KALAHI-CIDSS brings healthcare facility to communities in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island

SANTA FE, Bantayan Island -- Six mainland barangays of Santa Fe, Bantayan Island in Cebu namely; Poblacion, Maricaban, Okoy, Pooc, Talisay, and Balidbid, the lead barangay received the municipal isolation facility with amenities through the participation of volunteers in the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7).

Camotes Island, where Santa Fe is one of the towns is a popular destination sites for both local and foreign tourists with its long stretches of sandy beaches, resorts, and ports that welcomed both air and sea travelers.  However, with the travel restrictions imposed by local government units due to the pandemic, Santa Fe struggled to get back on its feet.

With KALAHI-CIDSS’ focusing on helping communities augment local resources to effectively manage the pandemic and address its ill effects on the people, Santa Fe slowly got back to its track to welcome tourists with the newly-completed projects from the program.

“It is our privilege as Santafehanons that we have now a good municipal isolation facility wherein we will become ready to combat COVID,” Santa Fe mayor Ithamar Espinosa said and thanked the barangays and community volunteers for working hard to complete the projects provided by DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS program.

Espinosa added that all the six barangays that contributed to the project gave out their full commitment to realize the partnership between KALAHI-CIDSS and the LGU to bring pandemic-response projects to the communities in need.

Balidbid Barangay Captain Madelyn Rayco said that she has been a witness to the true objective of KALAHI- CIDSS that infrastructure projects are just part of its purpose to the communities but rather the empowerment of the people makes the difference. 

Rayco has been a KALAHI-CIDSS volunteer since 2015 and she added that becoming a volunteer has opened many opportunities to her.  She noted that the trainings and workshops she underwent had transformed her to become the leader that she is today, including her post as the Barangay Captain of Balidbid.

“What I learned from KALAHI-CIDSS gave me inspiration that I can become a leader in my community.” Rayco called on everyone to have a “helping spirit”, an advocacy she wants the youth have to become active players in community organizing.

Rayco’s advocacy to organize the youth in her community resulted in the empowerment of some including her niece, Jessalyn Caraballe who now heads the Barangay Development Council-Technical Working Group (BDC-TWG) of Balidbid during the implementation of the KALAHI-CIDSS isolation facility project.

Carabelle expressed hopes to follow in her aunt’s footsteps, “I understand the goal of KALAHI-CIDSS to create an impact on the youth, making us of the experience and knowledge we have gained from the program and highlighting the importance of volunteerism among the youth.

Through these newly-turned over projects, Santa Fe shall now use the facility as an infirmary or a rural hospital to be operated by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) for more people will have access to public health care. (Photos: DSWD-7)