A Town Helps Itself
Source: Devolution Matters, 1995. The Department of Health LGAMS, p37-42
A municipality in the heart of Sorsogon, Irosin is
the only inland town out of the 16 towns in the
province. Irosin is bounded on the north by Juban
and on the south by Matnog and Sta. Magdalena.
Facing it from the east of Bulan and from the west,
Bulusan. It is the transit point to and from these
opposite towns and is the gateway to the islands of
Masbate and Samar.
The town ranks fifth in terms of population (37,887
in 1990) and seventh in terms of land area.
Seventy-eight percent of Irosin’s land area of
15,880 hectares is devoted to agriculture, while the
remaining 22% is made up of forest and water
bodies. Due to its vast agricultural area, Irosin has
the reputation of being the rice granary, citrus
center and primary abaca producer of the province.
In spite of its agricultural potential, Irosin has, for
so long, suffered from poverty, neglect and
helplessness. The town’s wealth was concentrated
in the hands of a few landowners and commercial
entrepreneurs while the majority of the populace
was mired in poverty. Health conditions were poor.
Basic health services were inaccessible to majority
of households, due to inadequate manpower and
logistics as well as distance. There was high
incidence of malnutrition and communicable but
preventable diseases. Safe water supply was
inadequate. Finally, there was low level of
community participation in health concerns. These
conditions were fertile ground for rural unrest.
The communist insurgency was very much present.
Indeed, in the late 80’s, Irosin was placed on the
nation’s political map when NPA rebels laid siege
to the municipal hall, and was made into a movie,
the Presidencia.
Few professionals from Irosin opted to come back
and serve their town. Among them was Dr. Eddie
Dorotan. Exempting “service as its own reward”,
Dorotan served Irosin as Municipal Health Officer
and Chief of District Hospital. He now gives reality
to his development vision after being elected
mayor of the municipality in 1992.
Evolving a Development Paradigm
In Irosin, community participation in health
concerns dates back to the 80s. Now it has
provided the impetus for people’s participation in
other development endeavors like agrarian reform,
livelihood promotion, cooperativism and
environmental protection.
Maximizing the opportunities for progress and
social reform which the Local Government Code of
1991 offers, the municipal government under
Mayor Dorotan launched the Integrated Area
Development Program (IADP) as its fundamental
vehicle for developmental strategy. Founded on the
three pillars of Livelihood Promotion, People
Empowerment, and Improvement of Basic
Services, this integrated approached has addressed,
with great success, the problem areas of poverty,
people’s powerlessness, and poor basic services.
Health concerns became an immediate priority.
Two months after the elections, in July 1992,
Dorotan together with the NGOs and POs,
launched the Irosin People’s Health Program.
Among the objectives of the program are: a) the
establishment of links and a working relationship
among the LGU, DOH, NGOs, POs and the
communities to be able to deliver basic health
services in a more effective, more equitable and
sustainable way; b) testing and replication of
appropriate health financing schemes; and c)
strengthening of community health workers groups
through federation building. The focus was on
curbing the incidence of communicable diseases
and malnutrition.
Aware that agrarian reform is a must for rural
development, the local government launched the
Irosin Agrarian Reform Program in January 1993
“to emancipate Irosin’s farmers from the bondage
of the soil.” Since the program started, 1,304
hectares of land were distributed to qualified
farmer beneficiaries and 741 hectares out of the
targeted 801 hectares were converted from sharing
to leasehold system. Nineteen agricultural
cooperatives were organized, consolidated and
reactivated. By using consultation and a win-win
approach, the animosity between the farmers and
landowners was effectively diffused. Irosin thus
made a name for itself by being the first
municipality to be declared an agrarian reform
community.
Spreading wide the process of empowerment,
different sectors of the populace including people’s
organizations, non-government organizations and
cooperatives were strengthened and linked up into
networks. Irosin declared it a peace zone and got
rid of the gambling vice of jueteng.
Multi-sectoral bodies were created to see it that the
strategies for local progress are working. Aside
from those provided for in the 1991 LGC, such as
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the Municipal Development Council, the Local take a more direct part in local governance.
Health Board and the Local School Board, there Clearly, the mechanisms that enable the local
are also the Agrarian Reform Council and Upland government and NGOs/POs to work together are in
Development Council which are empowered to place.

Using “NGO Technology”

In barely three years after the IADP was launched,
Irosin made the leap from a fifth-class to being a fourth
class municipality. In 1995, Irosin won the coveted Asian
Institute of Management’s Galing-Pook Award for its
innovations in the integrated area development approach.
What was the key to Irosin’s success? The fundamental
principles of a community-based health program (CBHP)
embodied in the Irosin People’s Health Program, which
are community participation, consultation and self-
reliance, were adopted in providing solutions to other
aspects of Irosin’s development.
As Mayor Dorotan puts it, “what we are doing here
is basically an NGO planning technology, that of
using the expertise of NGOs to influence local
governance.” The Mayor and other local officials
are confident that this “planning technology”,
perfected by Filipino pioneers of CBHPs in far-
flung areas of the country, will bring Irosin far
forward. During the public presentation of the
Ateneo study on Irosin in which the town’s
planning process was compared to that of a
promising municipality in Metro Manila whose
mayor practices a “benign strongman” style of
leadership, a municipal councilor stood up and
emphatically stated that in Irosin, it was a different
case altogether.
Even with these accomplishments, Mayor Dorotan
finds there are problems with devolution. Although
As Mayor
Dorotan puts it, “what
we are doing here is
basically an NGO
planning technology,
that of using the
expertise of NGOs to
influence local
governance.”
a staunch believer in local autonomy, he rues the
fragmentation of municipalities into exclusive
RHU domains. This, according to him, causes
difficulties not only in the delivery of health
services, but also in maximizing the use of public
funds in the procurement of drugs and medicines.
“Mas marami and SOP (“share of percentage,” or
grease money) ngayong devolved na tayo. But
Mayor Dorotan is quick to point out that “there is
still a remedy for it.” For example, following the
initiative of the mayor of the neighboring town of
Gubat, mayor Dorotan, and that of another town
are now finalizing plans of coming out with a
single list of accredited suppliers of drugs and
medicines. In doing so, the municipalities are
assured that they will get a more reliable, if not
cheaper, supply of drugs and medicines. The
municipalities will then be able to purchase
cheaper drugs from reliable sources.

A reliable Network of NGOs

Even after health As early as 1983, an NGO by the name of LIKAS (Lingap
services delivery was Para sa Kalusugan ng Sambayanan) began sowing the
devolved, Irosin seeds of people empowerment in Irosin.
continued its close Mainly an NGO servicing the health needs of poor
coordination with the communities at first, LIKAS has evolved into an organization
Provincial Health office, responding to a broader spectrum of interrelated needs and
and this has worked for problems of rural folks. LIKAS went into capability-building
the municipality in a for the peasantry, cooperative development, agrarian reform
number of ways. advocacy and management, women’s development, and
upland development.
Still, in the end, these innovations directly or goes to health. The farmers are fully supportive of
indirectly serve the health of Irosinians. For this financing scheme because they receive health
example, 15% of the net earnings from cooperative services in exchange for their contributions.
rice mills and stores goes to the municipality’s
social development fund, a big portion of which,

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Mayor Dorotan started forging links between DOH
and LIKAS way back in 1989 in activities such as
training of Community Health Workers, putting up
safe water facilities, toilet construction and
sanitation and Botika sa Barangay. Thus, when the
Local Government Code of 1991 was implemented
in the health sector in 1992, LIKAS and the newly-
elected mayor had something to build on. This
collaboration was institutionalized when the Local
Health Board was constituted, with LIKAS
representing the NGO community.
Aside from LIKAS, there are four other NGOs in
town, all working closely with the local
government in improving basic services and
promoting livelihood activities. These are the
Center for Community Services (CCS), the
Malayang Lapian ng Kababaihan, Inc. (MKI), the
Sarong Grupo Family Helper Project (Sarong
Grupo) and the Philippine Partnership for the
Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas
(PhilDHRRA).
According to Marian Ferreras, LIKAS’ area
manger for Irosin, “The dynamism between the
NGOs and the municipal administration under
Mayor Dorotan has spurred extensive community
organizing.” The effect of these organizing efforts
cannot be emphasized enough. Aside from the
above mentioned NGOs, there are also four
people’s organizations and 20 cooperatives in the
town. These organizations take an active role in
local governance through their representatives who
sit either in the multi-sectoral bodies or in the
project management groups created by the
municipality for every major long-term
undertaking. Through the project management
groups, the NGOs and POs are involved in the
planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of projects, like the Department of
Health’s Partnership for Community Health
Development (PCHD) project that were pilot-tested
in two barangays.
Even after health services delivery was devolved,
Irosin continued its close coordination with the
Provincial Health Office, and this has worked for
the municipality in a number of ways. Dr. Arturo
Perdigon, the Provincial Health officer, notes that
the three municipalities in Sorsogon which are
notable for their commitment to health (Sta.
Magdalena, Gubat and Irosin) had maintained their
links with the PHO. “They do consult us when they
have problems concerning personnel, drugs and
medicines, and the like. And we welcome this. We
respond to their concerns (in a manner appropriate
to) the Provincial Health. Office’s capabilities.
Through constant (contact and discussion), we are
able to know each other’s capabilities and
limitations.”
Sustaining the Process of Change
There seems to be hope now for progress in Irosin.
While poverty is still very much part of the
landscape, unlike in the past, there now appear to
be viable strategies to alleviate this problem- from
equitable distribution of rural assets to agri-based
industrialization and care for the environment.
There are now local officials who have shown
more responsibility. People empowerment is
gaining ground and is replacing helplessness with
dynamism and hope.
The municipal government staff, composed mainly
of young men and women, is energetic and
enthusiastic about its work. Initiative and
innovative “wild” ideas are welcomed here. Says
Benjamin M. Gabionza, a young Civil engineer
who is the municipal Planning and Development
Officer, “There still much to be done, but we are
happy serving Irosin. The people appreciate what
we are doing.”

The achievements in the area of people’s health continue The achievements in

to inspire, sustaining the process of development in what the area of people’s
was once a “changeless land”. Since the Irosin People’s health continues to
Health Program was implemented, various trainings were inspire, sustaining the
conducted for all Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), process of development
midwives and nurses. These capability-building activities
in what was once a
are also a factor in the dramatic increase in the number of
population (50% as of last estimate) being served by “changeless land”
health workers. For the past few years, there has been a

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dramatic decrease in the rate of schistosomiasis,
diarrhea, parasitism and malnutrition.
Aware that health is everyone’s responsibility,
households contribute to the local health funds by
providing voluntary services (e.g. helping in the
construction of water and sanitation facilities),
user-fees and pledges / donation from the income
of cooperatives. Barangay Health Committees
were formed composed of representatives of the
barangay councils, NGOs, POs, cooperatives,
RHU, CHWs, and BAWASAs (Barangay Water
Associations) all of them having a direct part in the
planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of health projects / programs.

“The mayor has a good

management tack, a
good mix of vision and
pragmatism. He
believes in systemic
planning and he is
results-oriented. Most
of all, he is backed by
NGOs.”
In both preventive and curative medicine, Irosin’s
accomplishments are every rural municipality’s envy. In
1995 alone, the municipal health office was able to install
shallow wells in nine barangays; disinfected 52 of the 109
water sources examined; examined / treated 3,351 TB
symptomatic patients; immunized more than 19,000
persons with Oral Polio Vaccine, anti-measles, Tetanus
Toxoid and Vitamin A; rehabilitated 400 2 nd and 3rd
degree malnourished children, among others.

Practicing self-reliance, Irosin now produces
alternative supplementary foods for infants and
pre-schoolers, known as MONRICO (mongo, rice
and corn). Community Data Boards were set-up in
all barangays so that the local populace would be
able to keep track of their community’s health
conditions. “It’s the mayor’s leadership, political
will and the system that goes with it that generates
the resources for health which Irosin needs”
stresses Emma Frilles, a Public Health Nurse and
the DOH Representative to the Local Health Board
of Irosin. “The mayor has a good management
tack, a good mix of vision and pragmatism. He
believes in systemic planning and he is results-
oriented. Most of all, he is backed by the NGOs.”
True enough, the resources for health generated by
the mayor’s innovative system of governance have
earned for Irosin a number of distinctions, aside
from those already mentioned, in the field of public
health. It has consistently ranked No. 1 among the
towns in the province for immunization coverage
and received an award for having the best family
planning clinic in the province. It also placed first
during the Regional Evaluation on Nutrition for
1995. CEBEMO, an agency based at the
Netherlands that funds development projects, took
notice of the innovations in Irosin and is presently
preparing an assistance package for the
municipality.
Irosin is a fine example of people-empowered
community development. With the will for change
manifest among local elected officials and with the
mechanism for people participation in place, Irosin
seems to be the road to progress.