Tambayayungayand A celebration of peace and development in Arakan

ARAKAN,
North Cotabato - Before a golden ray finally appeared in the sky early
in the morning of Tuesday, against the extremely cold damp weather of
the beautiful village of Lanao Kuran here, the residents have already
assembled themselves, with some have long arduous journey to the
seemingly never-ending steep slopes, to the barangay proper.
The festive mood of the place greeted everyone, providing a formal
hint of a celebration happening in the place for those coming in. Lea Bilarmina, 45, could not hide her feeling of enthusiasm. She was
busy accommodating her co-villagers, welcoming them with an unsolicited
smile while assisting to their designated bahay kubo” of per purok or
sitio while waiting for program to start.
Indeed, Lea and the rest of the Lanao Kuran, one of the town’s
hardest to reach remote communities, have the reason to celebrate that
day. Aside from the turnover of long-awaited solar street light project
under the PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn (PAMANA)-the Philippine
Government’s peace and development framework that aims to strengthen
peace-building, reconstruction and development in conflict-affected and
vulnerable areas- the local government of Arakan town, together with
their officials, will be marching to the place, bringing all the
services that Lea and the Lanao Koran villagers could barely access
because of the distance of the barangay to town proper.
This initiative is called Tambayayungay sa Barangay”. It was derived
from a Visayan term, yayung” which means to help collectively or
bayanihan” in layman’s term.
Poverty-stricken remote village
Atop the mountain, Lanao Kuran has a breathtaking scenic views and
sights to behold. Along the way, the lushness of forest, the beautiful
wild flowers, the songs of birds, the whisper of the cool breeze of the
wind in the century old trees covered with moss, welcome new comers. However, at the back of the shimmering bounty of nature hides the
dark experiences and situation of the people-trapped in a cycle of
grinding poverty.
For many years, as an outskirt village, more than 30 kilometers away
from the town proper, socio-economic development is stalled due to its
inaccessible road, lack of livelihood means, low educational attainment,
uncooperative residents and so many other predicaments.
Kaniadto, tatlo ka adlaw ka bag o makaabot gikan sa Arakan paadto ug
pabalik diri sa Lanao Kuran (Before, it took three days to reach the
town and vice versa), Lea said, adding that aside from the distance that
only in most important cases they went to town, it was also quite
expensive.
In fact, some villagers, in most occasions, preferred to have their
economic transactions in Calinan, Davao City in Region XI than in
Arakan.
Lea has known the desperate condition in the place. Like her, many
families earned barely enough to bring in three meals a day, which for
many times have to skip it. Partly, blaming to the lack of government
support in them.
Murag man kami ug gipabay-an (It seemed that we were left behind), Lea sadly recalled.
Armed-conflict, affected community
The village history tells that the place was one of the
rebel-infested communities in town. It had an unstable peace condition
due to the insurgency, reducing the beautiful village of Lanao Kuran
from a land of bounty to a land of despair. Dali ra kaayo mahaylo ang mga tao kay tungod sa kapigaduhon ug
kulang sa ihibalo (It was easy to convince people to be part of
insurgency because of poverty and lack of knowledge), Lea said.
From time to time, government troops and rebel group clashed,
destroying the peoples live and resources, instigating again and again
the effects of conflicts to the lives of the villagers.
But, the community stood as one, believing that there will be a dawning of peace and development in the place.
Pouring of support
The local government unit of Arakan had witnessed the agony of
residents. It tried to exert all efforts to answer the pressing needs of
the communities. However, resources always fell short.
Thanks to the help various organizations working together with Arakan
LGU. Roads were rehabilitated, with some portions being concreted,
households have accessed to water and electricity, health facilities and
other projects were implemented in the village.
These organizations including universities, civil society and
non-government organizations, national agencies and other institutions
poured assistance to the village, resulting to the slowly losing of grip
of insurgency in the community.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development came in to the
village, bringing the Kalahi-CIDSS regular projects including the PAMANA
projects later on like bridge, training center, solar street lights and
others.
Under the DSWD Programs, Lea and several Lanao Koran villagers
benefit also the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program, aside from the
grants to finance the community projects, providing better access to
basic social services, while also at the same time supporting
peace-building efforts and helping addressing needs of people, including
peace concerns.Celebrating peace, development the Tambayayungay sa Barangay” is regularly done in different
barangays of Arakan. It is a way of celebrating the peace and
development in various villages through various activities like Kasalan
sa Barangay, tree growing, operation tuli”, skills training,
medical-dental check up, issuance of animal credential, cedula, and
other municipal permits, massive civil registration and many others.
To make the activity more meaningful and memorable, PAMANA Projects
are usually turn over to communities during the said event, in which
staff and volunteers are also part of the planning and actual conduct of
activities.
Cathy Arabis, the Municipal Monitor for the project said that aside
from mobilizing community volunteers in taking active roles in different
activities of Tambayayungay, the ACT/MCT members are also taking
initiative in conducting their own activities like feeding, distribution
of school supplies to children. Furthermore, project team members also
distributing leaflets and discuss some updates about the projects as a
whole. Tambayayungay is like a festival that we are always looking
forward,” Arabis said. It means a lot to the communities because it
dispels the exclusion issue and apathy towards government,” Arabis
added.
For Lea, aside from the different social services and infra projects
brought to their community, the empowerment of Lanao Kuran, seeing the
whole community mapping together their development priorities which are
addressed in a participatory, collective and inclusive decision-making
process, is the main reason to celebrate peace and development.
Hinaut unta nga padayon nga matagamtaman sa mga sunod pang
henerasyon ang kalinaw ug paglambu dinhi (I’m praying that the peace
and development will last for generations to come), Lea said, while
ripping the polyethylene material that covers the Mango sprout to a
burrow.
Like this mango tree, according to her, may the community will
continue to nurture it to bear fruits-to continue celebrate the peace
and development in Lanao Kuran.