Solar Power to bring former NPA stronghold out of the Dark Age
Mike Banos
July 17, 2006
From the time he was born in 1947 at Sitio Lantad, Barangay Kibanban, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, former communist guerrilla and now barangay councilman Bruno Lindahay never dreamed he’d live to see the day that electricity would come to this former enclave of the New People’s Army.
Although Lantad is a mere 18 kilometers uphill from Balingasag poblacion, it might as well been in the next planet from the time two super typhoons buried its barangay road under tons of debris in the eighties, to the time the CPP-NPA turned it into its regional headquarters in Northern Mindanao.
In another year and a half, however, Lindahay need not dream any longer. Through the combined efforts of the Spanish government, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Misamis Oriental provincial government, he and the 400 other residents of Lantad would soon be enjoying the benefits of electricity in their homes.
Phase 2 of the DAR’s Solar Power Technology Support (SPOTS) project to agrarian reform communities (ARCs) will be providing the people of Lantad with solar packages that can supply
the power and energy needs for agricultural productivity and agribusiness; community facilities like the health center, barangay hall, community and school lighting systems; ‘solar home lighting systems’ for households for lighting and household-based livelihood activities and the AC-10 “Block of Power” system.
Like SPOTS Phase 1, the project’s second phase also aims to be an integrated social and agricultural development support project of the Department of Land Reform (DLR) to the Agrarian Reform Communities targeting about 40 ARCs.
The project complements PGMA’s 10-Point Agenda, particularly the electrification of all villages in the country, access to basic services such as clean water supply, improvements in health and education, and the provision of sustainable livelihoods,” said SPOTS Project Manager Reuben T. Quejas.
Under its first phase, SPOTS already installed solar packages in eight barangays covering six ARCs in the municipalities of Claveria, Villanueva, Salay, Alubijid, Kinoguitan, and Sugbungcogon.
Identified beneficiaries in the province for SPOTS Phase 2 include seven sitios covered by four ARCs in four barangays at the towns of Alubijid, Kinoguitan, Villanueva and Balingasag (including Sitio Lantad in Bgy. Kibanban).
Through the 1997 RP-Spain MOU on financial cooperation, the Spanish government has increased its financial commitments for the second phase from PhP 1,309.8M (US$ 25.2M) to PhP 1,516.4 M (US$ 27.6M) with the GOP counterpart decreasing from PhP 400.5M (US$ 7.7M) in Phase 1 to 50.214 M (US$ 0.912M) in Phase 2.
We will be using photovoltaic energy systems as the enabling technology and entry point in the introduction of other components, such as agricultural and rural enterprise development, most especially capacity building,” Quejas said.
SPOTS will maintain its multi-agency approach with the DAR as the lead agency and prime mover for agricultural, rural enterprise and institutional development, with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) as co-implementing agencies responsible for the technical aspects of the project including the identification and validation of sites in coordination with NEA’s rural electric cooperatives.
SPOTS aims to address rural poverty in the un-energized and off-grid ARCs by targeting specific Photovoltaic (PV) applications; Increase agricultural productivity and promote livelihood; Empower local ARCs and farmer’s organizations in the selected ARCs; and apply solar energy as the enabling technology for sustainable development.
The project will build the capacity of people’s organizations in managing not only the solar energy systems but also the agriculture and rural enterprise development components of the project. This will involve an empowering process of capacity building to ensure effective and organized community and beneficiary participation at all phases of project implementation. The project will also be concerned with building the capacity of DAR provincial staff and the Local Government Units (LGUs).
SPOTS Phase 2 covers 44 ARCs in the Visayas and Mindanao, distributed in initially 15 provinces. About 45,000 households in at least 200 barangays and sitios are expected to benefit from this Phase of the project, which covers the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, and Lanao del Norte and Misamis Oriental in Region 10.
Like 95 percent of the residents of Lantad, Lindahay is an ethnic Higa-onon. During the Spanish colonial times, his family was persecuted and driven from their ancestral lands in Bgy. Napiliran to higher ground in Bgy. Kibanban.
Now, at least through the fulfillment of his long time dream of electricity for his home, the Spanish government has finally paid his family back for their years of walkabout in the boondocks of Kibanban.
I N D N J C -
Although Lantad is a mere 18 kilometers uphill from Balingasag poblacion, it might as well been in the next planet from the time two super typhoons buried its barangay road under tons of debris in the eighties, to the time the CPP-NPA turned it into its regional headquarters in Northern Mindanao.
In another year and a half, however, Lindahay need not dream any longer. Through the combined efforts of the Spanish government, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Misamis Oriental provincial government, he and the 400 other residents of Lantad would soon be enjoying the benefits of electricity in their homes.
Phase 2 of the DAR’s Solar Power Technology Support (SPOTS) project to agrarian reform communities (ARCs) will be providing the people of Lantad with solar packages that can supply
the power and energy needs for agricultural productivity and agribusiness; community facilities like the health center, barangay hall, community and school lighting systems; ‘solar home lighting systems’ for households for lighting and household-based livelihood activities and the AC-10 “Block of Power” system.
Like SPOTS Phase 1, the project’s second phase also aims to be an integrated social and agricultural development support project of the Department of Land Reform (DLR) to the Agrarian Reform Communities targeting about 40 ARCs.
The project complements PGMA’s 10-Point Agenda, particularly the electrification of all villages in the country, access to basic services such as clean water supply, improvements in health and education, and the provision of sustainable livelihoods,” said SPOTS Project Manager Reuben T. Quejas.
Under its first phase, SPOTS already installed solar packages in eight barangays covering six ARCs in the municipalities of Claveria, Villanueva, Salay, Alubijid, Kinoguitan, and Sugbungcogon.
Identified beneficiaries in the province for SPOTS Phase 2 include seven sitios covered by four ARCs in four barangays at the towns of Alubijid, Kinoguitan, Villanueva and Balingasag (including Sitio Lantad in Bgy. Kibanban).
Through the 1997 RP-Spain MOU on financial cooperation, the Spanish government has increased its financial commitments for the second phase from PhP 1,309.8M (US$ 25.2M) to PhP 1,516.4 M (US$ 27.6M) with the GOP counterpart decreasing from PhP 400.5M (US$ 7.7M) in Phase 1 to 50.214 M (US$ 0.912M) in Phase 2.
We will be using photovoltaic energy systems as the enabling technology and entry point in the introduction of other components, such as agricultural and rural enterprise development, most especially capacity building,” Quejas said.
SPOTS will maintain its multi-agency approach with the DAR as the lead agency and prime mover for agricultural, rural enterprise and institutional development, with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) as co-implementing agencies responsible for the technical aspects of the project including the identification and validation of sites in coordination with NEA’s rural electric cooperatives.
SPOTS aims to address rural poverty in the un-energized and off-grid ARCs by targeting specific Photovoltaic (PV) applications; Increase agricultural productivity and promote livelihood; Empower local ARCs and farmer’s organizations in the selected ARCs; and apply solar energy as the enabling technology for sustainable development.
The project will build the capacity of people’s organizations in managing not only the solar energy systems but also the agriculture and rural enterprise development components of the project. This will involve an empowering process of capacity building to ensure effective and organized community and beneficiary participation at all phases of project implementation. The project will also be concerned with building the capacity of DAR provincial staff and the Local Government Units (LGUs).
SPOTS Phase 2 covers 44 ARCs in the Visayas and Mindanao, distributed in initially 15 provinces. About 45,000 households in at least 200 barangays and sitios are expected to benefit from this Phase of the project, which covers the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, and Lanao del Norte and Misamis Oriental in Region 10.
Like 95 percent of the residents of Lantad, Lindahay is an ethnic Higa-onon. During the Spanish colonial times, his family was persecuted and driven from their ancestral lands in Bgy. Napiliran to higher ground in Bgy. Kibanban.
Now, at least through the fulfillment of his long time dream of electricity for his home, the Spanish government has finally paid his family back for their years of walkabout in the boondocks of Kibanban.
I N D N J C -
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