Background The catastrophe that the oil spill has brought to fishing and coastal communities in Guimaras is enormous. More than 3,918 households in 30 barangays of the island province have been affected. Damage to coastal and marine ecosystems is extensive affecting 220 kilometers of coastline, 454 hectares of mangroves and 15.8 square kilometers of coral reef.

Also affected are 58 hectares of seaweed farms, 385.5 hectares of fishponds, sizeable area of salt ponds and several beach resorts and dive sites.

There are 4 major concerns that are being addressed, to wit:

1. The containment of the oil slick to prevent it from further contaminating affected areas and from spreading to more coastal communities and to neighboring Iloilo and Negros Occidental provinces. Spill booms made of bamboo poles with absorbent materials such as rice straw, coconut husk, chicken feathers, etc. are being constructed by volunteers and deployed in affected areas. More booms are needed because a lot of floating oil is still to be collected and the leak hasn’t stopped. But the most decisive effort that can be made to prevent more destruction is to re-float the tanker with the remaining 70-75 % of its cargo intact.

2. Clean-up drive on the coastline and mangrove areas. Petron Corporation is paying P200-300 per day per person to affected residents for the clean-up while volunteers join the undertaking especially in mangrove areas in the Taklong Island Marine Reserve. Recruitment of more volunteers for the clean-up drive is ongoing targeting civil society organizations and schools in Iloilo City.

Thousands of liters of spilled oil and tons of oil-laden debris have already been collected and are piled along the beach, near homes and schools, thus, posing a serious threat to the health of residents. Classes of the elementary school in Barangay Tando, Nueva Valencia for example have to be relocated to chapels of local churches located inland of the barangay because debris are stocked just outside the school premises. There were already 2 reported deaths (one was a 2 year old boy) caused by inhalation of toxic substances from the slick. A number of families have to be relocated away from the shoreline to prevent more medical cases from happening. Many of these piles have no plastic linings on the ground endangering water quality of nearby wells of the community. Petron and the government have barely started removing the collected oil and debris from the island.

3. Relief operation for affected families. Relief goods such as food, used clothing and medicines are being distributed to affected families by the local government coming from government funds and from private donations. Medical missions are also being organized. The food items distributed however consist mostly of rice, noodles, canned sardines and corned beef. The health of affected families would better be cared for if these food items are supplemented with vegetables, legumes, fruits and other nutrient rich edibles.

4. Rehabilitation of both the coastal and marine resources and the people’s livelihood. Creation of alternative livelihoods is urgently needed because it will take years before fishing and mari-culture in affected municipal waters could be viable once again. The Petron-supported clean-up with pay will not last long especially when the oil slick would be effectively contained. But the Guimaras provincial government is still on data revalidation stage of the planning process.

Many agencies, groups and individuals, both local and foreign, are willing to contribute expertise, time and resources to help in the effort. The Guimaras provincial government has formed the Task Force Sunrise-Welfare, Rehabilitation and Assessment Committee that serves as coordinating body.

Program Rationale

The magnitude of the destruction that the disaster has unleashed prompted PRDCI to send a team to visit some affected areas, in coordination with the Provincial Agriculture Office of Guimaras, and have a first hand knowledge of the situation and needs of affected families last August 26,2006. The team was able to interview some affected residents as well as the Provincial Agriculturist and two from his staff who provided the team with insights on what and how the local people and the local governments were doing.

PRDCI called on its partners in 8 municipalities of Iloilo to gather materials for the spill booms such as bamboo poles, rice straw and coconut husk. In short notice 135 bamboo poles and 200 sacks of rice straw were gathered. These materials were transported to the Iloilo Fish Port Complex in Iloilo City where volunteers of the Save Our Seas Movement, of which PRDCI is a member, are constructing the spill booms. The Visayas regional secretariat of the Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes (PhilNet-RDI), of which PRDCI is an affiliate, has also gathered more than 3,000 net sacks, in response to PRDCI’s call for oil absorbent materials. The People’s Initiative and Networking for Aklan (PINA), a PhilNet-RDI affiliate in Aklan, answered by initiating a campaign of its own to gather coconut husks from its partner communities. A dump truck-load of coconut husks was delivered by PINA to the SOS after a week of campaigning. The national secretariat of PhilNet-RDI has also remitted an initial amount of P25,000 to be used for mobilization of relief goods and oil containment materials.

Part of the campaign of PRDCI is the collection of nutritious foods such as legumes, vegetables, and bananas primarily from its farmer cooperators in Iloilo that will supplement the rice, noodles and canned goods the government and private sectors are providing the affected families.

But PRDCI is being drawn into direct area intervention because of the request for assistance from relatives of one of PRDCI personnel, particularly the village chief of Barangay Lanipe of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras.

The Focus Area

Lanipe is an inland barangay about 3 kilometers from the coastline of Barangay Igdarapdap and located at the central-eastern portion of the municipality of Nueva Valencia. It has a population of 405 households, 121 of which were engaged in fishing.

Fifty seven (57) of the 121 households subsisted primarily on fishing as crew members of fishing boats owned by coastal residents, shellfish gathering, and shallow water fish catching providing them an average annual income of P47,053 which is 80% of their total income for one year. Occasionally they are hired as part time laborers of farmers in their village especially during planting and harvesting seasons of rice. A few of them have their own small fishing boats. These households have 148 children aged up to 20 years old. There are 27 children aged 1-3, 41 aged 4-7 , 43 aged 8-12 and 37 aged 13-20 years old.

Another 33 households considered fishing as their secondary occupation even when their average income from fishing was P35,273 or about 78% of their annual income. Most of them are farmers tilling small sized farm of about 0.25 hectares. Their children are aged 1-3 (7), 4-7 (14), 8-12 (25) and 13-20 years old (47). There are 3 families that used to earn about P36,000 per year from selling fish as primary source of income while 28 other households occasionally fished to augment their income especially during lean months. The children of the former are aged 8-12 (2) and 13-20 (4) while those of the latter are aged 1-3 (2), 4-7 (5), 8-12 (11) and 13-20 (14) years old.

Many of these affected fisherfolks are not registered as such by the municipal government and have faced difficulties in availing of the work-for-pay opportunity provided by Petron for the clean-up of coastal areas. Only 15 registered fishers from the village were able to join the work-for pay scheme of Petron and only for 2 days in August.

Compounding their problem is the fact that their barangay is presented in disaster information materials not as a separate affected village but as attachment to coastal Barangay Igdarapdap. As such, relief goods intended for them were coursed through the barangay officials of Igdarapdap. Barangay Lanipe received 1 delivery only of relief goods (rice, noodles and canned sardines) ever since the disaster happened.

This is the reason why PRDCI will focus on Barangay Lanipe. But other neighboring communities can also be covered especially those with similar situation as Lanipe such as Salvacion and Calaya of Nueva Valencia, as resources would warrant.

Program Objectives

The program was designed to directly assist affected families in Barangay Lanipe and neighboring communities cope up with their immediate and long-term economic and other welfare needs. Specifically, the target families will be technically and financially aided to:

	a. Produce food items primarily for own consumption; and
	b. Plan and pursue long-term income sources.

Meanwhile, relief assistance will be provided them in the form of nutritious food items delivered weekly that will supplement whatever the government is giving. Financial support will also be given to schooling children of priority families, primarily high school level, for school year 2006-2007.

Means

A volunteer area coordinator with community organizing skill will be recruited and deployed in Barangay Lanipe for about 6-8 months. Regular technical staff members of PRDCI (agriculture technicians, enterprise development officer, gender officer, etc.) will back up the area coordinator in the implementation of specific activities relating to program components such as training, project conceptualization, and the like. The volunteer will also link with neighboring communities for possible assistance.

The campaign for donations of food items and cash will be continued. Market vendors and farmers in Iloilo province will be targeted for solicitation of nutritious food items. The following current account will be used for cash donations solely for GRASP:

Account Name

Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. or PRDCI

Bank

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Mandurriao SM City Branch, Iloilo City

Current Account Number

9301-0011-66

Schools, offices and media outlets will be tapped for information dissemination and student volunteers from Iloilo City schools will be recruited to assist in soliciting and packing of the food basket and other relief goods. Information materials will be printed and distributed and posted in the web site of PRDCI.

Identification and prioritization of recipients as well as distribution of relief goods will be undertaken in tandem with the barangay officials.

The program will be coordinated at the onset with the provincial Task Force Sunshine of Guimaras and the municipal government of Nueva Valencia to avoid duplication. The food production program will be particularly coordinated with the provincial and municipal agriculture offices for complementation. Other needs such as technical expertise for specific enterprise project, medical and others that cannot be provided in-house by PRDCI will be sourced from pertinent government agencies, NGOs, academic institutions and private sector groups.

A monthly update on the progress of the program- activities undertaken, amount of cash and quantity of goods collected, number of families served, expenditures, etc.- will be generated. The updates will be provided to individual donors and posted at the barangay hall of Lanipe, in local print and broadcast media and in the website of PRDCI.

Program Components

1. Food production capacity building – affected families will be assisted in raising vegetables (through home gardening) and native chicken. Each family will be provided with a set of vegetable seeds or planting materials of their choice plus a set of 1 rooster and 4 hens. Feeds for the chicken and the chicks (average of 28 heads) will also be provided enough for 1 cycle (6 months) after which financial assistance for feeds will be provided on interest-free loan basis for another cycle. Materials for chicken cage will be counterpart of the household.

Hog raising will be an optional project for generation of manure for fertilization in the home garden and for additional income. A set of 3 piglets, feeds and biologics will be provided for 1 cycle of 4 months. Cost of piglets, feeds and biologics for the 2nd cycle will be through interest-free loans while loans for subsequent cycles will carry a 3% per month interest. Pig pen materials will be counterpart of the household.

Costs

	a.	Home gardening (seeds, organic fertilizers, potting materials, botanical plant protection agents, foliar fertilizers, training and monitoring cost) – P2,500/family
	b.	Native chicken raising – (5 breeders, feeds, biologics, training and monitoring) – P3,500/family
	c.	Hog raising (3 piglets, feeds, biologics, training and monitoring cost) – P14,000/family

2. Supplemental food aid – this is a basket of food items for a family of 5 that is good for one week to be supplied for 16 weeks- the period within which the family can already harvest from their home garden and earn from the chickens and hogs they have raised. The basket will consist of the following:

	300 grams mongo or other dried beans
	Squash, eggplant, ampalaya (or gabi or raddish), string beans, okra (or patola), pechay (or alogbate), unripe papaya (or sayote)
	Cooking oil, salt
	½ kilo dried fish (or dried dilis), ½ dozen eggs
	1 kilo tomatoes, ¼ kilo onions, garlic, ginger
	Bananas (1 bunch)

Cost of food basket – P500/week (including 20% overhead) x 16 weeks = P8,000/family

3. Educational support – pressure from everyday educational needs of children of affected families needs to be eased to reduce emotional and psychological stress among family members. This can greatly unburden the household so that members can focus on productive endeavors. The assistance will be good for the remaining months of School Year 2006-2007 or until March 2007. It is expected that their parents would be able to generate some income for next school year’s needs. Top priority will be the graduating high school students.

Cost per student (daily fare, lunch, supplies
	P250/wk x 22 weeks = P5,500

4. Long term livelihood project conceptualization and planning – affected families will be assisted in discerning what kind of livelihood project they will engage in and whether they will do it individually or as a group. Financial and technical requirements for these projects will be the subject of a separate project proposal. Initial discussion with barangay officials however, reveals that the preferred livelihood source of affected families is still fishing which will require fishing boats that can go to fishing grounds not affected by the spill.

The following cost estimates were made by knowledgeable fishers of the village:

4.a. Palanas (drift net) – 20 days/mo operation, 12 mos/year, 5 crew members

Item	Specifications	Cost
1. Gears
a. Outrigger boat	40 feet in length with accessories	120,000
b. Engine	4DR5 diesel engine	60,000
c. Net	1,200 meters x 15 meters, eye size-#5, 6 lbs nylon string, floaters, lead sinkers	180,000
2. Cost of first operation	Diesel fuel, motor oil, engine oil, grease	2,000
3. Cost of 1+2		362,000
4. Overhead cost	10% of cost of gears- registration, facilitation, etc	36,000
5. Total Cost		PhP 398,000
6. Amortization for 1&2	3 years	PhP11,050/month

4.b. Abugan (?)– 15 days/mo operation, 12 mos/yr, 3 crew members

Item	Specifications	Cost
1. Gears
a. Outrigger boat	30 feet in length with accessories