The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) recently announced that a program to address rural poverty and improve productivity, the SAAD, or Special Area for Agricultural Development, has effectively reduced poverty in the three provinces of Samar Island.
This news pleases me no end because I personally conceptualized and designed the SAAD when I was Governor of North Cotabato.
It was first implemented in the poor rebel-influenced mountain villages of Magpet, Antipas and Arakan towns in 1999, a year after I was elected Governor.
What makes SAAD different from other anti-poverty and rural development programs is that it is anchored mainly on harnessing the strength of the community and in allowing the people to decide what is good for them.
This is in complete contrast with the other interventions of government where projects, including equipment and machinery, were just delivered to the rural areas without even asking the people if these were needed by the community.
In introducing SAAD to the people of the mountain communities, I had to personally immerse with them and I slept in the remote villages bringing with me my tent and the staff to engage the people.
In the early years of my Governorship, I was still drinking alcohol so during the evening sessions of the engagements, I shared whatever drink was available – Tanduay, White Castle and even “Tuba,” the coconut wine.
The SAAD Program was one of the innovations in governance which I introduced to then Presidential-candidate Rodrigo Duterte in 2015.
As part of the effort to address rural poverty, I recommended to Pres. Duterte that 10 of the poorest provinces in the country will be identified every year and provided with funds for the SAAD projects amounting to P1-B.
After six years, I told the President, we would have implemented the SAAD in 60 provinces and with a conservative success rate of 50%, his administration would have lifted 30 provinces out of poverty.
I did not get the P1-B per province funding which I requested, only P100-M, but even with a reduced budget, the SAAD Program had been proven to be successful.
When SAAD was adopted by the Department of Agriculture as one of its major rural development programs, I made it clear to the workers of DA to keenly identify the strength and potentials of each beneficiary community.
SAAD is a unique anti-poverty and rural development program because there is no template to be implemented and people in each area identified what they needed most to improve their lives.
SAAD is just one of the innovations in governance which I personally conceptualized and designed as Mayor, Governor, Secretary of Agriculture and later, Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority.
Two of these innovations which I designed when I was Governor received the Galing Pook Award.
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