loay, ruined by Odette and the family is now forced to live under what remains of the house. This has forced Loay under Mayor Hilario Ayuban to conceptualize Balay Tinabangay. (PIABohol/LGU Loay)

EVERYONE PITCHES IN. Balay Tinabangay thrives on the help the community can give that even the neighbors bring in food and snacks to the volunteers to keep up with the schedule for the day. Here, mayor Ayuban takes a young coconut meat, as snacks for the volunteers and carpenters. (PIAbohol/LGU Loay)

BALAT TINABANGAY ODETTE EDITION. A house with piled hollow blocks as base for the walls and amakan and coco lumber, would only need a little bit of plywood double walling to transform it into a classic tropical native hut for the indigent families of Loay. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

BRING OUT THE CULTURE. Even local customs in house transfer is practiced here as volunteeready sweet, sticky food during a turnover to assure longevity to the house and prosperity to its owners (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

WE’RE A FAMILY. Volunteers and neighbors of the balay tinabangay pose with torn parish Priest and mayor Ayuban during a house turn-over. Using the officials’ credibility, Loay has since raised funds for its social services in housing and has given out 23 new houses, while another funds for 6 houses is all ready in, says mayor Ayuban. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

Army, police jointly announced

“CTGs NPA in Bohol dismantled”

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Sept 30 (PIA) –As far as the authorities in charge of keeping the peace and internal security operations in Bohol, the communist terrorist group (CTG) of the New People’s Army (NPA) who have kept a tight grip on Boholanos and who feasted on the people’s fear, have been dismantled.

This forms the gist of the report which the 47th Infantry Battalion shared to the media during the weekly Capitol Reports featuring Bohol’s peace and order situation.

Speaking for Lieutenant Colonel Allysion Depayso, commanding officer of the 47IB based in Camp Rajah Silatuna in Katipunan Carmen, 47IB Executive Officer Major Jason Torino hared a very intriguing report.

“Based on the periodic reports status which the army and police joint task force, from 18 members of the armed terrorist group in Bohol, there are now only 10,” Major Torino said during in front of the local media.

“They can not conduct anymore offensives against the government,” he continued adding that they have also recently recovered the harbor site of the communist terrorist guerillas.

Saying short of admitting Bohol is insurgency-free like it was in 2010 when the Armed Forces of the Philippines conferred upon Bohol the neat slate status, all the ranking army official can say is that Bohol is “almost insurgency free.”

In reaction to that phrase, Bohol Provincial Commander of the Philippine National Police based in Camp Dagohoy commented that the situation in Bohol, “based on the joint letter directive of the PNP and the AFP states that the communist terrorist group of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) has been dismantled and that this group has not been considered a threat.”

“They are not anymore considered a threat. They now have 10 men and some 11 fire arms,” the top police chief said.

Back in the 1980s until early 2000, Bohol was plagued by rebels who have entrenched themselves in the barangays and fed on the fear of the people to sustain them in their nefarious extortion activities to raise money, but their members hardly had any share in their loot.

Between late 90s to the early 2000s, the local administration put up a poverty reduction program that infiltrated the grassroots, effectively engaging communities in the tri-folding of sectors to combat poverty, which then governor Erico Aumentado pointed to as the cause of insurgency.

With local governments actively engaging communities and with key infrastructure reaching remote areas allowing more access to government and private sector services including expanded wireless communications, armed men who happen to be exposed in vigilant communities easily get reported, making their lives even more difficult that it was.

With a severely reduced force in Bohol, the CTG of the NPAs have to transfer their base of operations to Negros Island, which also forced the government troops to pull out to pursue the fleeing rebels.

What was left was a small company of army engineers and a small force of the army’s combat troops now wielding hammers, saws and shovels, doing civil military operations and aiding the government in recovery efforts.

By February of 2010, the AFP declared Bohol insurgency free, despite the few remaining unarmed remnants of the insurgency doubling up its recovery efforts in the province’s white areas.

Years later, the army reported a few sightings of armed men in the mountain barangays, none of these however resulted in bloody encounters until the last part of the previous administration when a ranking official of the rebel movement was among the casualties in an encounter in Cabacnitan, Bilar. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

INCAPACITATED, NO THREAT ANYMORE. Speaking for 47IB Commanding Officer LtCol AllysonDepayso, Battalion Executive Officer Major Jason Torino said the NPAs here have been dismantled, their force reduced to barely 10 men and 11 firearms, to be considered no threats anymore. (PIABohol)

WEAPON OF DIFFERENT KIND. After the army has significantly reduced the number of the communist terrorist group in Bohol, the battle shifted to civil military operations, that government troops wield construction equipment and the more potent information, more that their firearms. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)

P 176 M fund for 44 barangay

projects for download - DILG

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Sept 30 (PIA) –More or less some P176 million project funds for identified barangay development projects are directly entering Bohol through the implementing local government units, hinted Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)

Twenty nine farm to market roads, six water sanitation system projects, five rural electrification projects, two health stations and two school buildings form part of the ff projects which the government’s Support to Barangay Development Projects (SBDP) in Bohol are awaiting for their fund downloads.

The DILG, through Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales bared this during the last Provincial Peace and Order Council last month at the Bohol Provincial Police Office’s Multi Purpose Hall.

Of this, 39 barangays in the province’s 14 towns would benefit from the government development fund infusion to former areas caught in conflict and geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas which have been the harboring areas of the lawless elements and communist terrorists.

In Bohol, the SBDP project areas with projects approved for 2022 funding include Canlaas and Quinapon-an in Antequera, Hanopol Norte in Balilihan, Aloja, Cabacnitan, Jalud, Rizal, Bonifacio, abd Bugang Norte in Batuan as well as Bugang Sur, Cambigsi, and Cansumbol in Bilar.

Also with approved funding of about P4 million each are Camias of Calape, Montehermoso of Carmen, Kang-Iras, Liboron and Maitum of Catigbian, Caboy, Caluasan and Villaflor of Clarin, Bahan, Banahao, Cambitoon, Dagnawan, Lomboy, Maria Rosario, Riverside, San Jose, Sua and Bahan of Inabanga.

Other barangays with approved SBDP funding include Candavid, while Katipunan, Langtad and Mantolongon, San Roque and Ubojan of Sagbayan have also approved projects.

San Vicente, Trinidad, Lomangog and Maubo of Ubay as well as Omjon of Valencia are also having projects approved for the government funding for peace and internal security.

The projects were earlier identified by the barangays through their respective Dagyawan people’s consultative assemblies, which the DILG facilitated, based on their identified barangay development plans.

The DILG then endorsed these identified projects to the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which approves it for national government funding.

While these projects were identified for funding, the DILG assists LGUs in the compliance of the documentary requirements, lending their focal persons to subject LGUs and barangays to help in the preparation of the technical documents for the funding approval, explains PD Gonzales.

This entailed countless face to face and online engagements, which we had to do, because this would also mean much to the barangays development, Gonzales said.

Over-all, like Negros Oriental, Bohol scoured a total of 44 projects in the 2022 SBDP which the DILG facilitated from the P5.624 billion appropriations from the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2022.

The fund, placed under the Local Government Support Fund would be directly released to implementing local government units, Gonzales said. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

OPENING BARANGAYS UP. DILG Bohol provincial Director Jerome Gonzales bared at the PPOC that funds of about P4M per barangay will soon be downloaded to implementing local governments which have been identified as conflict areas. The funds form part of the FY 2022 GAA, as approved for NTF ELCAC pinned areas. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

PEOPLE’S CONSULTATIONS. Through Dagyawan sa Barangays, the DILG is able to evoke to the communities their development plans which should help them solve their problems. These are then endorsed for funding under the NTF ELCAC, which is now avout to be released to conflicg-affected BLGUs. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

Bohol past NGP 2022 target

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Sept 28 (PIA) –As far as this year’s target for the National Greening Program (NGP), Bohol has accomplished 100% in terms of plantation establishment, but then, the extreme heat in the past weeks have posed a real threat to the greening program.

But that is no reasons why we have to stop planting.

Thus says Forested Maria Lorena Castino, NGP Coordinator for Bohol, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA, aired live over DyTR and streamed online at PIA Bohol facebook page.

Castino, along with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Officer in charge for Conservation and Development Section Foresters Marcial Ugay and NGP Forest extension Officer Juliet Tadle said the extreme climates in the past months have impacted on the survival of the newly planted seedlings.

Ironically, the National Government adopts the tree plantation establishment to help delay the effects of the changing climate which has brought the drought in times when the southeast monsoon would have been dumping rains.

A bush fire also hit sections of the NGP plantation in Candijay last week, raising concerns of replanting in areas where the DENR has already paid for the contracted group planting and nurturing the trees.

During the Kapihan, forester Castino said from 2011 during the sprouting of the NGP which initially plans to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares, Bohol has a target of 32,378 hectares of vegetative cover to restore.

This year, Bohol has a target of 1,117 hectares to replant and forests to reclaim, majority of which is focused on the grass covered hills of CENRO Talibon.

And while CENRO Tagbilaran has already a largely well covered area except for the built-up areas, CENRO Talibon owns up to 815 hectares of plantation this year, which it filled with timber, rattan, bamboo and mangroves.

CENRO Tagbilaran’s target, some 302 hectares are already accomplished, Castino reported.

Despite the target, the DENR here is lucky even as other groups have put up their own tree-planting projects.

The Diocese of Tagbilaran has a continuing program, and is on to yet nature-nurture activities in response to the call of the Seasons of Creation.

While most coordinate with the DENR for their tree planting activities, Ugay advised groups to get fruit bearing trees instead of the usual exotic species that do not blend well with environment.

Tugas, even when regulated is always better than mahogany and gmelina, all you need to do is register it, and after it will mature, one can harvest it.

Indigenous native species, suggests Ugay, who also echoed the DENR Bohol policy on preferences for fruit bearing and trees that give food.

With fruit bearing trees, birds feed on them, and when they do, they carry the seeds elsewhere, naturally dispersing them and spreading the biodiversity, according to the forester.

As for the seedlings, aside from the DENR nurseries that are scattered in some strategic locations in Bohol, a facility owned by the Provincial Government in the Bohol Biodiversity Complex in Bilar town.

Created as a consequence of the Bohol Environment Ordinance, Bohol Biodiversity Complex is a center dedicated to the study and propagation of Bohol’s endemic tree species, has an extensive dipterocarp nursery and a seed bank that has an impressive inventory of native tree species as needed.

Seedlings and planting materials are available, just coordinate with the DENR or Bohol Provincial Environment Management Office, which has the BDC under its supervision. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

Bohol’s first solar power plant

To occupy 22 has. in Dagohoy

SAN VICENTE, DAGOHOY, Bohol, Sept 28 (PIA) –The first solar power project in Bohol is set to take some 22 hectares (has) of idle lands here, producing an estimated 20-27 megawatts of renewable energy converted to power for Bohol consumers.

The solar power plant would be laying some 42,300 photo voltaic solar panels, 63 string inverters to produce a maximum projected yield of 27MW of direct current or 20 MW of alternating current, according to the project design.

Brought in by PetroGreen Energy Corporation (PGEC), the Dagohoy Solar Power Project (DSPP), a green energy resource that does not emit greenhouse gases, does not produce effluents and does not smell as compared to other energy produced by fossil fuels, is a welcome addition to Bohol’s latest efforts to bring in inland power sources that go in line with the vision for GreenBohol, said Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, who graced the project launch.

This is a proof that development can indeed be achieved without sacrificing the delicate balance of nature, Aumentado who came in to realize a campaign promise of the provision of reliable and resilient cheap power, shared during his address.

PGEC’s DSPP will be an indigenous and ready source of power in Bohol which will displace the more expensive oil-based plants, and the low maintenance facility will bring in much cheaper power that could reduce even the line rental consumers are paying, bringing the costs down.

PetroGreen Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Francisco Delfin Jr., said they came to then congressman Aumentado with the proposal in 2019 when they heard the lack of power supply in Bohol, and that a big portion of the power Bohol uses is still from unsustainable sources.

The project does not emit smoke, unlike what environmentalists tag against coal and diesel power, has no effluents and does not smell. This has no side effects to the farms, houses and the lands near it, he said stressing that they designed the facility to spare the farms and residences in the vast sprawling land the company has picked for the solar power plant.

The area has a flat and clear terrain without shades, has a high irradiance value and is near existing transmission lines, as the company also intends to bring the excess power to the Visayas grid through the Energy Development Corporation.

The project also has a high support and acceptance of the nearby communities and the local government unit, assure Dagohoy Mayor Herminio Relampagos and San Vicente Barangay Chairman Renato Saguing.

Relampagos said he understands that host communities with power facilities can benefit from the revenues from every generated power, real property taxes, business taxes, employment opportunities and corporate social responsibility projects of the company.

The mayor sees millions in annual revenues for the local government, which the town can use for its development projects, as well as revenues for the barangay while the company’s projects in its corporate social responsibility.

On the other hand, on the prospect of job generation, sources from PGEC have said that the construction phase of the project alone would employ some 500 to 800 local workers, said San Vicente Chairman Renato Saguing.

This plus the CSR projects which, his barangay has already availed in 100 solar street lamps, the opportunities, he said are still endless. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

FIRST IN BOHOL. Capable of producing 27MW of DC power, the Dagohoy Solar Power Project is a step which advances Bohol to its vision of using green and renewable power, unlike the mixed coal and geothermal power which Bohol sources out from the Visayas Grid. Here, Gov Aumentado poses with Dagohoy Mayor Herminio Relampagos and the mayors office personnel. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)