BY: REY ANTHONY H. CHIU
SAN ISIDRO, Bohol, May 12 (PIA) – When funding the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela has become a perennial problem, this town found an innovation during its participation at the Bayani Challenge.
Landlocked town San Isidro, in Bohol is your usual town needing all the help the government and civil groups could give.
Physically separated from Bohol second district and placed in the middle of Bohol’s first district, the town lost almost a kilometer of newly paved road in the recent October 15 earthquake.
The quake also left most of its barangays affected and four of its barangays severely damaged, leaving hundreds of its people homeless.
The quake also shook most schools, several of them being temporarily abandoned already for safety reasons.
Despite the town’s sorry state, local leaders intent on propping the town up and arise thought outside help may come, but they can’t afford to just wait and hope.
When Bohol signed with Bayani Challenge in 2014, local officials found a perfect reason to innovate.
The town, through Mayor Jacinto Naraga and its local officials also think social mobilization through volunteerism is just not enough.
When they could engage their people and awaken in them the bayanihan spirit, why don’t they make one social mobilization that gets the communities a little bit of fund for the repair of most earthquake-damaged schools.
In probably an innovation in raising funds for their upcoming Brigada Eskwela, San Isidro residents around 10,000 each bring a dried coco-nut, for them to sell whole, sell the husk, coco nut shell and still have copra.
Mayor Naraga said he estimated around 60% of the town’s residents to positively respond to the call, and true enough by Friday on May 9, the over 2,000 residents from the town’s 12 barangays pooled around 6,000 coco nuts.
"We sought for a way where we can make our Bayani Challenge response unique, and we agreed to hit two birds with one stone," Naraga said.
Naraga asked the people to gather per barangay coco nuts and bring them to the market for a simultaneous copra processing and sell other by-products.
The mayor said, they have fund problems every Brigada Eskwela and raising a bit for the activity could largely help people fix the earthquake damaged and dilapidated classrooms, he added.
Recently, 10 of the 12 barangays here actively participated. They had quickest husking contests and some sold the husked coconut for a hassle free money.
For the more inclined to earn every bit, residents gathered the husk, shell and coconut meat for sale while they kept the meat to be processed for another market. (mbcn/rahc/PIA7-Bohol)