HAPPY ENDINGS AND NEW BEGINNINGS

Philippine Compact caps off with social transformation and uplifted lives

FIVE years ago, with a grant of $434 million, the Philippines accepted a “millennium challenge” to reduce poverty in the country. Now, the promise has been delivered; and greater than institutional reforms, built roads and tangible investments, the grant has transformed lives of millions of Filipinos.

“Mindful of our limited time to accomplish an enormous objective, we sailed to uncharted seas and took the roads less traveled to reach even the most remote island barangays in our provinces. From the air-conditioned offices in the Bureau of Internal Revenue up the boondocks of the Cordilleras, through the open Sulu Sea reaching the island municipality of Cagayancillo in Palawan, to the historic town of Guiuan in Eastern Samar, down to the shores of Enrique Villanueva in Siquijor: we reached out to our fellow Filipinos, offering change and hope for a new and brighter life in the future,” shares Millennium Challenge Account – Philippines (MCA-P) managing director and CEO Marivic Añonuevo.

For five years, MCA-P managed a “Compact” between Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Philippine government, with three commissioned projects built on a promise of inclusive and sustainable development: • Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHICIDSS) Project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), where small-scale grants support community-driven projects in communities with poverty incidence of 30 percent and above; Secondary National Roads Development Project (SNRDP) of the Department of Public Works and Highways — the reconstruction and rehabilitation of a total of 222-kilometer road in the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar; and Revenue Administration Reform Project of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), where policies and practices were redesigned; and Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), an investigation unit of the Department of Finance, which conducts lifestyle checks on officers and employees of DOF’s revenue agencies. Witnessing the signing of the Compact in 2010 was none other than President Benigno S. Aquino III, who expresses that “the Philippine Compact now stands as a global development model for country-led partnerships that demonstrate good governance, transparency, accountability, community engagement and people empowerment.”

Aside from delivering expected results, the three projects have inspired the government to develop the National Community-Driven Development Program, which scales up the KALAHIFIVE CIDSS, as well as innovate a measure on anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP), foster gender mainstreaming, and highlight environmental safeguards on infrastructure programs.

The Philippine Compact’s exemplary performance also earned it another cycle of commissioned projects signed two years prior to the completion of the five-year period — a first in MCC’s history.

MCC CEO Dana Hyde, in a message sent to MCA-P, says, “MCA-Philippines has done an outstanding job managing the compact resources and implementing these important projects.”

Adds John A. Polk, MCC resident country director: “Even the most established institutions and perfectly operating organizations would have difficulty with such lofty goals. MCAPhilippines, with strong support from its implementing partners, has accomplished this and more in just five years of existence.”

Of MCC’s approval for a second compact for the Philippines, Hyde adds, “We have the opportunity to take this partnership to the next level over the next five years to help families and communities create jobs and growth and lift out of poverty.”

Añonuevo quips, “The real success of this Compact is how we have transformed the lives of the Filipino people in our communities. From being the quiet, sometimes neglected, barangay Next page, please

From page 8 folks, they have been empowered to plan and shape their own destiny. We have unleashed their potentials. We have made them realize that poverty is not an excuse to be complacent with their fate, that they can rise above their current state.”

What differentiates MCC from other foreign funding agencies is country ownership. KALAHI-CIDSS, for example, is driven by the needs of the community. The people identified their need and chose among themselves which project they would pursue. Community people along the Samar roads were employed to take part in the road rehabilitation and were given the role to maintain these roads. Meanwhile, the management and staff of BIR as well as of DOF’s RIPS have embraced the necessary reforms in their respective offices.

“As they take ownership of the projects they have built, whether the day care centers or school buildings in the barangays, or the roads in Samar and Eastern Samar, or the technology-related system reforms in BIR and the RIPS, our beneficiaries have committed to a longterm maintenance and sustainability of project gains.

“Focus on sustainability is not only for physical infrastructure constructed in the barangays but also for lessons learned, experiences gained, and values inculcated within themselves. Values as integrity, transparency, and professionalism helped us, in MCA-P, in offering new opportunities to our Compact beneficiaries. These same values, and the invaluable lessons they learned along the way, will guide our people as they open a new chapter in their lives,” Añonuevo concludes.