BORONGAN, Eastern Samar--This province facing the Pacific Ocean used to be one of the 20 poorest in the Philippines.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board show that fortunately, the poverty picture has improved significantly since the year 2000, with the poverty rate brought down to 33.9 percent in 2003, from 45.9 percent in 2000.

Governor Ben Evardone credits the feat partly to the development projects started by his predecessors that he continued with renewed vigor.

He is adding to the list more projects related to education and social services, infrastructure, livelihood and tourism.

Evardone believes in the great tourism potential of Eastern Samar, that he has persuaded a major airline to fly to the province. The direct flights of Southeast Asian Airlines should cement the province's reputation as an ideal spot for surfing, thanks to its year-round waves that are suited for both novices and professionals.

Waves are strong enough even outside the typhoon season, specifically on Calicoan island, in Guiuan town. It is also in that town, specifically Homonhon island, where Ferdinand Magellan, credited for having ‘discovered' the Philippines, first set foot on March 16, 1521.

Tourism revenues are badly needed by this typhoon-infested province, as the NSCB Poverty Statistics as of 2006 showed Eastern Samar is teetering close to reentering the club of 20 poorest provinces in the country. It is currently ranked the 23rd poorest, with 42.7 percent of families living below the poverty line.

To help keep the province out of the not-so-elite club, the government has earmarked P1 billion for roads and infrastructure in the next two years for this province, which is notorious for the poor condition of its highways.

Construction of new farm-to-market roads (FMR) in the hinterlands is also aggressively being pursued, as they have shown to dramatically increase farmers' income. Good roads make it easier and cheaper for them to bring their goods to the market.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) is one of the multilateral agencies that have responded to the province's call for assistance and it has so far granted two loans to the province.

Under the Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP), P127 million worth of farm-to-market roads were constructed or rehabilitated in Borongan, Llorente, San Julian, Maydolong, Hernani, General MacArthur and Quinapondan.

Under the project, up to P30 million was made available to each municipality to build roads, bridges, communal irrigation, drinking water supply and other basic infrastructure. The beneficiaries were poor landless farmers and small-scale cultivators who were part of agrarian reform communities.

In addition, the ARCP provided land survey, agribusiness and community development assistance and promoted comprehensive bottom-up community participation. For the rural infrastructure and other sub-projects, the local government unit also contributed counterpart funding as its share.

The Department of Agrarian Reform was the executing agency of the recently completed project. Its successful rating from ADB has led to the approval this month of an ARCP phase 2, targeting 150,000 poor farmers, mostly in the southern Philippines.

Ongoing in the province is another ADB loan called the Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector project (Infres) with the Department of Agriculture as the executing agency. Some P309.9 million worth of farm-to-market roads and bridges are being constructed or rehabilitated in Arteche, Balangkayan, Can-Avid, Dolores, Hernani, Maslog, Maydolong and Sulat.

Infres benefits local government units in Southern Tagalog (Region IV-B), Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao where over 70 percent of poor Filipinos live. Instead of the national government imposing the project on them, LGUs are empowered to identify and develop projects based on their own design and implementation process. Half of the project cost is funded by the ADB loan while the national and local governments and beneficiaries shoulder the rest.

The project has the long-term goal of increasing rural income by providing roads, communal irrigation systems and drinking water on the premise that a major cause of poverty is inadequate rural infrastructure.

With irrigation improvements alone, annual income from crop production can increase by at least 80 percent. Some 700,000 people from farm and non-farm households are the beneficiaries.

"Infres will revolutionize the rural areas," says Evardone. "Before, just to go to one barangay, you need to pass two municipalities. That will not be true anymore since 15 far-flung barangays will now be connected," he adds. It will increase trade and industry and entrepreneurship among the affected communities and shorten travel time and reduce transportation costs.

Infres is particularly appealing to LGUs since they only finance part of the project cost. Maydolong Mayor Daniel Baldono reports that a 14-kilometer farm-to-market road is already under construction in his town.

With only P6 million available for development projects in his municipality, he is seeking another Infres subproject: potable water supply.

In Dolores town, the construction of the access road is much-delayed due to change in contractors, bad weather and heavy rains, but the mayor is determined to finish it because of its impact on her town.

"We have very, very rich ricelands and that will be the key to the development of Eastern Samar. We have lands that can be irrigated; we have the biggest irrigation project in region 8," says Dolores Mayor Emiliana Villacarillo.

Spanning 28.5 kilometers, the P100-million road is a combination of newly-opened and rehabilitated components that will traverse 13 barangays, benefiting two-thirds of the town's 46,000 population. Each barangay has been trained to maintain the portion of the road in its area to ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure.

"The Infres project in Dolores will connect from the main highway to the rice granary of Eastern Samar, because it is second to Quinapondan in rice production in the province. So the Infres project in Dolores is very critical," says Evardone.

Arnold Jocosol, 38, a farmer in Dolores, related that he can only transport his goods on a carabao since there is no road to speak of. Today, a road is being constructed right in front of his home and he knows it will be a big help to his family.

"I did not even dream there would be a road here," he told a visiting group of ADB Board members in the local dialect. But after the road is completed, he says he hopes he would also have capital for other activities that he would like to pursue, like a piggery and a mini-store.

"In most of the barangays that did not have roads before, they can transport their products now from their barangay to the market," says Mayor Javier Zacate of Sulat, who just had a ground-breaking of his town's own 17-kilometer FMR under Infres.

But even if Infres is still being implemented, LGUs who were not able to avail themselves of the project are already submitting their own project proposals for Infres phase II. (The author is a National Officer of the ADB.)