4 city brgys adopt SanFran system

CEBU, Philippines - Four barangays in Cebu City will follow the Purok System of San Francisco town in Camotes Island to implement disaster risk reduction.

These are barangays Guadalupe, Buhisan, Tisa and Sapangdaku.

It will be a private-public partnership initiated by the GENVI Development Corporation as its way of strengthening its social corporate responsibility.

Former San Francisco Mayor Alfredo Arquillano, who was recognized for his work in empowering local communities in reducing disaster risks and adapting climate change through the Purok System, shared his time to speak before barangay captains yesterday at the Monterrazas de Cebu’s Pavillion Club House.

Michael Gacasan of Guadalupe, Eduardo Cabulao of Tisa, Lorna Damalerio of Sapangdaku and Ramil Rago of Buhisan personally invited Arquillano to help them in the information dissemination.

Gacasan said that he wants to apply the system in Guadalupe, being the largest barangay in Cebu City with 84 sitios, since it is what they really need in order to prevent disasters from happening.

Arquillano said it is an honor to spread the success they have in Camotes.

“I challenge the barangay captains to move forward, to start and to make necessary moves in order encourage community’s participation in reducing disaster risks and I am very much willing to help them,” Arquillano said.

GENVI Development Corporation’s CEO and President Atty. Dindo Antonio Perez, on the other hand, said that they initiated this move as their way of sharing their blessings to the community.

“GENVI is committed to assist this program as part of our corporate social responsibility. We would like to showcase the Cebuano ingenuity by going down to the grassroots level,” Perez said.

The SanFran “Purok System”, according to Arquillano, is a micro structure of the barangay unit bringing effective governance at the sub-village level, a one-of-a-kind innovation only seen in San Francisco which he founded in 2004.

Arquillano said that they do not practice giving dole outs and they were able to sustain the system through their Purok “Capital Build Up” program where  the community deposits an amount agreed on by residents as initial capital for emergency purposes, which increases fluid assets of the puroks to be used as a post-disaster assistance fund.

The Bayanihan or the community cooperation is the backbone of the purok system, he said.

In addition to this safety net, Arquillano also implemented a system of solid waste management that contributes to better sanitation and drainage, which considerably reduces the risk of floods caused by clogged waterways.

It is now known as a national best practice example and is also being shared with cities in other nations, such as Bangladesh.

Arquillano said that this is the first time that a private sector initiated this kind of huge venture in Cebu since mostly, it is the local government units.

When he attended the global platform on disaster risk reduction last May 20 in Geneva, Switzerland, stimulation of public and private partnership is encouraged.

“Nalipay kaayo ko nga ingun ana ang kind of leadership nga naa ani nga company (GENVI Development Corporation),” said Arquillano.

Under Arquillano’s leadership, San Francisco won the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2011 for its community empowerment program to boost the resilience of a mostly poor population living below the poverty line.

Arquillano, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Asia Regional Champion, encouraged the four barangay captains to reduce the risk and increase resilience in order to achieve a sustainable development. (FREEMAN)