Monday, October 09, 2006
Sun's power lights up village
PAGALUNGAN, Maguindanao -- Bounded by the Maridagao-Malitubog irrigation system, Barangay Kilangan here will no longer endure the darkness that hampered their development for over six decades.
To reach this place of vast rice fields means either boarding a 4X4 vehicle, a kuliglig or a habal-haba,l or by crossing a river from the neighboring war-torn town of Pikit in North Cotabato.
The village prides itself as the rice granary of the town, whose famous son very known in Islamic revolutionary circles hails from. He is no other than the late Salamat Hashim, founding chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Barangay Kilangan is no stranger to the armed conflict between the government and the Moro rebels that despite of its suitable lands for rice cultivation, it remains mired in poverty.
But somehow now, residents could sense there is a light in their future since their productivity have been enhanced.
Thanks to the power of the sun.
Mikly Guimalodin, a village councilor and one of the "wealthier" residents in the area, owns a rice sheller but due to lack of electricity has to stop working at night due to darkness.
"Before, I could not operate at night but now I could because we are lighted up. My productivity is better," he said.
Guimalodin is one of 30 house heads who benefited from the renewable energy program of the United States Agency for International Development-funded Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (Amore) program.
The alliance brings light and hope to communities affected by the war by installing photovoltaic systems, giving electricity generated from the power of the sun.
Guimalodin recalled that rains used to prevent him from shelling rice harvests at day time but he was able to resume the activity at night because of the photovoltaic system installed in his house.
For the more than 1,000 elementary and high school students in the village, their electrification means getting close to quality education, thus a better future.
Zaiton Abdulkarim, the high school principal, said they would no longer have to buy six batteries costing P120 all to power the radio that plays English instructional materials to the students.
"Before, we play them the educational materials only twice a week. Now we can play it for the students everyday with the solar-power electric generator given to us," he said.
Previously, the school also uses car battery that they have to recharge for a fee plus about P80 to transport it to the charging station and back to the school.
Twelve year-old Bailenang Daud, a grade 5 honor student, was also gratified that her family was among the beneficiaries of the electric project.
"I and my siblings no longer study at night using a kerosene lamp. Although we have only a bulb at home, it's a big help because aside from studying, it allows us to help our parents do house chores in the evening," she said.
Daud, who has to walk an hour to go to school, hopes to be a teacher in the future and she expressed confidence her dreams would be realized with electricity her household now enjoys.
She intends to teach in her village.
Barangay Kilangan is one of the oldest barangays in the Cotabato Region, having been established in the 1940s. It is located along the Maridagao River and a fourth class barangay with an annual Internal Revenue Allotment of only P431, 305 in the Fiscal Year 2002.
Kilangan is the largest barangay of Pagalungan in terms of land area. It has an estimated 129,945 hectares of land suited for production of various crops like rice, corn, tobacco, various kinds of vegetables, coconut, and banana.
Rice is the most significant product, considering that the barangay is covered by the Mal-Mar irrigation project of the government.
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(October 9, 2006 issue)
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