DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE WATERSHED

MANAGEMENT: Case of Mt. Isarog Watershed

Authors: Cely S. Binoya, Ph.D. - Professor, CSSAC and Vicente Aniceto D. Rubio,
Watershed Management Officer, Metro Naga Water District

ABSTRACT

The vision for safe and sufficient water for Naga City and Camarines Sur constituents
have triggered the merging of forces and resources among government agencies, LGUs, NGOs,
private institutions and POs in Camarines Sur. These organizations, which became the prime
mover of a sustainable watershed management program are the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR), the Metro Naga Water District (MNWD), Plan International-
Bicol (PIB), Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC), the Rotary Club of Naga City
(RCN), Rotary Club of Isarog (RCI), the Local Government of Pili (LGU-Pili), the LWUA,
and CARE Philippines.

The initiative started in 1993 when DENR and MNWD signed a stewardship
agreement for 317 hectares in the Anayan and Rumangrap Springs Watershed area, within the
Mt. Isarog Natural Park. The two (2) springs have a combined output of 225 lps, about 75% of
MNWD’s production. This was followed by the signing of a Tripartite agreement among
MNWD, RCN and Plan Intl. Bicol also in 1993. After this, PARTNERSHIP with other
institutions was formalized and strengthened to achieve a common vision. To make the
program more focused and to know the problems that should be addressed, a benchmarking
study was conducted by CSSAC in partnership with PIB and the Foundation for the Philippine
Environment (FPE). The result of this study was used in coming up with the Initial Protected
Area Management Plan. This was reinforced by the conduct of participatory rapid appraisal
(PRA) in the watershed site. At this point, it was found that there were 81 park occupants
undertaking intensive agricultural cultivation, 47 of them were actually living in the protected
area. Program development and planning was conducted, which was participated in by the park
settlers and representatives from the partner organizations. In the development plan, the major
interventions identified were: 1) community organizing and institution building for people
empowerment; 2) relocation of park settlers; 3) community development and strengthening
through cooperativism; 4) alternative livelihood building; 5) continuing education; 6) forest
and watershed protection and management, including nursery establishment; 7) research and
development, including monitoring and evaluation, needs analysis, attitudinal studies, product
development, etc. and 8) community service. All of these program components are continually
being conducted following the participatory approach to community development.

At present, 34 households were already relocated in a 1.2 ha lot. They were organized
into a cooperative in 1997, and were registered as the Rotary Village Corp Forest Development
Cooperative (RVCFDC). The relocation site was provided with facilities like socialized
housing units (34), water and electricity, Day Care Center, Chapel / Training Center, multi-
purpose pavement, volleyball court, RVC office, staff house for the MNWD Community
Development Officer, and equipment for food processing, etc. There are also communal
projects like the bio-intensive garden, swine and poultry projects (sasso chicken) and food
processing project, which were mainly organized and conducted by CSSAC in collaboration
with the MNWD and the Department of Agriculture at the LGU. Their off-farm economic
activities are mostly buying and selling of agricultural products.

Stewardship of the Anayan-Rumangrap watershed is very strong, The RVCFDC,

through the DENR Protected Area Office had trained forest guards to protect the area from
illegal activities. Cultivation in majority of the site has stopped, except in some areas where
there are still park settlers. Replanting and management of newly planted trees are continuing
activities; and above all, there is assurance of clean, safe and sufficient water for the
Camarinensis.

Currently, new institutions are getting interested in the program and are conducting
various development activities in the site. The CARE Philippines, through its Sustainable
Management of Mt. Isarog Territories (SuMMIT) project, in cooperation with CSSAC and
MNWD, is now showing interest in some institutional building works for the cooperative. The
Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for Mt. Isarog Natural Park, likewise envisions the
restoration, management and protection of Mt. Isarog, not only for today’s generation, but also
for the future.

One sustainability mechanism to enhance the partnership among the network of

institutions is the creation of the Multi- Agency Watershed Management Committee. This
group meets once every quarter or as the need arise to monitor the progress of program
implementation, assess problems and plan future interventions in the site. With strong
partnership among the major stakeholders, there’s high hope that sustainable and effective
management of the watershed will be achieved.
 Developing Partnership for Sustainable Watershed Management:
Case of Mt. Isarog Watershed*

Dr. Cely S. Binoya

Professor, CSSAC
and
Mr. Vicente Aniceto D. Rubio
Watershed Management Officer, Metro Naga Water District

I. Introduction:

Protected area management, particularly in the watershed areas of Mt. Isarog had
been the primary concern of various government and non-government agencies in the Bicol
Region. This concern was heightened by the result of a benchmark study that reported 81
park occupants undertaking intensive agricultural cultivation in the area, with 47 of them
actually living in the park. This situation threatens the biodiversity in the natural park and the
safety of the water that is generated in the watershed.

With the vision to protect the Mt. Isarog Natural Park and to generate safe and
sufficient water for the constituents of Camarines Sur, some government, non-government
and private institutions have joined forces for sustainable watershed management. The
initiative was guided by the objective of promoting the use of natural resources within the
watershed for economically productive purposes. Florece (2002) also reported that the
development aims of watershed management, which should be used as guide in any initiative
for this purpose are as follows: a) improved rainwater management; b) improved standard of
living; c) improved maintenance, enhancement and protection of the areas; and d) improved
care and management of the natural resources within individual watershed. He further
reported that the guiding principles in watershed management are: a) holistic, integrated and
multiple-use management; b) multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary planning; c) adoption of
sustainability criteria; d) participatory and equitable participation and e) efficiency in
resource allocation.

This paper will account the processes that occurred in developing partnership among
relevant institutions and the role of the academe in the sustainable watershed management of
Mt. Isarog. It will also report the significant accomplishments and lessons learned in the
process of building partnership for effective management of the watershed.

--------------------
Paper presented during the 7th Natl. Educators’ Assembly in Environmental Protection and
Management with the theme “Conserving Our Water Resources: The Challenge for the
Academe, held in Country Village Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City on Oct. 10-11, 2002.
II. Brief Description of Mt. Isarog

Mt. Isarog was proclaimed as National Park in 1938 by Pres. Manuel L Quezon under
Proclamation No. 293. It has an area of 10,112.3478 hectares and peak height of 1,966
meters above sea level. It is very rich in natural resources, with many rivers, waterfalls and
endemic species of flora and fauna. It has seven (7) watershed areas, the main source of
potable water supply of Naga City, and the municipalities of Camaligan, Canaman, Magarao,
Gainza, Milaor and the various highly populated surrounding municipalities of Pili,
Calabanga, Tinambac, Goa, Tigaon and Ocampo.

III. Partnership Development for Sustainable Watershed Management in Mt. Isarog

The development of partnership among identified institutions was pursued with the
realization that no single institution can ably respond to the challenge of managing a
watershed in a sustainable manner. Also, with a network of institutions working for
watershed management, the multi-disciplinary but holistic approach to watershed
management can be achieved; there is sharing and supplementation of resources, and there is
complementation of activities, hence overlapping or duplication of activities are avoided and
waste of resources is minimized.

The initiative for a Sustainable Watershed Management Program (SWMP) started in

1993 when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Metro
Naga Water District (MNWD) signed a stewardship agreement for 317 hectares in the
Anayan and Rumangrap Springs Watershed area, within the Mt. Isarog Natural Park. The two
springs have a combined output of 225 lps, about 75% of MNWD’s production.. On the same
year, a tripartite agreement among MNWD, Rotary Cub of Naga City (RCN) and Plan
International-Bicol (PI-B) was signed to aggressively pursue the SWMP.

With the realization that the academe has a significant role to play in this task, the
Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC), initially through the CSSAC
Development Foundation Incorporated (CSSAC-DFI) was invited to join the network of
partner institutions. Benchmarking and institution building activities were done by the
Camarines Sur State Agricultural College, which also served as the coordinating office of the
program from 1994-1997. An Integrated Area Development Plan was prepared by the partner
agencies with the following components:

A. Institution building and community organizing

B. Relocation of park settlers
C. Community development and strengthening through cooperativism
D. Alternative livelihood building / development
E. Continuing education
F. Forest and watershed protection and management, including nursery
establishment
G. Research and development
H. Community service
IV. Accomplishments

Institution Building and Community Organizing

Community organizing was the major responsibility of the NGO partner and
MNWD. Institution building was tasked to CSSAC in cooperation with other partners.

After identifying the park occupants, all of them were invited to a series of
consultations and conscientization meetings to make them realize the danger of cultivating a
protected area, not only to the people in the lowlands but to themselves in particular. Making
them realize that problem, the occupants agreed to find ways to solve the problem and to
develop some action plans. Part of the action plan was institution building and community
organizing.

To carry out the institution building activity, all the park occupants were invited to a
series of trainings at CSSAC. These trainings included topics on Values Formation, Working
With Others, Team Building, Leadership, Community Management, including Project
Management, Farm Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. The duration ranged from
2-5 days, depending on the topic. After the training, the clients agreed to form a village
carrying the name Rotary Village Corp.

Relocation of Park Settlers

It was believed that unless these park settlers will not be uprooted from their
temporary residence in the park, they will not stop their agricultural activities in the area,
hence, the partners agreed to buy a relocation site for these settlers. With the resources of the
RCN and PI-B, a 1.2 ha. lot was purchased in Del Rosario, Pili as relocation site. A land use
plan was made indicating locations of residential houses, the chapel and multi-purpose
building, multi-purpose pavement, Day-Care Center, sports development area, communal
garden, etc.

Presently, there are now 34 concrete houses in the relocation site and 34 households
were already relocated. There is also a staff house for the Community Development Worker
(CDW) of MNWD. These houses were built through the support of RCN and PI-B. All the
amenities / facilities, as targeted in the land use plan are already constructed. Electricity and
water facilities were also made available. The day-care center is operational and the teacher
is being paid by RCN in partnership with the LGU.

Community Development and Strengthening through Cooperativism.

To strengthen cooperativism among the constituents in the village, the group was
organized by the partners into a cooperative in 1997. They were registered as the Rotary
Village Corp Forest Development Cooperative (RVCFDC). They have a capital build-up
(CBU) of Php 13,000.00, which they use to finance coop-related economic activities. They
are headed by a cooperative chairman.

As a cooperative, they are enjoying the services and programs provided by the
Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) and the Municipal Cooperative Development
Council (MCDC), particularly training and other technical services. The cooperative, using
its CBU, conducts buy and sell and food processing activities as source of income for the
members.

Alternative Livelihood Development

Since the members are no longer allowed to cultivate in the park, they were trained to
perform alternative livelihood activities. Presently, the coop has equipment for food
processing, particularly for pili, bananas, vegetables and root crops. These equipment were
mostly provided by PIB and the RCN. Most of their produce are processed. Their other
products from agriculture are sold in the Pili and Naga markets during Thursdays and
weekends. They also have communal bio-intensive gardens, swine and poultry projects,
particularly native chicken sourced from the Department of Agriculture (DA). CSSAC also
provides seeds, technical materials and training in support to livelihood development.

Continuing Education

To improve farm productivity of the members, the cooperative, MNWD, and RCN
entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the CSSAC Extension Division for technical
assistance. Under the Cooperative Assistance Project of the college, the RVCFDC became
the 6th adopted cooperative of the college. The benefits derived by the cooperative through
this partnership are: free trainings on various agricultural technologies conducted on the site,
scholarships for the children and members of the coop in the college’ Dual System of
Vocational Training in Agriculture held in CSSAC every Saturday, establishment of
demonstration farms, distribution of techno-guides, seeds, etc. The college, on the other
hand, benefits from the partnership since the coop served also as the social laboratory of the
graduating students of CSSAC who opted to take Internship as a requirement for graduation.
The students benefiting from the partnership are the BSA major in Agriculture Extension, BS
Agroforestry and BS in Environmental Science.

All seminars/trainings were designed by CSSAC primarily to orient the members on

proper values for effective watershed management. There were also trainings conducted to
improve their health like preparing herbal medicines, cooking nutritious diet, family
planning, etc.

The departments in the College which were involved in the continuing education
activities on site are the Departments of Rural Development Studies, Food Technology, Crop
Science and Agroforestry, Biological and Environmental Science, Soil Science, Teacher
Education, and Animal and Veterinary Science.

Other agencies like the DA, CARE Phils. and PI-B also provide continuing education
activities for the coop members.

Forest and Watershed Protection and Management.

During the rehabilitation stage of the two watersheds, the members assisted in
establishing the nursery as source of planting materials for reforestation. They were also
hired to plant and manage the reforestation project. They helped the MNWD develop the
catchment area and in converting the project site to an ecological park. All of these activities
were done in partnership with the DENR. The college also participated in tree planting
activities on the watershed areas in cooperation with MNWD, and the DENR and DA as
sources of planting materials.

The activities in the nursery and replanting program are still continuing. Stewardship
of the area was strengthened among the coop members through the Bantay Bundok / Forest
guards who were trained by DENR-MNWD and other partners to protect the area from
illegal activities.

Research and Development

Several researches had been conducted in the area. The most recent was a
sociological research entitled “Community Response to Development Interventions: A Case
of RVCFDC”. This research was conducted by CSSAC as part of the learning activities in
Rural Sociology course to determine the members’ attitude towards various development
interventions conducted by various agencies in the site; how these interventions addressed
their problems / needs and why they responded in the manner they do to these interventions.
New needs were also identified.

Since the site was chosen as internship site of Extension majors of CSSAC, more
techno-demo cum research activities were and will be conducted in partnership with the coop
members to help them decide on the most appropriate technologies that they can adopt to
ensure sustainable development in the village.

Community Service

As a young village, the RVCFDC is also a favorite community of service-oriented

institutions like Ateneo de Naga and Universidad de Sta. Isabel for their gift-giving projects.
The Rotary Club of Isarog based at CSSAC also provided a Solar Lighting System in the
area. Sports fests and medical mission are also regularly conducted by the PI-B and RCN.
These are all organized and coordinated by the Multi-Agency Watershed Management
Committee who assists the village in its development endeavors.

V. Benefits of Partnership

A. To the partners, there was complementation of activities and sharing of resources

to accomplish a common goal, that ensuring sustainable watershed management
for Mt. Isarog.

B. To CSSAC, the following are the benefits derived from the partnership:

1. RVCFDC, as an assisted cooperative served as social laboratory and

internship site of CSSAC students. Students in Agricultural Extension are
immersed in the community from November to February every 2 nd
semester for the students’ internship. For other major fields, the students
stay in the village during summer.
2. The village also served a s social laboratory of Rural Sociology,
Community Organizing and Cooperative Management courses.
3. The village is a good venue for social science and technology-based
researches.

C. To the Community, the continuing education activities enhanced their productive

activities, e.g. nursery management and reforestation activities, establishment of
more economic activities and organization of social activities.

VI. Sustainability Mechanism

To ensure continuity of activities and the existence of harmonious relationships

among the partners, the Multi-Agency Watershed Management Committee was organized.
The committee regularly meets every quarter at the site to assess accomplishments, monitor
activities and plan forthcoming partnership activities.

VII. Learning Points

A. On Partnership Development

1. Each partner institution has its mandate. Partners should be aware of this and the
support services that can be provided by these institutions for maximum
utilization of manpower and material resources of the partners. For the greater
benefit of the project and its clients.

2. For an academe to be identified in the network of partner institutions, it must

establish a track record, particularly in RDE activities.
 3. There must be an academic program offering which will serve as anchorage of
RDE projects and activities in the area like programs on Forestry / Agroforestry,
Environmental Science major in Natural resource Management, Agricultural
Extension, Agronomy, Crop Protection, Agribusiness, Food Technology, Animal
Science, Soil Science, etc.
4. An organized Development Foundation, an NGO arm of the academe, can serve
as entry point for programs / projects which requires infusion of budget from
outside sources.
5. There must be an institutionalized Extension Program in the college / university
for cooperative / community assistance, e.g. Adopt a Cooperative / Community
Program
6. Strong coordination mechanism should be established among partner institutions
for better complementation, supplementation and partnership in all endeavors.
7. There should be no competition among partner institutions.

B. On Program Implementation

1. In the village, it was observed that despite so many development interventions,

there are indications that the cooperative members feel discontented with some
services of partner institutions. Constant dialogue should be made between and
among the coop members and partner institutions to settle problems at the earliest
possible time.

2. Continuing assessment of their training needs should be made for relevance and
responsiveness of development programs to emerging problems of the members.

3. The comprehensive integrated area development plan was very useful in guiding
all partners in pursuing development interventions in the area. However, a wider
cultivation area near the village should be incorporated in the plan to serve as
production area for the coop members and to entice other park settlers to go down
the relocation site.

4. Research and Development as a component activity should be conducted

regularly by the partner academe to assess the quality of development that is
happening in the area and to identify emerging needs and problems that need to be
resolved by the partner institutions.

5. Forest protection and watershed management should be made integral part of all
development activities being the ultimate aim of the Protected Area Management
(PAM) program.

References:
Binoya, C.S. 2001. Community Response to Development Interventions: A Case of RVCFDC”. Unpublished
paper. Aug.
Binoya, CS and Rubio. 2001. Sustainable Watershed Management: Case of Mt. Isarog Watershed.
Paper presented during the 1st National Conference on Protected Area Management held at
Royal Mandaya Hotel, Davao City. November.
Florece, P. 2002. Status of Waterhed Management in Region V. Paper presented during the Regional
Conference Workshop on Soil and Water Resources RDE held in CSSAC.
Rubio, V.A. 2002. Watershed Development Project. Paper presented during the Regional Conference Workshop
on Soil and Water Resources RDE held in CSSAC. Sept.