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The muddy road to Barangay Titik in Leon Postigo, Zamboanga del Norte
Barangay Titik in the municipality of Leon Postigo sits in the mountains of Zamboanga del Norte, isolated by its lack of roads.
The 27 kilometers from the neighboring municipality of Sindangan to Barangay Titik, a 30 minute drive on ordinary highways, may take more than half a day.
The trip may take five to eight hours, depending on the stamina of the driver and passengers. At times, while crossing ravines, the travel even calls for faith.
Leon Postigo is one of the poorest municipalities in the country, with eight in 10 families considered poor.
The province of Zamboanga del Norte itself has been on top of the list of provinces with high poverty incidence.
Farming is the main source of livelihood in Barangay Titik; the people live off of corn fields and root crops.
Most of their produce, however, are consumed within the community, by the families of the farmers themselves.
Kapitan Beliano Tanglanan says it simply costs too much to sell the goods at the nearest market. In fact, the Kapitan said, the cost of transportation is even greater than the cost of the goods.
The most accessible public market to Titik is in Sindangan, a neighboring municipality at least five hours away by habal-habal.
Wilma Banugon, a 28-year-old sari-sari store owner, can afford to buy supplies for her store only once or twice a month. She spends P1,500 for the transportation of the merchandise alone.
That amount already can buy one sack of rice.
As such, the cost of bringing goods up to Titik leaves very little for profit.
“Talagang hindi sapat sa amin, lalo na kung may anak na yung tao [This is not enough, specially since I have children,]” Wilma says. “Talagang hindi po sapat [It’s really not enough.]”
“Kaunti pa yung benta [Business is slow.]” she says. “Minsan, yung ibang wala pang pera, utang [Sometimes, some people cannot afford to pay, so they take the goods on credit.]”
Jojo Magulta, Wilma’s nephew, helps out. He buys the supplies for the store.
In the Sindangan market, Jojo secures two sacks of rice with a rope on top of the habal- habal. He then sits on top of the sacks while holding the plastic sando bag filled with packets of coffee and sachets of shampoo.
On the way back to Barangay Titik, the driver asks the passengers several times to get off the motorcycle because the path was too steep, or simply too muddy.
The passengers get down the pathway on foot, and at times, on all fours, to get through the mud.
“Laay man akong lawas sa pagbyahe [My body feels very tired after the journey,]” Jojo says after the 8-hour trip. “Masyadong pagod [It’s exhausting,]” he adds.
And if it rains, he says, it would be close to impossible to travel.
Leon Postigo Mayor Roland Tablezo knows fully well how difficult things are for the people in Titik.
“Kung walang magandang daanan yung mga tao natin galing sa bundok, mahihirapan sila. They will be discouraged also in more production at pagbaba ng mga agricultural product
[The lack of decent roads makes life really hard for residents of these mountainous barangays. Bad roads also discourage trade of their agricultural products],” Mayor Tablezo says.
Titik, like hundreds of little barangays in the country, is unsurprisingly not on the list of priorities in terms of government infrastructure. It is a small community, home to less than a thousand people, far from the town center and any place of trade or economic activity.
But places like Titik are exactly what legislators have been citing to argue for the pork barrel system.
They say the pork barrel serves as the “equalizer:” Whatever the national government falls short on, the pork barrel compensates.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile says in an interview with GMA News, “It equalizes the allocation of funding to different parts of the country. Halimbawa kung maliit ang distrito mo…normally the national government would not bother… kagaya ng mga island provinces, naiiwanan yung mga yon kung wala silang allocation [If your district is small, normally the national government would not bother - like the island provinces. They will be left behind if they do not have pork barrel allocations].”
Enrile adds, “If the congressman would get P70 million for his district, then the people in that district will have a chance to have some improvements in their localities. It’s not enough, but still it helps.” — Jamaica Jane Pascual/RSJ, GMA News Research
