The People Power Volunteers for Reform – Caraga (PPVR-Caraga) was organized in Butuan City, the regional capital, in November 2010. Eighty representatives of regional and provincial organizations and individuals served as its founding members. The Caraga chapter has since then already branched out with provincial chapters in Butuan City and Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, and wo
rking groups in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Province, the areas that comprise the region. PPVR-Caraga’s Council and the Management Committee that was created in August have been conducting regular meeting once every two months during the year. ASIS
Regional Vice-Chair: ATTY. RAFAEL YBAÑEZ
Secretary : MR. JIMMY L. BERAY
Treasurer : MR. RAYMOND E. NOVO
Auditor : MR. JUNIE BELTRAN
Regional Council Members:
Butuan City : DR. RAUL MONTON & MR. EDWIN PIENCENAVES
Agusan del Norte : MR. CARMELITO YSALINA & MR. NOEL GRANA
Agusan del Sur : MR. FERNANDO SALISE & MR. ROBERTO CADUNGOG
Surigao del Sur : ENGR. HENRY LAROYA & MR. EDWIN ROBLE
Surigao del Norte : ATTY. JERRY CENTRO & MS. ALMA ABROGENA
Regional Coordinator : MR. ORENCIO S. CORVERA, JR. Provincial Coordinator: MS. CORAZON C. BALACUIT
*MAJOR THRUSTS AND PROJECTS
Being an affiliate of the national PPVR, the Caraga chapter carries the national organization’s commitment to help realize the “Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap” promise that they have made to themselves, their communities and the nation during the campaign in the 2010 elections. Like the national organization, PPVR-Caraga also intends to realize this commitment by reaching out to more groups and individuals at the provincial, city, municipal and barangay levels to become partners in the fight against corruption and poverty at one side and by engaging the government in creating more opportunities for people’s participation against corruption and poverty at the other side. To attain the above objectives, PPVR–Caraga is also generally set to follow the nationally designed sets of activities, as follows:
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- Procurement watch and project monitoring
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– Carry out livelihood programs conduct feeding activities and other related endeavors
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- Facilitate the conduct of meetings and consultations between the people and representatives of government offices
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– Share information, extend technical assistance, conduct trainings and capacity building to enable local organizations to their own anti-corruption and anti- poverty drive
As defined in the course of conducting its activities, PPVR-Caraga has come up with the following specific thrusts: Anti-Corruption Advocacy, Anti-Poverty Support Program, the twin directions carried by the national PPVR, and the Peace Constituency Building Program, another necessity in Caraga because of the communist insurgency which is more pronounced in the region compared to other regions in the country. Peace Constituency Building Program. PPVR-Caraga kicked off the program in February of 2011 with the conduct of a peace forum at the regional level. The peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (M**F) resumed during the period and PPVR-Caraga found it as an opportune time to start the peace constituency building campaign. The peace forum was followed by an Art Contest for Peace among grade school pupils at the Fr. Saturnino Urios University also in February. The Peace Road Show which had Jurgette Honculada as speaker was also conducted as a follow through in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur in May. Taking off from the issues raised during the Peace Road Show, PPVR-Caraga initiated in August the conduct of a Focused Group Discussion (FGD) among Indigenous Peoples in Caraga on the issues that they want to be considered in the discussion between the government and the NDF on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER). The Katibuan tu mga Lumad tu Caraga (Organization of Indigenous Peoples in Caraga) was formed as one of the results of that FGD and aside from submitting the FGD output to the to members of the government panel, the new IP organization has also raised the issues before various Mindanao and national forums, further raising the plight of the IPs in the face of the armed conflict. As a culmination of peace constituency building activities for the year, PPVR- Caraga conducted the Caraga Peace Week with Civil Society Peace Conferences, Essay and Art Contests for Peace, Masses for Peace and the Walk for Peace as among the activities in the second week of December. Anti-Corruption Advocacy. After about a year of project developing, the anti- corruption campaign of PPVR-Caraga finally found form and substance with the launching, the conduct of Basic Orientation Seminar Training on Corruption and the organizing of Sumbongan, the anti-corruption movement in Caraga, on 29-30 October. Sumbongan is designed as both a movement and as anti-corruption complaint referral center, communication center and anti-corruption activities coordination center. A network, Sumbongan counts as among its 40 member-organizations the Butuan City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Caraga chapter of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Caraga chapters of Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Fr. Saturnino Urios University (FSUU). PPVR-Caraga as an organization is serving as Sumbongan’s secretariat. Sumbongan held its first organizational meeting in December and set to be taken up within the first quarter of 2012 are capability building trainings in handling corruption cases, opening up of the center for complaints and the formation of chapters in the five provinces of the region. Anti-Poverty Support. Activities in this area are generally designed for support to member-organizations to be able to handle or enhance their capabilities or resources. These include support in project development and linking up member-organizations with agencies handling poverty alleviations support programs such as the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWD), the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). PPVR-Caraga has so far just established partnership arrangements with the agencies. It has already prepare proposals for projects to be handled by IP and farmers organizations, are all for follow up in 2012. Also in support for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals on Anti-Poverty set by the United Nations, PPVR-Caraga has joined the bid and has recently signed a contract with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the monitoring of an anti-poverty project on youth employment and migration (YEM) in Agusan del Sur.
*RESOURCE MOBILIZATION
PPVR-Caraga started 2011 with just a two-member secretariat and ended the year with four. It started having a regular office in July and has so far sustained it with significant improvements on its facilities. The organization has raised around Php600,000 for it activities from a combination of sources which include a significant amount of local contributions.vincial chapters in Butuan City and Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, and working groups in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Province, the areas that comprise the region.
