(Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, Mindanao, Philippines)
Project Background
Zamboanga Sibugay Province is located in the western part of Mindanao composed of 16 municipalities. It has an approximate total land area of 360,775 hectares that constitute 43.09 percent of the mother province of Zamboanga del Sur, about 22.5 percent of the region, and 1.2 percent of the country’s 30 million hectares. There are 13 river channels and seven (7) marine bays or fishing grounds in the province. Marine water stretched to about 210 kilometers of shorelines benefiting 13 coastal municipalities and its 113 barangays.
Sibuguey river is considered to be the largest river in the province, it traverse seven municipalities: Bayog, Lakewood, Buug, Diplahan, Siay, Imelda, and Payao, his also is a source of irrigation of Sampoli area and Bayog. However, it also became the source of flash floods during rainy seasons, affecting the low lying coastal areas in the seven municipalities. According to the residents, and initial study from the Sibugay Valley Management Council (SVMC), the overflowing of the Sibuguey River, which causes flash floods, was due to the deforestation in the upland areas caused by large scale logging operation in the 1950’s, and small scale mining activities in the 1980’s up to present, and currently the exploration of Big Scale Mining, closing Sibuguey River’s route to other tributaries.
Among the affected areas, Sitio Riverview of Barangay Salinding of the Municipality of Say suffered more. Salinding had flat plains, where water stagnates for three to seven days; moreover, it is only 2.5 kilometers away from the seacoast, adding to its vulnerability during heavy rainfalls, typhoons, and floods. During flooding, the most prevalent illnesses according to Municipal health Office of Siay, were Diarrhea, Stomach ache and Skin Diseases especially to the children. Crops like corn and rice that were already 30 days from planting were totally damage., The rice which was ready to be harvested were partially damage resulting to the shortage of their expected harvest.
There was a history of prolonged dry season that lasted for 11 months on 1973. Based on the recorded data there was a drought that lasted for 9 months that made more than a million of families suffered from scarcity of food specialy on upland as well as in the lowland area here in Mindanao. Zamboanga Sibugay was not spared from that threat where rice fields were totally unproductive.
Barangay Profile
Last November 15, 2007, the Social Action Ministry conducted a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in Barangay Salinding. The following are the summary of the results
A. History
In 1976 an earthquake caused the tectonic plates to move, blocking the route of Sibugay River to Guiana; rerouting the course of Sibugay River to Barangay Sliding and Baumann, exiting to Log pond, Say. In 1980’s barangays Guiana, Log pond, Baumann, and Sliding were covered with mangroves. But due to the development of fishpond these areas made the rivers and creeks closed and hinder the spontaneous flow of water. Ever since then, the flooding occurs during rainy seasons in Barangay Sliding, especially in sitio riverview which suffers more and receives the full impact of the flood.
Last August 1999 and July of 2006, 50 percent of the residents have to be evacuated in the Parish Formation Center because of the flood. The parish then caters their basic necessary needs and had given them medical supplies with the help of Municipal Social Welfare and Development (MSWD ).
B. Population and Livelihood
The municipality of Siay is a third class municipality with a total number of 29 barangays and a population of 37,336 that comprises 6,838 households.
Barangay Salinding which is under this municipality has two sitios: Riverview and Lagaan, composed of tri-people with a total population of 1,472, of which majority are Christians, 38 percent (568) are Lumad (Subanen), and a small percentage of Muslims; there are 289 families and 267 households.
Their main source of income is purely agricultural, like rice and corn planting, Livestock raising, lemon fruit production and making roofs made of nipa, which are all very vulnerable to floods. A time, while waiting for the crops to be harvested, farmers will go for fishing for family consumption while others get their extra income in production of coconut wine (Tuba in visayan dialect) while still others applied as a laborer in nearby Fishpond earning a meager wage of P150.00 per day.
C. Organization
Salinding had existing people, and church’s organizations, like the Inter-Religious Disaster Organization, Pagsalabuan Subanen de Siay, Women’s Organization, and Farmer’s Organization. These organizations were organized by NGO’s, and the Church. Though these organizations were established years ago, some of the organizations no longer functional they were organized.
D. Resources and Services
Sitio Riverview do not have power supply, roads accessible to land vehicles; residents use their own boats in transporting their agricultural products to markets during rainy season and walk on foot when dry season. It is also lack of potable waters for the community to drink during rainy season. Though it has an infrastructure like primary schools, it often closes down and became useless during rainy seasons. High-rise water that reached from mid-thigh to waistline enters the school premises; the school eventually closed. All the barangay infrastructures, including the Barangay Hall, is reached by the flood. The main source of their income is purely agricultural, like rice planting, Livestock raising, lemon fruit production and making roofs made of nipa, which are all very vulnerable to floods.
E. Diseases
During rainy seasons, from May to December, the prevalent illnesses in the area were colds, stomach ache, skin rashes and diarrhea. Diarrhea is largely contributed to the residents’ source of drinking water. Majority of the populace especially in Riverview get their drinking water from a shallow-well near the Sibuguey River. In 1994, it was reported that measles epidemic breakout to the community which resulted to some deaths especially to the children.
Project Concept
There are three components which the project comprises. First is the establishment of potable water source through rainwater harvesting and water purification. Second, is the early warning system and then the third is the alternative/supplemental livelihood.
Houses with galvanized iron roofing will be provided with container for rainwater catchments. 2 of these HHs will be provided with a larger container for community use in case of flooding (since many houses in the community do not have galvanized iron roofing) Each container for community use contains 375 gallons that is equivalent to 1500 ltrs. Water purification will be undertaken by SAM-Ipil in partnership with PhilRice scientists and in coordination with DOST and DOH.
Development of an early warning system will be done as part of the disaster risk reduction capacity building for the community. This will be the responsibility of SAM-Ipil in partnership with the Disaster Management Team, the Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council, and in coordination with the BDRC Learning Circle and the scientists and hydro-geologists from local scientists, MO, UP NIGS.
The third component would be the significant intervention of the Philippine Rice Research Institute. As agreed upon, PhilRice will implement this section of the project in partnership with SAM Ipil. An MOU between SAM Ipil and PhilRice will be prepared and signed by the two institutions. PhilRice will submit to SAM Ipil an interim and final report on the progress of their engagement of Zamboanga Sibugay. Arrangements between PhilRice and SAM Ipil will also be covered by CA and DFID guidelines.
Project Objectives
The aim of the action is to enhance the capacity of the marginalized households of Brgy. Salinding,Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay that had been organized by the Social Action Ministry of Ipil to implement:
- disaster resilient agriculture-based and skills based sustainable livelihood activities;
- simple but effective drinking rainwater collection and water purification techniques;
- community-based production of processed medicinal herbs for common illnesses;
Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies
The Capacity building are centered on the following:
- Household/Community-based water treatment to enable households to hold ample supply of potable water;
- Optimize “floating agriculture” innovations for the community’s food security and production of herbal medicines;
- Herbal medicine processing and storage which leads to the establishment of the “Botika ng Barangay type” herbal drug store; and,
- Other livelihood skills which the community would like to optimize to start their household-based enterprises;
- Food preservation
Zamboanga Sibugay Province is located in the western part of Mindanao composed of 16 municipalities. It has an approximate total land area of 360,775 hectares that constitute 43.09 percent of the mother province of Zamboanga del Sur, about 22.5 percent of the region, and 1.2 percent of the country’s 30 million hectares. There are 13 river channels and seven (7) marine bays or fishing grounds in the province. Marine water stretched to about 210 kilometers of shorelines benefiting 13 coastal municipalities and its 113 barangays.
Sibuguey river is considered to be the largest river in the province, it traverse seven municipalities: Bayog, Lakewood, Buug, Diplahan, Siay, Imelda, and Payao, his also is a source of irrigation of Sampoli area and Bayog. However, it also became the source of flash floods during rainy seasons, affecting the low lying coastal areas in the seven municipalities. According to the residents, and initial study from the Sibugay Valley Management Council (SVMC), the overflowing of the Sibuguey River, which causes flash floods, was due to the deforestation in the upland areas caused by large scale logging operation in the 1950’s, and small scale mining activities in the 1980’s up to present, and currently the exploration of Big Scale Mining, closing Sibuguey River’s route to other tributaries.
Among the affected areas, Sitio Riverview of Barangay Salinding of the Municipality of Say suffered more. Salinding had flat plains, where water stagnates for three to seven days; moreover, it is only 2.5 kilometers away from the seacoast, adding to its vulnerability during heavy rainfalls, typhoons, and floods. During flooding, the most prevalent illnesses according to Municipal health Office of Siay, were Diarrhea, Stomach ache and Skin Diseases especially to the children. Crops like corn and rice that were already 30 days from planting were totally damage., The rice which was ready to be harvested were partially damage resulting to the shortage of their expected harvest.
There was a history of prolonged dry season that lasted for 11 months on 1973. Based on the recorded data there was a drought that lasted for 9 months that made more than a million of families suffered from scarcity of food specialy on upland as well as in the lowland area here in Mindanao. Zamboanga Sibugay was not spared from that threat where rice fields were totally unproductive.
Barangay Profile
Last November 15, 2007, the Social Action Ministry conducted a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in Barangay Salinding. The following are the summary of the results
A. History
In 1976 an earthquake caused the tectonic plates to move, blocking the route of Sibugay River to Guiana; rerouting the course of Sibugay River to Barangay Sliding and Baumann, exiting to Log pond, Say. In 1980’s barangays Guiana, Log pond, Baumann, and Sliding were covered with mangroves. But due to the development of fishpond these areas made the rivers and creeks closed and hinder the spontaneous flow of water. Ever since then, the flooding occurs during rainy seasons in Barangay Sliding, especially in sitio riverview which suffers more and receives the full impact of the flood.
Last August 1999 and July of 2006, 50 percent of the residents have to be evacuated in the Parish Formation Center because of the flood. The parish then caters their basic necessary needs and had given them medical supplies with the help of Municipal Social Welfare and Development (MSWD ).
B. Population and Livelihood
The municipality of Siay is a third class municipality with a total number of 29 barangays and a population of 37,336 that comprises 6,838 households.
Barangay Salinding which is under this municipality has two sitios: Riverview and Lagaan, composed of tri-people with a total population of 1,472, of which majority are Christians, 38 percent (568) are Lumad (Subanen), and a small percentage of Muslims; there are 289 families and 267 households.
Their main source of income is purely agricultural, like rice and corn planting, Livestock raising, lemon fruit production and making roofs made of nipa, which are all very vulnerable to floods. A time, while waiting for the crops to be harvested, farmers will go for fishing for family consumption while others get their extra income in production of coconut wine (Tuba in visayan dialect) while still others applied as a laborer in nearby Fishpond earning a meager wage of P150.00 per day.
C. Organization
Salinding had existing people, and church’s organizations, like the Inter-Religious Disaster Organization, Pagsalabuan Subanen de Siay, Women’s Organization, and Farmer’s Organization. These organizations were organized by NGO’s, and the Church. Though these organizations were established years ago, some of the organizations no longer functional they were organized.
D. Resources and Services
Sitio Riverview do not have power supply, roads accessible to land vehicles; residents use their own boats in transporting their agricultural products to markets during rainy season and walk on foot when dry season. It is also lack of potable waters for the community to drink during rainy season. Though it has an infrastructure like primary schools, it often closes down and became useless during rainy seasons. High-rise water that reached from mid-thigh to waistline enters the school premises; the school eventually closed. All the barangay infrastructures, including the Barangay Hall, is reached by the flood. The main source of their income is purely agricultural, like rice planting, Livestock raising, lemon fruit production and making roofs made of nipa, which are all very vulnerable to floods.
E. Diseases
During rainy seasons, from May to December, the prevalent illnesses in the area were colds, stomach ache, skin rashes and diarrhea. Diarrhea is largely contributed to the residents’ source of drinking water. Majority of the populace especially in Riverview get their drinking water from a shallow-well near the Sibuguey River. In 1994, it was reported that measles epidemic breakout to the community which resulted to some deaths especially to the children.
Project Concept
There are three components which the project comprises. First is the establishment of potable water source through rainwater harvesting and water purification. Second, is the early warning system and then the third is the alternative/supplemental livelihood.
Houses with galvanized iron roofing will be provided with container for rainwater catchments. 2 of these HHs will be provided with a larger container for community use in case of flooding (since many houses in the community do not have galvanized iron roofing) Each container for community use contains 375 gallons that is equivalent to 1500 ltrs. Water purification will be undertaken by SAM-Ipil in partnership with PhilRice scientists and in coordination with DOST and DOH.
Development of an early warning system will be done as part of the disaster risk reduction capacity building for the community. This will be the responsibility of SAM-Ipil in partnership with the Disaster Management Team, the Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council, and in coordination with the BDRC Learning Circle and the scientists and hydro-geologists from local scientists, MO, UP NIGS.
The third component would be the significant intervention of the Philippine Rice Research Institute. As agreed upon, PhilRice will implement this section of the project in partnership with SAM Ipil. An MOU between SAM Ipil and PhilRice will be prepared and signed by the two institutions. PhilRice will submit to SAM Ipil an interim and final report on the progress of their engagement of Zamboanga Sibugay. Arrangements between PhilRice and SAM Ipil will also be covered by CA and DFID guidelines.
Project Objectives
The aim of the action is to enhance the capacity of the marginalized households of Brgy. Salinding,Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay that had been organized by the Social Action Ministry of Ipil to implement:
- disaster resilient agriculture-based and skills based sustainable livelihood activities;
- simple but effective drinking rainwater collection and water purification techniques;
- community-based production of processed medicinal herbs for common illnesses;
Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies
The Capacity building are centered on the following:
- Household/Community-based water treatment to enable households to hold ample supply of potable water;
- Optimize “floating agriculture” innovations for the community’s food security and production of herbal medicines;
- Herbal medicine processing and storage which leads to the establishment of the “Botika ng Barangay type” herbal drug store; and,
- Other livelihood skills which the community would like to optimize to start their household-based enterprises;
- Food preservation
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