1625 Christmas party here at the office. No-frills celebration. Just eating and karaoke singing; no formal program. I was not here for the party last year. There’s something new technology-wise. The LCD projector was linked to the VCD player. Hence, you see the text and the accompanying of the song on a big screen. There was exchange of gifts. I received a gift, marked number 2. It was donated by a medical company. It’s a miniature soft pillow, good to protect the eyes actually while sleeping. That was how I made of it. There is no label on this thing so I can’t tell what it is really for. Anyway, thank you for the gift whose number I had picked out of pure luck.

Same Xmas party is being held during this time of the year in hundreds of offices, public and private, here in the province. The stores enjoy brisk sales of gifts, xmas lights, lanterns, xmas trees … Christmas is indeed good for the local economy.

Hard to think about poverty when you have this round of parties. Christmas, like fiestas, must be a way to distribute proteins and blessings.

2100 Preparing to go to bed. Remember the book I have been intending to write the past two decades. Too many hindrances to fulfill this one great act. I again revisit my notes, scattered in notebooks, floppies and hard disks. Now another year will be gone and still there is no draft manuscript for the book. When will we find the time to sort out these notes?

That’s the question for 2004. Or, perhaps, this is just ego trip. Who cares about a book about development fieldworkers? I have the conviction the world needs one as a weapon against cynicism that has crept into the psyche of people everywhere in recent times. Now, may I proceed to sleep and dream and wake up again refresh in the thought that the world needs fieldworkers?

Amen.

1145 Bob and Belen Mendoza, our visitors from Sydney, are leaving today. Actually, we left them at the airport. The plane was supposed to arrive 9 but after two hours at the airport, there was no plane in sight. We reluctantly left them at the airport to wait for the plane on their own.

Now I am back at the office. It’s a few minutes before the noon break. Let me just look back at this brief visit of the couple. I have learned quite a lot from them.

For instance, they were telling us about the new teaching method (combining email, one-on-one tutorial, assignments, practical work) being applied in the school where Bob works as a teacher. He is actually handling an IT course. His students are mostly children of Asian who have settled in Australia. He says the method is based on the observation that students learn at different paces; no two students learn at the same pace. Hence, the method adjusts to the unique profile of each learner.

This method is being tried for almost two years. It evolved from the frustrations of educators about the high unemployment rate among college graduates and the lack of pertinence of what students learn to the needs of industry. A survey was conducted on what exactly industry needs and the curriculum planners take this into account. Hence, the skills being imparted to students are particularly designed to the actual needs of industry.

The other idea we have found useful is this concept of a Neighborhood Technology Center being tried in Australia. I think this can be tried here with a little imagination and efforts. I have discussed this with Tony Irving, and he says we actually can try it as a project in the barangay where we are pretesting the household survey. It can be a project to engage the large number of unemployed youth in the area.

Bob and Belen have stayed in Sydney for more than 20 years. Their five daughters were born there; all have their own families there. The Mendozas are originally from Lucena City, Quezon. They have their roots there and regularly visit relatives.

For this visit, they will have time to attend class reunions of the Quezon National High School (formerly Quezon Provincial High School). Bob and Belen belong to Class 67 and Class 70 of this school. In Sydney, they have helped our class, Class 58, produce its website and a powerpoint presentation to be used by Milwida Sevilla-Reyes for the class reunion scheduled 27-28 Dec.

11 Dec 2003, Thursday

1915 He introduced himself as Peter Turingan, a consultant from GTZ. A lady employee from DAR accompanied him. They were looking for “the one in-charge of rural development.” There’s no such officer at the planning office. Rural development cuts across sectors. What Roger Alegado and I do at our unit is focus on developing a poverty reduction, a key concern in rural development.

Peter decided to talk with us. Later, we were joined by Atty. Cambangay, the PPDC. Peter asked us to recommend a project that GTZ could look into to find out some best practices in project implementation. We recommended the livelihood dispersal project being implemented by the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian with assistance from Heifer International.

Peter also asked us questions as part of a survey on best practices. It was a lively exchange. Peter has the skill of making people talk. He did not give us any copy of his TOR nor any contact address. Because he was accompanied by someone from DAR, we cooperated fully with him. Frankly, we do not know how he will use the information elicited from us.

On hindsight, we should have asked for a copy of his TOR and his business address. It’s a usual phenomenon here that year after year we entertain hordes of consultants. Only very few gave us a copy of their findings. We have to establish a clear link to our development agenda in dealing with consultants. In the first place, we spend government time and resources entertaining them. It’s just fair the Government and the people of the province should also benefit from a consultant’s visit.

1900. Tired. Many people came for the fiesta. My colleagues from PPDO. Family friends and relatives. Ilona and Christoph, young German couple next door. Tony Irving and Sally. Sibyl, a German volunteer. Some people from the barangay. Too tired to reflect.

Only one thought. It’s about the reasons for having fiestas, obviously from our Spanish past.
But the particular reason I like most was the one cited by a friend from our UNICEF days decades ago. He said fiestas are a way of distributing protein. Smart guy!

If you will sum up the money spent for a town fiesta by individual families, communities and local governments, the figure will run up to millions of persons from year to year. Looks like everyone is saving money to be spent for a two-day celebration.

Something in this town was the street lamps and the colorful arches put up by all the barangays along the national highway. There was a contest and several barangays won cash awards.

There was the usual cockfighting. Another to circulate the money around? Games like this with money bets do not produce goods and services to add value to the local economy. Big money only changes hands among the rural elites; no contribution to local production. Besides, gambling sends the message it’s good luck rather than hard work that counts in improving one’s station in life.

Development workers have raged and ranted and fought against gambling and other vices. In the case of fiestas, a senator now dead organized a crusade many decades ago to at least temper or channel the spending during fiestas to productive activities. The campaign failed miserably.

Fiestas are a way to bring family members together in a grand reunion carried out by local communities and supported by their government. The economy may falter, but the expensive celebrations go on.

Some celebrations have taken on development aspects: agro-industrial fair; cultural shows; contests among barangays (cleanest barangay, etc.). Perhaps this is the way to go, rather than fight fiestas. Integrate progressive elements into the centuries-old tradition.

2145. Dodong Manalo rang the bell at the gate and said when ushered into the house, that it would be a brief visit. Actually, he was in the neighborhood, a guest in another home at the eve of the fiesta in Baclayon. In a few minutes, he was saying goodbye in his familiar American accent, having stayed in the US for most of his adult life. More than a year ago, Dodong retired from his US job and decided he had to go back to Bohol, back to his roots, he said. He used to teach philosophy at a local university (Holy Name University) in Tagbilaran City. Now he teaches English in the same institution.

In the brief time that he stayed in the house, he was able to say that he would like to be of some help to the community in Bohol. That was one reason he came back, he said. He had built a house in Dauis to show probably he was serious in settling down in the land of his birth. He said he had been invited to attend a meeting of the purok in his place and wondered if the activity was linked somehow to our Foundation, which seeks to strengthen local settlements such as the purok.

We told him that the Foundation has not yet reached Dauis. Launched 14 Aug, the Foundation operates in Baclayon on a limited scale due to scarce resources. Baclayon is where the Foundation’s office is located. The BLDF does not yet seek foreign funding for its activities. We do not want to compete with other NGOs on this aspect. At the same time, we would to try in new modality and find out if an NGO can sustain its operations through local resources and fund raising without involving foreign donors.

We were able to give him our brochure. It’s hard to tell what he really thinks about this development niche we are trying to feel.

Earlier, the BLDF chair, Former Tagbilaran City Mayor Jose Ma. Rocha came with two daughters, Inda and Mitos and a grandchild, Carla. We were able to review with him the content of the website. Inday, who works as nurse in Germany, said this would be useful to Boholanos leaving abroad. Sometimes they are asked facts and figures about Bohol and its municipalities and they do not know where to get reliable references. This website solves the problem, she said.

Was at Holy Name University to attend Family Day. The gym was full of students and parents. When I arrived, somebody was talking about the need to organize a cooperative among us parents. There were hundreds of people there and it was simply impossible to hear anything clearly. Perhaps a separate meeting with parents could have avoided this situation.

The rest of the program was better appreciated; you did not have to hear anything. Representative groups from the students, parents and teachers presented songs and dance numbers. As expected, they were all into Western-style songs and dances. Everybody took for granted these were all part of popular culture. This is basically a school for children from middle class families. I wonder what the situation is like in public schools. Do they have native songs and dances there?

Now I am again beginning to understand what the late Renato Constantino said about our miseducation and the poverty of culture.

Through Ms.Imelda Borromeo, head of the PPDO economic development sector, I was able to get a copy of the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Support Program (BIARSP Phase III) Technical and Financial File.

I learned a lot from it. It’s quite an important document. The Kingdom of Belgium first supported the country’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in 1995 with the Belgian Agrarian Support Program (BARSP). The first phase was succeeded in 2000 by Phase II which ended in August, 2003.

Phase III will be implemented for 48 months. It seeks to “properly integrate management and implementation into the existing relevant institutions in order for them to be fully prepared to carry on the work without external assistance.”

This document also says that due attention will be given “to convergence, coordination and networking with partners and other organizations, in order to optimize the impact of the Programme, and of similar programmes focusing on the same target groups.”

We remember that a week ago we were called to the Governor’s office to attend a meeting with two consultants and the head of the provincial DAR. They were talking about Phase III of BIARSP. The first key activity would be the six-month activity for the consultants to review all proposed ARC projects and to link them to the municipal and development plans.

This is, of course, implicitly saying that these projects were identified and proposed outside the provincial and local planning process.

On returning to the office, I was handed the training plan and budget for BIARSP III in Bohol. I summarized the activities and was astounded to find out that more than P2 million would be spent for orientation, consultation and negotiations, as well as skills training, for something like 2,000 participants. I calculated the cost to be about PhP900 per pax.

It will be interesting to find out comparable costs from the previous phases. Perhaps, at this stage, training costs per participant should go down with the LGUs absorbing part of the cost. In almost a decade, LGUs and other partners should have integrated some of the activities into their planning and budgeting. If this has not been done, the next 40 months or so will not be enough to make LGUs and other partners take most of the responsibilities after this phase.

2030. One key issue stressed during yesterday’s strategic planning workshop for the BCDS (Bohol Center for Development Studies) was the need to “coordinate” the activities of Filipino and foreign consultants doing research in Bohol. They actually come and go without anyone in provincial government knowing their TOR and the results of their research. Most of them get data from offices such as PPDO, BEMO, CCAD, but they never bother to submit any copy of their research findings so that these can be used somehow to improve development-related database.

In recent months, we have had consultants and researchers asking information and borrowing reports from PPDO. They promised to give copies of their research outputs in return. Well, you have guessed it, they have not turned up to date. Worst, their respective host agencies have told us they had left weeks ago. These agencies were not also given any report on their research at all. They also reported during the workshop that they had to assign staff to accompany the researchers, who had to do their assignment at their own expense.

We have been told informally that foreign consultants are doing research in various parts of the province. Nobody knows what they are up to. In recent memory, an Italian consultant from FAO and a Japanese researcher obtained data from our files and promised to touch base with us later; then they just disappeared. Not a phone call nor email from them.

The BCDS will probably draft an executive order to compel these researchers to at least discuss their TORs and submit to the provincial government copies of their reports. Probably the EO will help make the researchers have some respect for us.

Which reminds us of some consultants who come here, do their assignments (not necessarily research), promise to keep us at least posted on what happens after all the consultations, field visits and validation missions … and then they do not even bother to inform us on what happens to the proposed project. In one case, we happened to know through a third party that the proposed micro-credit is already being implemented in Mindanao. Can they at least spare us the agony of a long wait? Even consultants should know basic courtesy.

Yes, this is how shabbily we are being treated by donors. And they endlessly talk about partnership in their glossy brochures.

1935. Home. Have received via email the documents (Plan of Operations; Minutes of Meeting) on the water project finalized by Ulli of GTZ. The revisions capture faithfully the discussions last Tuesday. I will send the attachments to Atty. Cambangay, Roger and Hermilo for their comments. Hopefully, we can finalize arrangements between the Provincial Government and GTZ within the month.

Meanwhile, the project office is still being set up. Part of the old library is being renovated. This has been taking quite a long time. I asked the officer assigned to this task and he said this was due to the usual red tape associated with the procurement of construction materials. GTZ has already purchased the chairs, desks, etc. and they are there stored in the office under renovation.

Perhaps we should start with procurement procedures to make things flow smoothly with regard to starting a project at provincial level.

I do not know if NGOs have a similar problem regarding slow-moving bureaucracies. In that meeting I attended with some NGOs and AusAID-PACAP last 01 Oct, the NGOs seemed to be bothered by the LGU’s inability to implement properly some livelihood projects in Candijay. An NGO represented openly expressed distrust in LGU’s capacity to handle project funds from donors.

It was pointed out, however, that a sharply focused project on strengthening local governance is needed and that NGOs should not give up partnership with LGUs in the implementation of projects. In the first place, the role of NGOs is primarily to field-test and innovate approaches and make them available for replication by Government. Otherwise, if donors will continue expanding assistance to NGOs beyond the pilot phase, the risk is there that a parallel service delivery structure will be established to perform tasks that LGUs are mandated to do.

The debate on this issue seems to be beclouded by perceived competition between LGUs and NGOs (and even among NGOs themselves) for scarce donor resources.

This is one reason why BLDF does not seek foreign donor assistance. It wants to pursue projects based on available local resources. In the end, this will be good for local development.

1615. We met starting late morning until the afternoon with Ulli from GTZ (German Technical Cooperation). In the meeting were Attty. Cambangay, PPDC; Roger Alegado and Engr. Hermilo Arcaya all of PPDO. The plan of operations was finalized for a water project to be implemented for three years, starting 2004, here in Bohol.

The minutes of the workshop held 11 to 13 Nov was also reviewed and the final version agreed upon.

The project seeks to strengthen government capacities to plan and implement the effective management of water resources in the province.

Some of the expected outputs: integration of the provincial water supply, sanitation and solid wastes management master plan, now on its final preparation stage, with the annual development plan and the medium term development plan; integration of the master plan with the GIS database at the PPDO; formation of an integrated water resources management team; setting up demonstration sites on water supply and sanitation technologies, etc.

It’s more a capability-building project. Hopefully, we can package projects within the three-year time frame to make available safe water to most households in the province, as well as for other uses.

We remember what Andreas Kanzler, the GTZ water programme director, said in that workshop the other week. He said the project would teach us “how to fish, rather than give you fish.” This is a pet expression from community development workers the world over. Donors often say this too especially if resources are scarce and there is not much hardware to dispense. That’s why a program approach is important. Other donors who can afford hardware must come in with the gears so we can fish.

We did not hear this htf (how to fish) line from the Social Welfare people who launched the KALAHI-CIDSS-KKK program here in Bohol several months ago. The project has PhP263 million in World Bank laon to spend for 293 barangays in 12 municipalities in the province. It will be interesting to find out how much of these funds will be spent for capability building vis-à-vis the amount spent for highly visible projects (translation: infrastructure). If a project has plenty of money, the tendency is to go ahead and fish without regard to building local skills; everything will be just for show.