The residents of Sugpon, Ilocos Sur have decided to take the development of their municipality in their own hands.

Sugpon, a fifth-class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, and its local chief executive recently embraced a new system in developing their municipality and sustaining good governance in their locale.

Through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of the poverty alleviation strategies of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the residents of Sugpon were taught the community-driven development (CDD) approach.

CDD is a strategy that puts power back in the hands of the people by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions on locally identified options for development and manage resources to implement sub-projects that address needs identified by communities themselves. Through Kalahi-CIDSS, residents and not just select individuals such as elected officials are given the opportunity to actively decide on what would be the municipality’s priorities, particularly in terms of poverty-related issues.

Mayor Fernando C. Quiton, Sr. said he welcomes the program’s unique way of introducing development, in which community mobilization is prioritized. The local chief executive reports he is pleased to witness this change in his municipality, seeing for himself the Sugpon residents actively participating in different Kalahi-CIDSS barangay and municipal activities.

“I was surprised in a good way to see the people of Sugpon so empowered and manifest capabilities in decision making for the development of our town,” Mayor Quiton, Sr. said.

Sugpon is a first-time implementer of Kalahi-CIDSS, like the other municipalities that the program is covering in the Ilocos region.

Previously operating only in Regions CAR, IVA, IVB, and V in Luzon, Kalahi-CIDSS now also covers identified municipalities in Regions I and III upon its scale-up into a national CDD program.

Despite being new to the CDD process, Mayor Quiton, Sr. said he has high hopes for their Kalahi-CIDSS implementation.

“Community empowerment in the barangays of Sugpon is still new to the people, but with the facilitation of the Kalahi-CIDSS staff in the area and support from the Sugpon Local Government Unit (LGU) and stakeholders, I see a promising future of this program in our municipality”, Mayor Quiton said.

Sugpon’s local chief executive added that the start of Kalahi-CIDSS in their municipality does not only manifest community transformation. It has also strengthened the partnership between the Sugpon LGU and the DSWD in delivering paralleled social development services to the poor to improve the quality of life of the people in Sugpon.

Aside from Kalahi-CIDSS, Sugpon, Ilocos Sur is also a Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program and Sustainable Livelihood Program area.  ###