GIFT Project

Governance, Infrastructure, Food and Tourism Project (GIFT)

The Bohol Integrated Development Foundation, Inc. (BIDEF) has chosen Jagna to be one of the two recipients of projects funded by MISEREOR, Germany. MISEREOR is a German Catholic Bishop’s Organization for Development Cooperation. The two recipient municipalities are Jagna and Duero.

Project Background

The coastal municipalities of Duero and Jagna, Bohol are located in the southeastern part of the province with a distance of 73 and 63.2 kilometers respectively from Tagbilaran City, capital of Bohol.

The municipality of Duero has a total land area of 58.89. sq. km. It is composed of 21 barangays of which 9 are coastal and 12 are located inland. Its topography is generally characterized as a hilly and rolling terrain. The main industries of the municipality are fishing, farming and cottage industry. Mountainous part of Duero is inhabited by a cultural minority called the Eskaya Tribe. The Eskaya community is distinguished by its cultural heritage, particularly its literature and language, although many of its earlier traditional practices are no longer strictly observed. In 1996, the Eskaya community was awarded a certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim by President Fidel Ramos. An official census of the Eskaya population has not yet been made. One report estimates that in 1991 there were 130 Eskaya families living in Bohol.

Meanwhile, the municipality of Jagna has a total land area of 12,063 hectares and is composed of 33 barangays of which 14 are coastal while 19 are inland barangays. Most of the population thrives mainly on farming and fishing. Its topography is predominantly comprised of steep hills and mountains. The coastal areas are normally flat but less than a kilometer away from the shoreline. Karst formation occupies 63.77% of Jagna’s land area where it is defined as a terrain with special landforms and drainage characteristics due to greater solubility of certain rocks in natural waters that is common. Moreover, like Tagbilaran, Jagna is a port town. Ferries run daily to and from other islands but currently ferry transportation to Mindanao is only available to Cagayan de Oro, Camiguin and Butuan.

However, these municipalities are situated in a disaster prone area where major earthquakes in the province usually hit the area. Siltation occurred in the shoreline of Duero while part of Jagna experience unusual land phenomenon. This land phenomenon is called the falldown of volcaniclastic rocks of the late miocene Carmen formation that happened on July 11, 2005. According to the National Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, the northwestern and eastern boundaries of the valley for the most part are along structural lines which follow the trace of major faults. These faults normally bring thick cliff-forming limestones to form typical gray limestone walls, which stand out prominently. The gently rolling valley floors are underlain by the deeply weathered volcaniclastic rocks of the Carmen Formation and the Cretaceous to Paleocene Boctol Serpentinites south of Mayana, Jagna, Bohol.

Furthermore, aside from natural calamities, the fisherfolks in the coastal barangays have low income due to low fish catch. This low fish catch is a result of illegal and overfishing in the area. Additionally, the impending effects of climate change have already been felt in these areas which resulted to warmer climate conditions and the rising of sea level which made the coastal communities vulnerable to said effects. These effects contributed the low productivity of fish catch of the marginal fisherfolks. Moreover, these people have limited access to capital, technology and delivery of basic services to government agencies.

The fishing communities in the eight (8) coastal barangays in the municipality of Duero and nine (9) coastal barangays in the municipality of Jagna are the target beneficiaries of this project. These communities include the fisherfolks and their families of over one hundred (100) individuals.

Governance Infrastructure Food and Tourism (GIFT) project was launched on March 30 at the Garden Café in Jagna. Nine coastal barangays of Jagna and eight coastal barangays of Duero will benefit the project. These pilot barangays were chosen for the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) established in these barangays. This project will last for three years starting January 1, 2011 and will end on December 31, 2013.

The project’s goal is to improve the living conditions of the target barangays by providing livelihood activities.