A Construction of Day Care Center (DCC) to Subanen Community was inaugurated last June 18, 2019 at Sitio Tilling, Purok Gemelina, Malubal in R.T. Lim, Zamboanga Sibugay.

The turn-over ceremony was graced by the Local Government Unit of R.T. Lim headed by the outgoing Mayor Michael Piodena, Vice-Mayor Danilo Piodena and some Sangguniang members, together with the Barangay officials and Kalahi-CIDSS field staff.

The DCC with a total cost of Php1,152,067.25, is the 3rd of the 13 Sub-projects of R.T. Lim under LGU-led implementation that has been turned-over to the community.

According to BSPMC Chairperson Maria Teresa G. Dolendo, the old structure was no longer safe to the kids. The foundation of the old structure is too frail and the materials covering the old day care were all products of donation to the community.

Although there is another structure within the barangay, but it is too costly for the parents to send their kids to the next purok, which is too far away. To reach Sitio Tilling, one has to commute about 6 kilometers on a rough road from the barangay center of Malubal alone.

Maria Teresa Dolendo, BSPMC Chair with MLGU and BLGU Officials during the inauguration of the newly constructed day care center in Malubal, RT Lim.

The road is not too friendly to the children during rainy season. There are portions where it gets too slippery and it tends to drag a person or even a motorcycle down into the mud and people experience difficulty in getting their farm produce out every time.

This is the reason why most of the Subanen in this area could not afford to send their children to school given all the struggles that they have to endure from poor facilities, to limited access and resources.

The volunteers of Malubal who are mostly not from Sitio Tilling felt the need to help send these Subanen children to school by providing them a convenient facility within their vicinity. This will help their children learn and create brighter future ahead of them.

The construction of Day Care Center is a good development to their place since they’ve been feeling like they were forgotten in terms of services from the government since they’re so far from poblacion.

The community volunteers are also grateful to the support provided by the Municipal Local Government of R.T. Lim and the Barangay officials as well.

With this, Barangay Chairperson Gilbert Salazar continuously encourages his Subanen constituents to come out and keep the participation going as this is the key to having their voices heard and knowing what they’ve wanted and needed. The construction of day care center is the second sub-project funded by Kalahi-CIDSS in Malubal. They were also a recipient of Road Concreting project under 1st Cycle NCDDP implementation.