Rural barangays often do not have easy access to basic services
such as electricity, water, hospitals, day-care centers,
and the like. This is what the city of Surigao initially
experienced. In order for the residents’ lives to
improve, the city initiated the “Umpisahan Ninyo,
Tatapusin Ko” infrastructure development program.
This has been the motto of the local chief executive
and it was introduced to the city as a project that would
make full use of the 20 percent development fund of the
local government unit to purchase the construction materials
needed, while counting on the residents of the barangay
for labor.
The project paved the way for the concretizing the
roads that connected different barangays, the construction
of roads that would link puroks or sitios to the main highway,
the provision of a water system, the creation of bridges,
and the construction of seawalls, causeways, and waterways.
In addition to the roadwork initiated, the infrastructure
development program enabled the different barangays to create
recreation centers, day-care center, and health-care centers.
This encouraged residents of one barangay to interact
with other barangays. To push this interaction further,
People’s Organizations or PO’s were formed and
strengthened in all barangays.
With the infrastructure development project underway,
access to the rural areas are now easily possible. More
than 104,900 residents can now get their hands on farm produce
that was previously hardly available to them. In addition
to food, water has also been vastly available through the
creation of the water system.
In addition to the physical improvements the residents
would experience, the program facilitated the empowerment
of the rural people through self-help or volunteer work.
Ideas of community development, self-reliance, and Christian
virtues were instilled into the minds and hearts of the
barangay residents.
One concrete example is the bayanihan project, through
takay or alayon, initiated by the residents themselves.
The Barangay Development Council passed a resolution requesting
the City Council to fund the project. Through this initiative,
the residents were able to work together to improve the
lifestyle in rural areas. They knew that they played a key
role in the improvement of their barangay, and with that
ownership came responsibilities. They were able to form
groups that would continuously improve the infrastructure
in the city.
