Sense of permanence settles in war-ravaged Maguindanao community

Kalumenga is a mountainous barangay that sits at the boundary of Datu Paglas in Maguindanao and the town of Columbio , Sultan Kudarat. As a frontier right in the boundary of the nt, Kalumenga was a center of fierce military encounters, as both warring sides wanted control of the place.  

For decades, residents of this barangay lived a nomadic life, moving from one place to another to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Oftentimes, they had to leave their farm lots for a long time, causing hunger and exacerbating their poverty.  

But Kalumenga residents felt they have had more than enough. They have banded together to protect their community from the intrusion of any armed group. Their hopes for peace were boosted with the headways gained in the Malaysian-brokered peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The newfound peace and order in the community is slowly reaping rewards for its residents.               

Thirty households in Kalumenga are now experiencing electricity for the first time through the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). When the residents saw their lighted homes and streets, they couldn’t help but express their joy. “Just a few years ago, we have stopped dreaming that development will come to our community,” says Motalib Pigan, a community leader. “I never thought that electricity would come someday to our homes.”  

AMORE has organized its household beneficiaries in Kalumenga into the Kalumenga Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (KaBRECDA), which it is training on systems operation and maintenance as well as on organizational and financial management (KaBRECDA raises its own Operations & Maintenance Fund). Through the leadership and initiative of KABRECDA, the village residents have also started doing environment scanning to check on the community resources that may be tapped to further improve their living conditions.  

One of the projects being implemented by AMORE in the barangay through KaBRECDA is a high-value vegetable project that aims to increase farmer productivity and to demonstrate alternative sources of income aside from rice and corn farming. Pigan says the community will focus its energy on developing the potentials of the village, especially its agricultural production.