MALAMBA, 20 kilometers from the highway of Calinan poblacion, was once a sleepy barangay where human activities were limited to daytime. Reaching the area would require one to travel by foot, take a
habal-habal (single) motorcycle, or worse ride a horse. If you’re lucky to get a 4×4 wheel drive vehicle, you could reach the barangay from the main highway to Bukidnon through a bumpy road trip during the dry season or along a slippery and dangerous stretch on rainy days.
Donnabelle, a shy 5th-grader of Malamba Central Elementary School recalled, “I used to study with the aid of lampara or gas lamp. The lampara’s black smoke sometimes got into my nostrils. Each
time I visited my relatives in the downtown area, I was green with envy seeing my cousins watch their favorite soap opera on television”.
This was the normal activity in the remote community until three years ago when the barangay was energized through Davao Light and Power Company’s social electrification program.
In 2007, the first electric distribution line reached this far-flung community composed of almost 6,000 residents belonging to various ethnic tribes.
But even at the time, the G. Astilla National High School for the Minorities, the only lumad school in Davao City, beside the Malamba elementary school was not yet reached by the distribution lines. It took the Rotary Club of East Davao headed then by past president Leo Edwin Zantua in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Wakayanagi headed by Dr. Atsushi Sasaki, to spend P100,000 to install the lines.
After three years, electricity has reportedly changed significantly the lifestyle of the upland dwellers.
Vanessa Amor Alejandrino, a teacher of G. Astilla high school, is happy with how her students are enthusiastically responding to their lessons these days. “With evening lighting that lengthens a
community’s daylight hours, students can now study better,” Alejandrino says.
Students of the school are catching up on information technology as instructional videos are now used by the teachers for computer lessons. They have become not only internet savvy, which is helpful in doing their assignments, but they are also already connected globally to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
Gone are the days when everyone was ready to go to sleep as dusk fell. This time, it’s a chance for them to meet at a nearby store to belt out their favorite songs with the aid of the videoke machine.
Those with refrigerators are able to store food items, thus cutting down on the number of days they have to go to market. That means saving time and money.
And who would have thought that a telecom company would put up a cell site in the area? This has made the farmers’ lives a lot easier as buyers of their produce can be reached through mobile phones. Even friends and
relatives are now just a text away.
According to Romeo Inog, Malamba’s barangay captain, the community also hopes to have a power-driven water system in a not-so-distant future. “Electricity will provide a lot of convenience for people who won’t have to fetch water in containers anymore. Clean water will also reduce the prevalence of water-borne diseases,” Inog added. “Thanks to the support of the local government and Davao Light, we are now experiencing the benefits of electricity.” [pr]
Pleased with the improvements he saw during his recent visit to the area, Michael Angelo, the distribution engineer of the project, exudes a sense of accomplishment. He realizes how the the collective efforts of the personnel who put up the poles and power lines and poles has clearly touched peoples’ lives.
