P64M DSWD Bicol projects set for completion in August

PHOTO shows one of the development projects in Barangay Mabini, Uson, Masbate being funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Photo courtesy of DSWD-Bicol

LEGAZPI CITY --- Development projects in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte and Masbate will soon be completed with funding from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office here.

Ranelle Sertan, information officer for DSWD’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) program, said the department is funding 33 sub-projects in five municipalities in Bicol with a total grant allocation of P63.7M.

“The sub-projects refer to the community projects generated through DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS planning process using the Community Empowerment Activity Cycle (CEAC) with partner barangays having designed, implemented and maintained these projects to respond to needs or problems identified during the Participatory Situation Analysis (PSA),” she said in an interview Monday.

Sertan said the projects’ locations and allocations are as follows: Talisay, Camarines Norte - P9.5M; Magarao, Camarines Sur - P10.9M; San Jacinto, Masbate - P11.1M; Uson, Masbate - P18.7M; and Mandaon, Masbate - P13.3M.

She said the bases of selection include: income class of the municipalities, poverty incidence, population and performance of the local government unit in the previous implementation of projects. For basic services, Sertan said the projects include community water systems, school buildings, health stations and electrification; for basic access infrastructure, the projects include foot bridges, access roads and foot paths.

“These community projects were selected during the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum – Participatory Resource Allocation (MIBF-PRA) recently, where interventions or projects are ranked based on the criteria agreed by community volunteers representing each barangay,” she noted.

The projects are expected to be completed by August this year, Sertan said. PNA