Desire for WB aid pushes solons to classify their districts as ‘poor’

Believe it or not, some congressmen want their home provinces to be identified as among the country’s 11 poorest provinces.

According to sources in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), this previously unwelcome tag recently became sought after by some congressmen because of a World Bank-funded loan scheduled to be released in January.

Under a DSWD program aimed at easing poverty, called Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), the country’s 11 poorest provinces will receive money from the World Bank, totalling P9.5 billion over three years.

After conducting a survey, the DSWD identified the 11 provinces as Agusan del Norte, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Saranggani, and Zamboanga del Norte, all five in Mindanao; Eastern Samar, Iloilo, Masbate and Siquijor, four in the Visayas; and Ifugao and Quezon in Luzon.

DSWD sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, some congressmen whose provinces were not included in the list made inquiries about the DSWD program after learning about the World Bank loan.

In particular, they wanted to know how barangays in their congressional districts may benefit from the program.

Unknown to them the DSWD – to avoid being pestered by politicians – quietly undertook a survey months ago of the country’s over 70 provinces to determine which of them should benefit from the World Bank loan.

The international financial institution weeks ago approved a $100 million Philippine loan request to fund the DSWD program, which is meant to spur development in the country’s poorest areas.

Under the program, barangays in fifth and sixth-class municipalities will be given P3 million each for three years to fund projects they deem crucial for stimulating local economic activity such as irrigation ditches or farm-to-market roads.

It would be up to barangay residents and officials to decide on the projects they wish to undertake. They would be expected to monitor the project’s progress and guard it from graft since they will have stewardship of the projects and the funds.

Since the 1986 ouster of strongman Ferdinand Marcos, poverty remained the country’s biggest problem with over 70 percent of 80 million Filipinos living in dirt-poor conditions.

The government largely blames poverty for the rise of the communist and Muslim insurgencies in the 1960s and the 1970s.

Although rich in natural resources, Mindanao is the poorest among the country’s three main regions, mainly due to government neglect and the decades-long Muslim rebellion in some parts.

Like previous administrations, the current Arroyo administration has been trying to spur development in Mindanao to quell the Muslim insurgency.

In 1996, the government under President Fidel Ramos signed a peace deal with the Moro National Liberation Front, the largest Muslim rebel group.

The Arroyo administration is currently holding talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the second largest Muslim rebel group that spun from the MNLF in the 1970s.