People’s Organization Formation for Community Development

by: Rev'd Fr. Herbert F. Fadriquela

The facilitation of the formation of people’s organization for community development is the manner by which the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) or Philippine Independent Church engages with the society. It is a faith-motivated participation of IFI in the community-development-driven initiatives of the people. This development approach draw inspiration from the revelation of the Son of God became man not so that we may become divine, but so that we may become more truly human. This development action recognizes community-driven participatory development process as a collective action of the people in addressing issues and concerns in the grassroots level. This approach sees the problems of the poor and oppressed rooted in and perpetuated by the structural organization of society and acknowledges the struggle for justice and liberation as the all-pervading purpose of development efforts. Development here is understood as a transformation of the social structure that negates people especially the poor and the marginalized to participate in social dynamics of a given community. For IFI, effective transformation of social structure is done through community-based organization that will enable its members to understand the root causes of the situation and through self-help and concerted action, correct injustices and rightfully assert their place in the society. To understand the poverty situation and its root causes, people’s organization should undertake social analysis at its macro and micro levels. Such social analysis will provide the people’s organization a defined course of action based on its capacity and capability to address the situation.

Through the organization, the problems and needs of the people are collectively identified, analyzed and addressed. It is also through the organization where individual interests are generated and incorporated to form the common interests of the organization and are expressed in their vision, mission and goals. As the organization go along, the officers and members are guided with the organization’s core values and principles aiming at self-reliance, empowerment and community development. To facilitate the people to organize themselves and help them enhance their collective capacity in a community-driven participatory development is therefore, one of the ways IFI demonstrates its participation in the human history and the saving act of God. Here, Melba Maggay’s statement “We do not do things to the poor, we do things with them” is true.

The formation of community-based organization is a grassroots level approach of organizing and empowering the people to effect changes in their lives and in their community. The method of organizing and empowering the people in the local community is known IFI-VIMROD as the step-by-step organizing approach (SOA). It is a step-by-step approach because it follows a process of community organizing from entry to the community, integration to the community and formation of people’s organization and entry to a nearby community for the same process. Its main thrust is to initiate the formation, consolidation and capability building of the people’s organization in an identified rural community and to another adjacent community using the same method and approach.



VIMROD’s task of community organizing is done mainly by its Church Development Workers and VIMROD volunteer lay members who become Friends of VIMROD (FoV) volunteer as community organizer (CO) and participate in the step-by-step-organizing approach. In this process, the CO is sent and does a low profile entry to the community and immerse in the lifestyle of the community to have first hand information about the community. The CO participates in the household and community affairs. Household affairs include household chores, farm production and tending the farm animals of the host family. Community affairs on the other hand, include church activities, hunglos or the community cooperation in land preparation, planting of seeds or harvesting of crops, alayon or community cooperation during building of a house, or on social gathering such as wedding or when somebody dies. The CO stays most of the time in the community and lives with the host family. After gaining the trust and acceptance of the people in the community, the CO starts to explore the geographic, demographic, cultural, socio-economic and political life of the community using primary and secondary data necessary to learn about the community. Through house to house visitations or group discussions during breaks while at work in the farm, the CO initiates discussions on the life situation of the farmers and draw their views and analysis of the situation. Basic questions such as: ‘Why are we poor?’, ‘What is to be done?’, ‘How can we help each other?’ demonstrate that the CO is identifying itself with the peasants and willing to take part in addressing their concerns. Such questions also challenge the farmers to be critical of their situation. Group discussion topics such as faithfulness to God, to oneself and to one another provide deeper and common understanding and enhance relationships among the farmers. The need to organize themselves is always emphasized by the CO among the people to collectively address their individually-identified needs and concerns. With the formation of the organization, the elements of sharing, learning and mutual support are further enhanced and consciously practiced. Within the people’s organization, the prevailing individualistic attitude among the members of the organization is positively transformed. Through the organization, leaders and members are developed from having the attitude of selfishness into individuals and group that appreciate community life and are conscious of community development beyond their personal well-being. In the people’s organization, individuals find themselves bonded together to work for the common welfare of the members of the organization which in one way or another contribute to the development of the community.



The involvement of the church in advocating the issues and concerns of the poor and of being in solidarity with them in their struggle is a noble task but the church should not stop there if it really desires to achieve genuine social change. Development efforts should be anchored on faith in the people’s capacity to discern what is to be done as they seek their liberation and development and how to participate actively in the task of transforming society hence, the need for the formation of people’s organization that carries Christian and Filipino values. With this, the presence of a IFI faithful as CO to facilitate the formation and sustenance of the organization to achieve progressive development in a particular community manifests the participation IFI in kalihukan sa katawhan alang sa katilingbanong kalambuan or KKKK and the faith of the IFI on such organization to effect progressive change among its individual members of the organization and to their community. Such participation is not only revealing and witnessing to God’s love, it is also a part and parcel of the mission of the church that is responsive and relevant to the contemporary context of the rural communities in the Philippines. It is a praxis model of contextual theology because it develops a theology relevant to the context by first acting to discern the poverty situation and its root causes and then reflecting on that situation in the light of faith in God to come up with an appropriate action.

CLERGY EXPOSURE PROGRAM CATERS CLERGY FROM THE DIOCESE OF MOBUCA

by: Venyljoy Sugala and Analie Tandog

IFI-VIMROD once again catered a three-day exposure program for another batch of clergy, this time coming from the Diocese of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon and Camiguin (MOBUCA). Nine priests were exposed to the community of the peasant partner organizations in the Diocese of Cebu and Bohol.

The exposure program is incorporated in the partnership forged between the Diocese of MOBUCA and IFI VIMROD. The general objective of the exposure program is to promote the development initiatives of IFI-VIMROD and its peasant partner organizations. Through this activity, IFI’s Development Framework, of which VIMROD is one of its expressions, is promoted hoping that the Clergy of MOBUCA shall understand and appreciate it.

The Right Rev. Felixberto L. Calang, Diocesan Bishop of MOBUCA, and the Executive Director of IFI-VIMROD designed the particular objectives of the exposure program. The first two days of the exposure were allotted for inputs/discussions on IFI-VIMROD Development programs. Also included are the processes and methods used by IFI-VIMROD in conducting Participatory Data Gathering (PDG) activities in the communities it is serving. Some of the sub-topics in the PDG are the Seasonal Calendar, Problem Tree Analysis, Spot Mapping, Community Profiling and the Historical Timeline. Also, the participants were able to watch the IFI-VIMROD’s video documentation on the EED-funded water project in Barangay Manga, Alcantara, Cebu and the Clergy Exposure Program of the Diocese of Surigao to same area in 2007. The said Barangay is also the destination for the participants’ area visit on the third day.



From theory to practice

In the early morning of the third day, the participants together with the Staff of IFI-VIMROD travelled for three hours from the city to Alcantara, Cebu with its aim: to witness the real life experiences of the members of the peasant organization as responsible partners to the development programs of IFI-VIMROD.

The group first met Mayor Benjamin Lobitaña of Alcantara for coordination and had a brief exchange with him about the current municipal development. From the municipal hall, the group took a 16-kilometer trip to Barangay Manga where the NAMAMA members (Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Barangay Manga) are waiting.

NAMAMA is the first KKK (Kahugpungan sa Katawhan alang sa Kalambuan) established by IFI-VIMROD in 2003. This KKK has more than a hundred members and is now managing small-projects like Sustainable Agriculture, Hog-fattening and Marketing and the Water Project of the EED. It is also one of the five KKK members of the Pederasyon sa Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma ug Mangingisda sa Alcantara (PENAMMA), a federation of KKKs in Alcantara, Cebu.

The officers and members of NAMAMA prepared the entire flow of the program of the area visit. The highlight of the program was the sharing of experiences between the clergy participants and the members of NAMAMA. The officers gave an over-view of the life of their organization. They share to the Clergy how their participatory management styles generated positive results and impacts to their family, organization and community. Collective discussions on issues, they shared, were venue for them to make the common interest and welfare more important than that of their personal desire. They shared to the Clergy how the positive effects brought about by the proper management of their organization and their projects encourage others to join their organization thus, increasing the numbers of membership of NAMAMA. They also shared how the development education provided to them enhanced their knowledge, skills and attitude in dealing with other members of the organization and in attending to their individual income-generating projects. This development, according to them was purely attributed to their being member of the organization.

The evaluation of the 3-day activity, took place also on the third day following the area visit. The participants shared their insights and reflections on the Clergy Exposure Program. They also gave some recommendations to further improve the program. Common ideas shared were: 1) the need to incorporate in the Seminary Curriculum the development framework of IFI with VIMROD as one of its expressions; 2) intensive dissemination/popularization of the development initiatives of IFI-VIMROD to the Dioceses; and 3) the need to provide the parishes with training modules on community development work as materials for their development education.



In particular, the clergy also observed that the IFI Development Framework with VIMROD as one of its expressions is a helpful guide in the efforts of the MOBUCA Diocese on their CASMER (Commission on Advocacy, Social Ministry, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations) Program. They are resolved that the IFI-Development Framework being promoted and practiced by IFI-VIMROD should be part of the advocacy being promoted by CASMER because the Integrated Development Program of IFI-VIMROD really helps the people in the ground. As Rev. Fr. Isabelo S. Igloria of the Parish of St. Matthew the Apostle& Evangelist put it, “there is really a need for IFI-VIMROD to further sustain and extend the sustainable agricultural program on natural farming technology to help farmers in doing-away with expensive commercial farm inputs. At the same time, development education enhanced the critical awareness of the members of the organization and makes them responsible to further develop their organization and manage their projects.”

ABM’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VISITS IFI-VIMROD

by: Analie Tandog

The Executive Director of the Anglican Board of Mission–Australia visited IFI-VIMROD in Cebu for the first time. Rev. John Deane, in his visit to the Philippines, allocated three days from March 9 to 11, 2010 to meet IFI-VIMROD which is among their new partners in the Visayas. IFI-VIMROD’s project endeavor with the ABM is on Knowledge Enhancement on Gender Development and Leadership Capability Building a project which started in February 2010 and will conclude on January 31, 2011. This project is aimed at enhancing the knowledge and appreciation of the federation officers and members on gender and development. At the same to to enhance the leadership capability of the officers of the federations and KKKs. The activities to be conducted under this project are seminars on Gender and Sensitivity, and the Facilitating Skills training.

On the first day, Rev. Deane was shown some of the historical sites in Cebu City. The tour was purposely included in the itinerary to give him a background on Cebu’s history and socio-cultural situation. The second day was his meeting with the entire regional staff of IFI-VIMROD. The staff presented to him the nature of IFI-VIMROD as a development program. Video documentaries showing IFI-VIMROD in action were also viewed.

The regional staff at the same time had a chance to personally give an update on Gender and Sensitivity Seminar conducted in the areas of Cebu and Negros Oriental. Male and female leaders of PENAMMA (Pederasyon sa Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma ug Mangingisda sa Alcantara) and PENAGMATTA (Pederasyon sa Nagkaiusang Mag-uuma, Mangisngisda ug gagmay’ng Tigpatigayon sa Tayasan) were the first recipients of the ABM-supported activity.

The staff described to Rev. Deane their methodologies and approaches for the seminar. They also conveyed their personal insights and reflections to have acted as facilitators of the activity. A synthesized report based on the participant’s evaluation and recommendations was also presented during the meeting. The input/discussion took one whole day.

On the third day, Rev. Deane travelled with the staff to Alcantara to acquaint him with their new partner peasant organizations. Alcantara is located south-west of Cebu and can be reached at 2 to 3 hours ride.

Barangay Manga was the meeting place with Rev. Deane and the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Manga (NAMAMA) and the officers of PENAMMA. PENAMMA is the umbrella organization of the IFI-VIMROD partner KKKs in Alcantara.

PENAMMA prepared a short program for Rev. John Deane. Women officers and members actively ensured the arrangements and the conduct for that day. The meeting was filled with fruitful sharing of experiences and ideas. One PENAMMA woman leader relayed to Rev. Deane the learning they have acquired from the Gender and Sensitivity Seminar, and how it has able to develop their confidence in taking part in their organization’s endeavor.

Rev. Deane, during his short stay in Alcantara, expressed his appreciation for the active women’s participation in organizational activities. According to him, women must be developed because they are one of the productive forces in the economy.

Mr. Aquilino Panoril, NAMAMA Chairperson, had no qualms in sharing the development intervention of IFI-VIMROD until their organization was formed. Speaking in the vernacular, he als mentioned the positive effects of the Small Project Funds such as Sustainable Agriculture, Hog-fattening and the Water Project given by the EED.

The PENAMMA leaders later guided Rev. Deane to their water-project. They gave him an overview of the construction process and how they came about some mechanisms to maintain the project. Rev. Deane said that it is also necessary for the organization to plan the sustainability of their water facility, most especially, on how it can cater to the needs of the community’s increasing population in the years to come.

Lessons learned

IFI-VIMROD lessons learned during our phase five implementation

Community organizing Goal:

Empowered KKKs and federations capable of adequately responding to and addressing their community issues and concerns

Lessons Learned:

 Community integration is a key factor to deliver appropriate and effective development approaches.

 The formation of KKKs are manifestation of their trust and understanding to IFI-VIMROD’s development agenda

 Giving high respect to different cultures helped IFI-VIMROD to persevere and realize its good intentions


Development Education Goal:

To enhance the knowledge, skills and attitudes of KKK and federation leaders and members in managing their organizations and other relevant activities.

Lessons Learned:

 the program has nurtured the peasant partners’ positive outlook on gender.

 it helped the staff to explore and learn creative teaching techniques

 Their KSA development reflects on their initiatives


Advocacy & Networking Goal:

Visible & active support of the IFI diocesan leadership in the Visayas and Mindanao to the development initiatives of the KKKs and the Federations.

Lessons Learned:

 This program helped IFI-VIMROD to learn how to be efficient and effective

 This encourages the staff to conduct timely planning, monitoring and evaluation to identify its strength and correct its weaknesses


Conclusion:

The lessons in Phase 5 helped IFI-VIMROD to set up much clearer directions in the next phase. As long as IFI-VIMROD pursues its mandate, its instrumentality will always be valued by the marginalized sectors that it is serving.

The Farmers

As a predominantly agricultural country, majority of the Filipinos depend on agriculture as their source of livelihood. Ironically, farmers and agricultural workers are the ones who benefit the least from the “improvement” in the economy. The Philippine agricultural sector has been suffering from a series of trade setbacks since 1994. This was the time the Philippine government started to liberalize agriculture in preparation for the World Trade Organization, which was established the following year. From then on, the country has been importing seeds, fertilizers and crops including those we primarily produce like rice and corn.

The Moro people

It has been the experience of Mindanao that the so-called development aggression -- mainly by big mining, logging and big agricultural companies, many of them transnational corporations – has victimized mainly Moro and indigenous peoples, displacing them from their ancestral lands. This policy of dispossession, which has been implemented in Mindanao for decades now by the tandem of government and big business, gave birth to the various rebellions in Mindanao.
For the Moro people, the central issue that drove mainland Mindanao to violence was mainly due to land grabbing. With the government’s promotion of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to potential foreign investors, it once again committed a disservice to the cause of peace by removing strategic minerals and natural resources from the scope of ancestral domain and will rob native inhabitants of their birthright over their God-given natural resources.

Added to this harsh situation is the militarization of the area where opposition to the entry of potential foreign investors is strong and the labeling of the conflict as Christian-Muslim conflict. This tragic story of Christian-Muslim conflict in Mindanao sacrificed thousand of lives of innocent civilians and created great damaged to properties and sources of livelihood.

With the government’s active participation to the Global War on Terrorism, it is fearful to note that legitimate struggle of the indigenous and Moro peoples to protect their ancestral domain and assert their right to self determination is often times tagged as an act of terrorism.

Indigenous people

For indigenous people (IP) and national minorities in Mindanao, the exploitation of their ancestral land and living spaces is the height of national oppression. Environmental degradation, suffered in the hands of globalization has led to the destruction of their culture and livelihood. Laws such as the Indigenous People’s Right Act (IPRA), the National Integrated and Protected Area Systems (NIPAS), the Mining Act of 1995 only devastate their habitats, local economy and traditional way of life. More often than not, foreign companies enter our country and in collaboration with the ruling class, plunder our natural resources, leaving virtually nothing for the succeeding generations.
Militarization in relation to the entry of big mining companies in the indigenous people’s communities has also reached an alarming situation. It was no less than a UN observer that urged the government to look into the continued deterioration of the indigenous people’s human rights due to conflict in the countryside.

The Fisherfolks

The Philippines hosts the longest discontinuous coastline in the world. For an archipelago, coastal and marine ecosystems are particularly vital because they provide food, raw materials, and ecological balance. However, for the past few years, our aquatic resources have been rapidly dwindling. Different studies show that fishing at the coastal area has already reached, if not surpassed the maximum sustainable yield. Aquatic resources’ depletion is the natural consequences of over-fishing perpetuated by big commercial fishers who are mostly foreigners. Such situation exposes the ill effects of exploiting nature in the name of profit. Equipped with resources like big and highly mechanized fishing vessels, big commercial fishers easily displaced small and traditional Filipino fisher folks who still employ outdated fishing equipment.

The Current National Context

Filipinos today are living in a society best characterized by socio-economic underdevelopment and political disunity.

The present government has accepted the truth that the country is facing fiscal crisis which is definitely far from over amidst allegations that some government officials committed massive plunder of the national treasury and further indebtedness brought by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s corruption before, during and after the 2004 elections.

In the urban centers, massive and successive demolition of urban poor communities to pave the way to infrastructure and development projects owned and financed mostly by foreign capitals continue to displace thousands of families.
In the rural areas, the more than a decade implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program manifests the continuing failure of the government to guarantee genuine land reform, just wages, job security and social services for the rural poor.
In Negros Island for instance contrary to Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) claims of high accomplishments in land distribution in Negros, a closer scrutiny of its actual land distribution as of 2004 reveals a measly 15 percent of its total targets of 246,465 hectares. Even DAR’s compulsory acquisition of commercial farms/plantations of 50 hectares and above, which should have started in 1998, has covered a dismal 656 hectares most of which are bank-foreclosed lands anyway.
Another irony is the fact that of 153,650 hectares of sugar lands marked by DAR Task Force Sugarland for land distribution, only 26,992 hectares of sugar lands are actually covered in Negros Occidental, the bastion of landlord monopoly, while 126,658 hectares are in Negros Oriental. Today, of the 1.33 million hectares total land area of Negros, 818,991.026 hectares are under private control. Of these, some 618,991 hectares are controlled by 46,574 landowners; about 200,000 hectares comprising 101 hectares and above are controlled by 486 families only. This practically placed around two-third of Negros lands are under private monopoly control.
The wanton destruction of environment through continuing promotion of large scale mining and logging put to risk the lives and food security of the next generations.

The perpetual subservience to US-led globalization policies and unwavering support to the immoral and unjust US wars of aggression and intervention has put the country in the reign of state-sponsored terror and repression through the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) policy which brutally suppresses the people’s right to hold peaceful assemblies to redress grievances and legitimate demands as prescribed in the Philippine Constitution; and the unnecessary anti-terror bill which considers legitimate political dissent as an act of terrorism. Alarming to note also is the wave of ruthless killings, enforced disappearances and massive displacement of communities resulting into a clear pattern of repression and destroying the people’s efforts to have a life of abundance and dignity.

Aside from the fact that the country is divided into several islands where cultural barriers are real, disunity roots from severe disillusionment caused by economic deprivation and, corollary, the people’s feeling of powerlessness due to intense oppression and exploitation.

The Philippines is rich, the Filipinos are poor

The Philippines is located in Southeast Asia, just above the equatorial line. It is surrounded by oceans: in the east by the Pacific Ocean, in the west by the South China Sea and in the north by the Bashi Strait and in the south by the Sulu and Celebes Seas. The Philippines is made up of 7,100 islands, big and small. It is a country overflowing with natural resources. Foremost of these is land, which is important to an agricultural country such as the Philippines. The Philippines has a total land area of 30 million hectares of which 13 million hectares is agricultural land. 5.1 million hectares is devoted for rice and corn while 3.3 million hectares is planted with coconut and the rest is planted with other crops banana, pineapple, etc. Alluvial soils that make up most of the land are rich in minerals and can grow almost any crop. The Philippines is surrounded by 1,600,000 square kilometers of territorial waters. These are home to some 2,100 fish species. But in spite of its abundance, the majority of the Filipinos are poor.

A Church Committed to Community Development

Iglesia Filipina Independiente...
A Church committed to community development

A glimpse of the past...

When Iglesia Filipina Independiente was proclaimed by the first confederation of labor unions in the Philippines, the Union Obrera Democratica, on August 3, 1902, it's forst Supreme Bishop declared: "the church is the product of the peoples desire for liberty and development as a people and as a nation." It can be recalled that the historical context when the Church was established is within the continuing struggle of the Filipino people for a free and independent nation, hence in the midst of the early members of the IFI, human development is one of it's primarily concern. The IFI, conscious of its mission and historical vocation, is concerned and believe that it mnust get involved and participate actively in human development for this is the imperative of the Gospel.

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente perceives development:

* as a continuing process and growth towards fulfillment in accordance with God's will;
* As the peoples concrete response to God's initiative in His continuing work of creation;
* As means of uplifting human dignity towards self-reliance, self-governance and self-propagation;
* As reaffirmation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Filipino Church.

It is essential task of the church to promote the good of everyone, of the whole person, and of the whole human community. This concern for human development is an expression of faith. IFI believe that persons humanity is God's gift and it is our responsibility to preserve and uphold it.

For the IGlesia Filipina Independiente, the church missionary presence in the world is her being the Salt, the Light, the Leaven (Mt. 5:13-15), in the same process and manner that the Filipino people "may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10b). Therefore, development of people is nourishing them to enhance the potentialities God has bestowed upon them so that they may enjoy life and have it abundantly and to enable them to share such abundance with their fellow beings.

The IFI is so specific with her development concept. Conscious that it is an imperative for her to transform concepts into actions; she has to undertake development programs as an expression of its commitment to social action. In 1989, as a concrete response to fulfill her mission to be relevant to the Philippine society, the IFI Bishops in the Visayas and Mindanao dioceses decided to establish a community development program the IFI-Visayas Mindanao Regional Office for Development (IFI-VIMROD).