LAMITAN, BASILAN -- For as long as anyone could remember, people in the rural municipality of Tuburan were connected to the rest of this province-and the world-only through an overgrown 13-kilometer dirt road.
Muhammad Jasmin, a jeepney driver who for 10 years has plied the route from Tuburan to the trading center of Lamitan, recalls the track as being so badly rutted that a short spell of rain would turn sections of the road into a knee-deep river of mud.
In a city, such a roadway would be an irritation. But for impoverished Tuburan, with its population of over 42,000, it was a calamity that impinged on almost all aspects of people's daily lives.
Because of the road's condition, farmers could not easily bring produce to market. High school students couldn't make it to class, and often ended up dropping out. People had only sporadic access to health care and other services.
"I had to send my children to live with in-laws in Lamitan, otherwise they couldn't go to school, commuting was so difficult," recalls Tuburan mayor Durie Kallahal.
For local residents, the transportation problems posed by the road were compounded by decades of intermittent armed conflict in the province that heightened security fears. Workers kept short hours, anxious to head for home well before dark, afraid of getting stuck on the Tuburan road.
The isolation put a stranglehold on the local economy, and on people's outlook. "People planted only for their everyday needs," said provincial engineer Tahir Latip. "Why would they bother to invest in growing crops of high value? The harvest would only rot because it couldn't be brought to market."
In August 2005, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, and working closely with the regional government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-Armm), embarked on a project to upgrade the road.
DPWH-Armm and the Basilan Provincial Government, as their contribution, completed the concrete paving of a 1.3-km section of the road, and are committed to paving the remaining 1.2-km section, up to where the GEM road improvement project began.
The GEM Program's assistance consisted of upgrading the road with sections of cement modified soil and concrete pavement, constructing new reinforced concrete culverts for drainage, and replacing old culverts. The project was completed in February of 2007.
The effect of the upgrading on traffic was immediate and astonishing, even to the seasoned engineers of DPWH-ARMM and GEM.
The World Bank (WB) Development Indicators for 2003 suggest a high correlation between increasing road traffic and accelerated economic development. It is thus likely that the increase in vehicular traffic of almost 400 percent since the completion of the project reflects increased economic activity in the area served by the road.
Before the road upgrade, a daily average of 78 vehicles - including cars, vans, jeepneys, trucks and motorcycles - traveled along the Tuburan-Lamitan road.
In early 2008, just a year after the upgrade was completed, the daily average number of vehicles carrying passengers and goods had risen to 308.
Mohammed Jasmin said his income as a jeepney driver has doubled, because the improved road allows him to make more round trips. He earns about P600 on most days, and up to P2,000 on good days. He can now provide his family with comforts they'd never known before, he said.
The increase in the average daily traffic of motorcycles - which carry both produce and passengers-has risen from 40 to 232, almost a 600-percent increase.
Haji Hassan, who began driving a motorized tricycle after the upgrade was completed, said he manages 10 round trips a day, earning PhP500 per day on average. Before this, he had no regular livelihood. "Nagpapasalamat kami at naayos na ang kalsada (We are thankful that the road was fixed)."
Increasingly, he transports banana, rubber and other cash crops, which signify greater investments by farmers-and resulting higher incomes for their families.
Kallahal noticed that seedling dealers are now making more deliveries to his town. "USAID has been a big help to Tuburan," he said, adding that his family had come back to live with him since the children can now travel easily to school.
Latip marveled over the number of new, solidly built houses and sari-sari stores along the upgraded road. "They just sprang up," he said, noting that many growers were now intercropping their fields with rubber trees and other long-gestating plants. "They can now think of the future."
Rima Hassan, president of the Autonomous Basilan Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "When people are productive, they don't think of going to the mountains. They forget about their guns because they are earning and can put food on the table for their families."
The GEM Program, which is implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), has constructed 34 barangay infrastructure projects and seven higher-impact regional infrastructure projects in Basilan, including the Tuburan road upgrade. GEM has also helped to improve cellphone services in the province and has provided Internet connections and computers to schools.
"This was made possible because people in Basilan and the other conflict-affected areas of Mindanao work together with us to make a better life for themselves," said Carlos Tan, GEM program manager for infrastructure. "These include the people of the ARMM regional government, MEDCo, line agencies, local governments and chambers of commerce, down to the grassroots MNLF cooperatives and small parent-teacher-community associations."
Miriam Abdu, a fourth-year student from Tuburan studying at Lamitan National High School, is shy and clearly unused to speaking with outsiders. But she says she likes the new road. "It's easier for me and my classmates to get to school now."
And the tricycle she's riding bears her off to the wider world. (Press release)
