In the Company of ComDev Pioneers 555

DAMASO  DIMAANO 

Young people in the organization called him Mang Dama, the deputy of Atty. Ramon P. Binamira at the Environmental Center of the Philippines, Inc. (ECP).  He was also at that time in the late 70s around 60 years old like most of those who pioneered community development in the country. 

At that time, most of the top officials and senior officers of the then Department of Local Government and Community Development  (DLGCD) used to work with PACD or they were graduates from the Community Development Center (CDC) in Los Banos. Because Dama belonged to the earlier batch and occupied a number of posts at the DLGCD,  he knew most of the regional directors and officials at various levels at the department. He was on first-name basis with most of them.

That was why aside from being ECP Deputy Director, he was the de facto liaison of RPB to the department and the Local Government Units (LGUs) where the three pilot programs were being implemented.

Dama was more the field operations type. When he monitored the field teams assigned to him under the integrated program, he would know how to trouble shoot problems related to their relationship to the local authorities. 

In the “Ilaw ng Buhay” approach to community development which builds close collaboration between local governments and the target communities, it is important that fieldworkers know the workings of LGUs, the dynamics within both the political bodies and the technical agencies. 

The new approach called for skills not only in conducting orientation and lectures, but also in dealing with both government technical staff, who delivered services, and the political leaders who either would hinder or facilitate such goal based on considerations other than developmental.

Dama’s contribution was in being able to make politicians consider the development agenda in making decisions about service delivery not necessarily through technical discussions, but more through reviving old friendships and building principled relationships with local political leaders. Thus in the “Ilaw ng Buhay” approach, which was also described by the group or the Crazy Co. as the jawbone approach (bringing the upper jaw of local governance in sync with the lower jaw of local communities and households), Dama contributed much to showing the forces at play at the local government level.

He showed that the process of dealing with LGUs is as tedious as dealing with local communities and their traditional practices. It would require he would say “casing the joint” carefully, which could mean knowing each Mayor or any political leader thoroughly, their beliefs and values, educational background, track record in public service, their virtues and vices and sometimes the number of spouses they have.

Damaso Dimaano was truly the “Upper Jaw” expert during the Ilaw ng Buhay pilot phase in the 80s.