(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)

A Case Study of the

Municipality of Infanta, Quezon Province Community-
based Disaster Preparedness and Management
(CBDPM): Surviving and Recovering from a Natural
Catastrophe
A Contribution to the Philippines
Country Environmental Analysis

Draft for discussion

Do not quote

September 2008

1
Elmer S. Mercado, EnP

1
World Bank Consultant. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author,
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive
Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. This paper represents work in progress and
comments to the author are invited (elmer_sm@yahoo.com).
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
Summary

The town of Infanta, Quezon province almost got obliterated when millions of cubic meters of
floodwater, uprooted tree trunks, cut logs and mud ran down from the eroded slopes of the Sierra Madre
mountains during a “freak of nature” towards the tail end of the 2004 November monsoon. This “freak of
nature” many believed was the effects of global warming or climate change that developing countries have
been directly experiencing even before the announcement in June 2007 by the UN International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) of the direct role played by man on global warming.

A day after Typhoon Winnie (international codename Nanmadol) rammed down the town of Infanta
along with its neighboring towns of Real and General Nakar, the whole area was completely devastated and
isolated from the outside world.

Whilst Infanta and along with the rest of the eastern towns of Quezon in Southern Luzon that directly
faced the Pacific Ocean are historically and geographically been at the so-called ‘typhoon belt’ of the country,
it has never encountered the same intensity of rain, floodwaters, debris and mud that shunted out the whole of
Infanta from the rest of the country. The amount of destruction to public and private property and the
hundreds of lives lost and livelihoods uprooted by this disaster left an indelible memory to all of Infanta’s
residents about the threats of natural hazards and calamities to the town’s very survival.

Because of this experience, the town of Infanta decided that it would make a stand to survive and
overcome the natural hazard poised by its physical location and address the vulnerabilities brought by natural
disturbances into its communities and people. Infanta’s community based disaster preparedness and
management (CBDPM) programme was borne out of its hard but learned experience from the November 2004
disaster. It focused its disaster plan on the empowerment and mobilisation of its people to effectively respond
to any kind of calamity by its own strength and capacity. “You are on your own” or YoYo was a lesson they
learned that they alone will have to support and respond within 24 hours to any future emergencies or disaster
that may occur to their communities.

It also imbibed the principle that disaster preparedness and management is everybody’s concern and
that its effectivity and success rests on how local people from individual families and households to local
government agencies and community organisations are able to implement and apply Infanta’s CBDPM’s four
‘Ps’ - predict, plan, prepare and practice, consistently and capably over time.
It organized and trained individual residents, their families, their barangays, and their communities to
respond appropriately to any disaster or emergency. The LGU also empowered small multi-sectoral “core
groups” within the community i.e. the reorganized and reactivated Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council
(MDCC), Special Committee on Agos River Rehabilitation and Flood Control (SCARRFC), and Special
Committee on Poblacion Area Drainage System (SCPADS) to plan, implement, monitor and sustain, in a
participatory manner, any disaster preparedness and risk reduction program of the municipality.

The barangays were also taught that their community could reduce the risks of natural hazards by
reducing the vulnerabilities of their residents, implementing the four important Ps (Predict, Plan, Prepare,
Practice), and focusing on their own community-based early warning and communication systems. Infanta also
installed community-based early warning systems and established two-way radio communication between the
barangays. It also conducted annual drills and exercises for flashflood, fire and earthquake preparedness.
(Galing Pook, 2007)

The municipality of Infanta also focused critical attention to the underlying cause of the November
2004 disaster and previous natural calamities that have plagued the whole of Infanta and its environs --- the
denudation and deforestation of the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.

Infanta, together with the other towns of Real and Nakar in 2006 have formed an inter-LGU forest
management council that served as coordination and cooperating body to counter-act rampant illegal logging
and protect the remaining forestlands in their upland areas with strict enforcement of forestry laws, joint
patrolling and operations against illegal loggers and monitoring of illegal activities in their respective areas.
With strong coordination with environment department, local police and military authorities, the council has
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
netted increased confiscations of illegally-cut logs and lumber and significantly reduced illegal activities in the
REINA area over the last three years

At the end of this, Infanta proved to all, especially to its citizens, that what it has painstakingly faced
and worked on would be successful. After three years, Infanta has almost completely recovered from the
physical and economic impact of the November 2004 disaster.

What many people had speculated would take a long time or at least ten (10) years before the town of
Infanta could rise and recover from the havoc brought by the landslides and flashfloods was achieved in three
(3) years. The town through prudent fiscal management and maximisation of the LGU’s budgetary outlays
plus continuous support of its citizenry has managed to rehabilitate, repair and make functional all its
municipal roads, bridges and other infrastructures that were completed damaged by the disaster.

One of the more stunning effects of Infanta’s recovery is its impressive fiscal performance that
resulted to an increase in its local revenue collection and reduction of its dependence on the internal revenue
allocation (IRA). From 2004-2006, local revenue collections in Infanta steadily grew to PhP 9.543 million or
US$ 212,066 in 2006 from PhP 7.939 million or US$ 176,422 in 2004.

Data from the Department of Finance (DoF) showed that Infanta’s local tax collection grew by 41.19
percent in 2006, while non-tax collection increased by a staggering 56% from the previous year collection.
These tax-based revenue collections were generated mostly from real property taxes, business and sales taxes,
and other local taxes while non-tax revenue includes local business and service fees, permits and licenses.

In fact, Infanta’s total tax and non-tax revenue collections in 2006 even surpassed its 2004 collections
for both local income sources. In 2006 Infanta’s local tax collections has reached PhP 4.511 million or US$
100,244 surpassing its 2004 tax receipts of PhP 4.152 million or US$ 92,266. Similarly, the town’s collection
of non-tax based revenues reached a whopping PhP 5.032 million or US$ 111,822 in 2006 collecting more
than 30% above its 2004 total of PhP 3.786 million or US$ 84,133.

Its locally-generated revenues account for 14.71 percent of total revenues. Non-tax revenues account
for 8 percent of total revenues, compared to the national average of 6.52 percent for all municipalities.
Likewise, its IRA dependence also showed declines from 83 percent to 81 percent from the same period. The
LGU was awarded a special citation in 2007 by the Galing Pook Awards, a prestigious national local
governance excellence awarding body, for best LGU fiscal management.

Infanta’s rehabilitation efforts have pushed its economy forward with increases in the number of new
businesses investments and operations established in the municipality. From 2005 to September 2008, there
was a steady growth of new business coming into Infanta after the November 2004 disaster. As of September
2008, the Municipal Business Permit Office has reported that a total of 527 new business enterprises were
registered from 2005. It has also reported that the total number of registered business in Infanta as of
September 2008 has more than doubled to 1,121 establishments compared to the pre-disaster level of 594
businesses registered in 2004.

Whilst Infanta’s recovery from the November 2004 catastrophe is not complete, the physical, social,
emotional, economic and institutional rehabilitation it has determinedly pursued have made its people,
communities and institutions a lot stronger and prepared to face the future challenges of nature and its
devastating effects.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
A. Overview

The formal announcement by the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 that
scientifically validated the role of man on global warming and its impact on climate change was an
“inconvenient truth” that many people especially in developing countries, including the Philippines, have been
experiencing for years before the IPCC panel’s dramatic announcement.
The reality of global climate change’s
effect to local communities such as storm surges,
rising flood waters, droughts and flashfloods and
the human and physical catastrophe it brings to a
community is a very vivid and harrowing
experience to the people of the Municipality of
Infanta2, Quezon Province during the deathly
weeks of November and December 2004.
From 16 November to 03 December 2004,
the people of Infanta along with the neighboring
towns of Real and General Nakar, that comprise
what is called the REINA district (Real, Infanta
and General Nakar) in the province of Quezon,
suffered what local climate specialist called as a
‘freak of nature’. During that fateful period,
Infanta and its neighbors suffered the onslaught of 4 typhoons (locally named Unding, Violeta,
Winnie and Yoyong) that unleashed torrential rains and floodwaters throughout the 18-day period.
But the most devastating day that will be perpetually etched in the minds of the people Infanta and
the rest of the towns of Real and General Nakar was 29 November 2004.

Typhoon Winnie
(international codename Nanmadol), the 3rd
weather disturbance to hit the area, poured
down almost 342mm of rainfall in a single
day3 and more than 20 million cubic meters
of mud and 3 meter high floodwaters into
the REINA area. The amount of rainfall
received by Infanta and its
environments on that single day was more
than what historically would fall in Infanta
over the last 50 years.

2
The Municipality of Infanta is a second class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2007
census, it has a population of 60,992 people in 10,220 households. It has a land area of 130.1 km², representing 1.5% of
the area of Quezon. It is divided into 36 barangays composed of 7 urban and 29 rural barangays.
3
The Philippine Weather Bureau estimated that a total of 342 mm of rainfall that fell at the REINA area on 29 November
2008. The intensity of this rainfall was equivalent to 15 day rainfall that normally falls in the area for the entire month of
November in previous years.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
The tremendous volume of rainwater received by Infanta was further aggravated by the mud
that came down from the eroded forestlands of the nearby Sierra Madre mountain range since Infanta
sits as a geographical “catch basin” of three major river tributaries that leads to the Pacific Ocean.
The Municipal Hall of Infanta before (left) and after (right) the devastation of Typhoon Winnie (Photo courtesy of
LGU
Infanta).

A
day
after
the
onslaug
ht of
Typhoo
n
Winnie
was
over
whatev
er image people had of Infanta before was totally erased. A total of 176 casualties (12 were recovered dead
bodies, 53 missing persons and at least 11 reported injured) were recorded. Roughly 12,007
households/families were left isolated without any food, water, electricity, communication, and medicine,
during the first few weeks of the disaster. Sixteen (16) out of its 36 barangays were severely damaged.

Out of the 5,087 houses that were reported as damaged by the typhoons, 2,047 were totally
washed out while 3,040 units were partially damaged. An estimated PhP 103.3 million or US$ 2.29
million (at US$1=PhP45) worth of crops, livestock, fisheries/aquaculture products and around PhP
300 million or US$6.67 million of public infrastructures and utilities/facilities were heavily damage if
not wiped out. Damages to private properties/businesses and the environment were estimated to have
reached billions of pesos.
Tons of washed out uprooted tree trunks, mud and other debris swamped Infanta’s town center, utilities and
infrastructure in the aftermath of Typhoon Winnie. (Photo courtesy of LGU Infanta.)
F
or
more
than
a
week,
the
whol
e
town
and
its
more
than
50,000 people was isolated from land, air and sea. Rescue and emergency relief workers had to literally crawl
and traverse mountains of mud by foot just to get to victims in the main town center. The rest of the town’s
barangays cannot be reached even after several weeks have passed because of large boulders, uprooted trees,
drift logs and tons of mud that blocked all roads to Infanta’s 29 rural villages.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
B. Road to Survival and Recovery: Infanta’s Disaster Rehabilitation and Management Strategy
1.0 To Stay and Make a Stand

The Philippines is visited by an average of 20 tropical storms and typhoons coming from the Pacific
Ocean during the rainy season months of June-to-December. Around 60-70 percent of these tropical storms
eventually become typhoons (or hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere) that causes massive physical havoc
and destruction to lives and properties that are caught along its path. Quezon province where Infanta and the
rest of the REINA area is situated in the eastern Philippine’s Pacific seaboard and sits right in the middle of the
country’s typhoon corridor. Typhoons and flooding is an accepted condition and reality among the people of
Infanta and the rest of the towns of Quezon province.

After the impact of the November 2004 disaster,

however, the people of Infanta and its local government
decided to overcome the devastation caused by the
November 2004 event and rejected recommendations by
national authorities to abandon the town and relocate the
entire population to higher and lesser prone area to avoid
further destruction from future natural calamities.

For the people of Infanta and its local leaders led

by Mayor Filipina Grace America, the choice was only
one thing. They have to properly prepare and seriously
plan for subsequent events that will surely come their way
as long as they stay in Infanta.

Infanta’s community-based disaster preparedness

and management plan (CBDPM) was a plan that not only
practical measures to address possible emergency and
disaster situations that might occur in the area but also the
town’s determination to survive and work for its future.
Map Source: www.wikipedia.com

2.0 “Predict, Plan, Prepare and Practice “- the Four ‘Ps’ of

Infanta’s Community-based Disaster Preparedness and
Management Programme (CBDPM)

Infanta learned from the November 2004 calamity that the “community-based” approach is the most
appropriate strategy for its disaster preparedness and management plan in the context of its geographical
situation because it promotes self-reliance, especially within the first 24 hours of isolation and emergency
response. Likewise, it accepted that while it cannot avoid the natural hazards brought about by its natural
conditions, it can however work to mitigate the “vulnerabilities” of communities to these natural hazards.
Finally, Infanta realised that in any calamity “our best asset or resource is still the human resource”.

The over-all strategy adopted by Infanta to achieve all its objectives was to conduct “horizontal and
vertical” participatory planning, implementation and monitoring of activities to make the people realize that
DPM is not just the mandate of the LGU – but more importantly, it should be everybody’s concern. This
involved expanding the existing notion of disaster preparedness on emergency relief and response, Infanta used
what is termed the four ‘P’s- predict, plan, prepare and practice.

Infanta’s CBDPM started with the pre-identification of potential risks and hazards poised by possible
natural hazards and disaster scenarios using scientific and community knowledge and information; with these
information it formulated of its disaster preparedness plan through a participatory and community-based
information, discussion and processing at the barangay levels that involved not only different stakeholders and
sectors but individual households, families and individual members of the community; the plan integrated both
community mobilisation, education and capability building as well as actual implementation of preventive and
mitigating physical, organisational, technical and resources mobilisation activities; when all these community
and municipal plans were in place they were regularly put into practice by conducting regular simulation and
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
community drills. Figure 1.0 presents the CBDPM process that was undertaken by Infanta to develop and
apply its CBDPM.

Figure 1.0 Infanta’s Community-based Disaster Preparedness and Management Process

Source: Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator

A key output of Infanta’s CBDPM process is the 2006 Rain-Induced Landslide and Flashflood
Disaster Preparedness Plan. This plan laid out the blue print of disaster management with reference to the
historical, physical and geographical characteristics of Infanta. The plan likewise represented the coordinated
efforts among the different sectors of the community; the participation of Barangay Disaster Coordinating
Councils; close collaboration of national government agencies; and the partnership with local, national and
international private organizations to come up with effective disaster measures.
Infanta’s disaster plan was further backed-up with regular budgetary allocations by the municipal
government to support the implementation of key activities identified in approved disaster plan as well as
funds during the initial phases of the CBDPM preparation and recovery and rehabilitation programme in 2005.
Table 1.0 shows that despite its meagre resources after the disaster, Infanta was budgeted a total of PhP 19.4
million or US$ 431,000 (at US$1=PhP45) for its CBDPM programme. This included the acquisition of
additional reconditioned heavy equipment (bulldozer, dump trucks, back hoe, etc.) amounting to PhP 9.0
million for the Agos river rehab. & flood control, dredging of waterways & canals, and the construction of a 3-
storey disaster operations center.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
Table 1.0 LGU Annual Allocation for CBDPM Programme
Source of Funds 2005 2006 2007
Disaster Preparedness & Management* Calamity 500,000 500,000
Fund**
Agos River Rehab. & Flood Control 2,500,000 400,000 500,000
Poblacion Drainage System /Clearing of 900,000 100,000 1,500,000
Waterways and Tributaries
Purchase of Additional Heavy Equipment/Vehicles 9,000,000
(Supplemental Budget)
Construction of New 3-storey Building (Disaster 1,000,000 1,000,000 500,000
Operations Center)
Construction of New 3-storey Building (Disaster - - 1,000,000
Operations Center)

Total Program Budget (in PhP) 4,400,000 11,000,000 4,000,000

Source: Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator (MPDC)
2.0 Mobilising the citizenry because disaster management is “everybody’s concern’

To pursue its recovery and rehabilitation after the November 2004 disaster, Infanta immediately
reconfigured and mobilised its municipal disaster coordinating council (MDCC) with the Mayor as head. The
MDCC was a multi-sectoral body composed of different representatives in Infanta including community
organisations, religious, private, business and socio-civic groups and local government and community leaders,
who had the task of implementing on the four (4) phases of CBDPM, namely: response, rehabilitation,
mitigation and preparedness.

On the other hand, while the MDCC focused mainly on disaster response, rehabilitation and
preparedness efforts in 2005, small ‘core groups’ of community leaders and individuals were organised for
specific rehabilitation tasks and resource mobilisation activities. Infanta realised that nobody will have more
commitment and determination to help it overcome the ravages of the November disaster than its own citizens.
Among the small groups of citizens organised and mobilised to pursue Infanta’s recovery and rehabilitation
was the Special Committee on Agos River Rehabilitation and Flood Control (SCARRFC).

The SCARRFC was primarily responsible for mobilising funds for the construction of gabion-type
slope protection structures & Agos River rechanneling works that would serve as permanent physical diversion
of floodwaters coming from the Agos River from General Nakar town. The SCARRFC simultaneously
planned, worked and lobbied with the municipal, provincial & national governments to pay attention to and
allocate funds for the rehabilitation/rechanneling of Agos River and the reconstruction of flood control
structures along its banks. It also launched a massive signature campaign and dialogue with Malacanang
officials resulting to the release of P50 million or US$ 1.1 million national fund for construction of Agos
rechanneling dike.

In addition, the SCARRFC initiated several community mobilization or “bayanihan” (e.g., sand-
bagging, re-channeling effort through “human conveyor” and “Ampon Puno”) activities designed to boost the
sagging morale of the people of Infanta and to catch the attention of the national government. It also planned
different fund raising and resource mobilisation activities to support other rehabilitation activities that were
initiated in the municipality.

The Special Committee on Poblacion Area Drainage System (SCPADS), on the other hand, recognized
the fact that efficient drainage in the Poblacion and adjacent barangays is needed if flood waters from Agos
River overflowed the gabion structures. SCPADS took the task of evaluating the “old” existing drainage
system within the Poblacion area, formulate plans, programs & policies designed to improve the drainage
efficiency of the system. It aims to reduce the risk of people being infected by water-borne diseases caused by
contaminated & stagnant flood waters in Poblacion & its vicinity.

The Infanta LGU also systematically saved PhP 3.5M from 2005-2007 to fund the planned
construction of new 3-storey building beside the Municipal Hall that will house the Disaster Operations Center
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
(DOC) of the MDCC. The structure shall also serve as possible evacuation center of residents from low-lying
barangays, in case flashfloods happen again.

Infanta also maximised the national and international media attention given to the town after the
disaster by establishing strong linkages and “convergence meetings” with international / local NGOs and
funding donors resulted to the implementation of social, technical & livelihood assistance for recovery of local
entrepreneurs, people’s organizations, farmers and fisherfolks

3.0 Empowering the people and community as core strategy in disaster preparedness and management

“You are on your own” or YoYo is one of the first lessons learned by Infanta in the aftermath of the
November disaster that struck them. In the first 24 hours after the event, the people of Infanta from its political
leaders to the ordinary citizen realised that they cannot rely on anybody else for assistance or rescue but
themselves. Isolated from all forms of access and communications, Infanta saw how helpless and vulnerable
they were at the time they needed the most help. Because of this experience, the town resolved that its
subsequent disaster preparedness and management programme will have to be centered on empowering the
local people and communities so that it can respond to a disaster within 24 hours. Self-reliance and community
involvement became the central focus of its CBDPM and community preparedness, capacity building and
mobilisation were its driving force.

Infanta’s “community-based” approach to disaster preparedness and management promoted self-

reliance, especially within the first 24 hours of emergency response, while waiting for outside help. It
organized and trained individual residents, their families, their barangays, and their communities to respond
appropriately to any disaster or emergency. The LGU also empowered small multi-sectoral “core groups”
within the community i.e. the reorganized and reactivated Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council (MDCC),
Special Committee on Agos River Rehabilitation and Flood Control (SCARRFC), and Special Committee on
Poblacion Area Drainage System (SCPADS) to plan, implement, monitor and sustain, in a participatory
manner, any disaster preparedness and risk reduction program of the municipality. (Galing Pook, 2007)

The barangays were also taught that their community could reduce the risks of natural hazards by
reducing the vulnerabilities of their residents, implementing the four important Ps (Predict, Plan, Prepare,
Practice), and focusing on their own community-based early warning and communication systems. Infanta also
installed community-based early warning systems and established two-way radio communication between the
barangays. It also conducted annual drills and exercises for flashflood, fire and earthquake preparedness

C. Impacts and Benefits

1.0 Recovery in 3 years

After the November 2004 disaster, many people had speculated that it would take a long time or at
least ten (10) years before the town of Infanta could rise and recover from the havoc brought by the landslides
and flashfloods. But after three (3) years, the town has managed to rehabilitate, repair and make functional all
its municipal roads, bridges and other infrastructures that were damaged by the disaster. This was done
through prudent fiscal management and maximisation of the LGU’s budgetary outlays plus continuous efforts
by the citizenry to support the rehabilitation and recovery of the town.

Likewise, as a result of its CBDPM programme, the municipality was able to prevent any major
damages to life and property when another typhoon, Super typhoon “Reming”4 struck the town anew and the
rest of Southern Luzon in December 2006. The municipality was able to conduct SAR (search & rescue)
operations with the MDCC coordinated with the SAR teams from BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection), AFP – PN
(Philippine Navy) & PA (Philippine Army) during the occurrence of Typhoon “Reming” in Infanta on 10-11
December 2006 and evacuated/rescued a number of families from several of its barangays and vicinity.

4
Typhoon Reming struck a good portion of Southern Luzon and left massive damage to the Bicol region provinces.
These are areas immediately south of Quezon province. However, minimal damage was reported in Infanta.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
2.0 Improvement in local revenue collection and taxes;

One of the more stunning effect of Infanta’s recovery is its impressive fiscal performance that resulted
to an increase in its local revenue collection and reduction of its dependence on the internal revenue allocation
(IRA)5 coming from the national government merely 3 years (2004-2006) after the November 2004 disaster.
From 2004-2006, local revenue collections in Infanta steadily grew to PhP 9.543 million or US$ 212,066 in
2006 from PhP 7.939 million or US$ 176,422 in 2004.

Data from the Department of Finance (DoF) showed that Infanta’s local tax collection grew by 41.19
percent in 2006, while non-tax collection increased by a staggering 56% from the previous year collection.
These tax-based revenue collections were generated mostly from real property taxes, business and sales taxes,
and other local taxes while non-tax revenue includes local business and service fees, permits and licenses.

In fact, Infanta’s total tax and non-tax revenue collections in 2006 even surpassed its 2004 collections
for both local income sources. In 2006 Infanta’s local tax collections has reached PhP 4.511 million or US$
100,244 surpassing its 2004 tax receipts of PhP 4.152 million or US$ 92,266. Similarly, the town’s collection
of non-tax based revenues reached a whopping PhP 5.032 million or US$ 111,822 in 2006 collecting more
than 30% above its 2004 total of PhP 3.786 million or US$ 84,133. The increase in the reported total non-tax
revenue collections of Infanta over the last three years merely reflects the renewed confidence of businesses to
reestablish and relocate their enterprises into the municipality. This can be seen in the robust numbers of new
business establishments registering in the municipality from 2005-2008. (Please see next section for details).

Table 2.0 Local income and revenue sources of Infanta, in thousand pesos (2003-2006)
Taxes Non- Tax Revenues
Taxes on Non-Tax
Total Taxes Other Local Permits and Service Business Other Income
Property Tax Goods and Revenues
Taxes Licenses Income Income
Services
FY 2003 4,350.40 1,708.70 2,563.60 78.1 6,173.50 726.6 666.8 4,780.10 1,836.20
FY 2004 4,152.80 1,617.30 2,494.60 40.9 3,786.90 728.3 621.7 2,436.90 1,635.30
FY 2005 3,195.30 1,367.20 1,802.50 25.60 4,429.10 831.30 1,154.60 2,443.20 2,443.20
FY 2006 4,511.60 2,132.56 2,318.30 60.74 5,032.14 1,061.32 974.77 2,996.05 2,825.45
Source:
Department of Finance (DoF)

As a second-class municipality, Infanta’s average annual local income ranges only from more than P40
million to less than P50 million. Its locally-generated revenues account for 14.71 percent of total revenues.
Non-tax revenues account for 8 percent of total revenues, compared to the national average of 6.52 percent for
all municipalities. Likewise, its IRA dependence also showed declines from 83 percent to 81 percent from the
same period. The LGU was awarded a special citation in 2007 by the Galing Pook Awards6, a prestigious
national local governance excellence awarding body, for best LGU fiscal management.

3.0 Return of local investments and economic activity

Another major impact of Infanta’s recovery programme and the LGU’s efforts to rehabilitate its
economy is borne by the increase in new businesses investments and operations established in the

5 The IRA is the share of the local government units from the taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Poor
local government units (LGUs) depend heavily on their IRA share to finance their operational costs and the delivery of
basic services.

6 The Galing Pook Awards is a pioneering program that recognizes innovation and excellence in local
governance. It started in October 21, 1993 under the joint initiative of the Local Government Academy-Department of the
Interior and Local Government, the Ford Foundation, and other individual advocates of good governance from the
academe, civil society and the government. Since 1994, more than 200 programs from 136 local government units have
already won recognition. The Galing Pook winners are chosen each year from a wide array of programs from local
governments after undergoing a rigorous multi-level screening process. (www.galingpook.org)
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
municipality. From 2005 to September 2008, there was a steady growth of new business coming into Infanta
after the November 2004 disaster. A major portion of the town’s main market and commercial center located
at the poblacion was severely damaged along with vital infrastructure and commercial buildings including the
public market. As of September 2008, the Municipal Business Permit Office has reported that a total of 527
new business enterprises were registered from 2005. It has also reported that the total number of registered
business in Infanta as of September 2008 has more than doubled to 1,121 establishments compared to the pre-
disaster level of 594 businesses registered in 2004.

4.0 Stronger enforcement of environmental and natural resources laws

Another major realisation that the people of Infanta and the rest of the towns in the REINA area was
that they have to seriously and determinedly address the rampant illegal logging and destruction of the
forestlands in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges that surrounds the whole REINA area. Rampant illegal
logging and forest destruction for agricultural cultivation of upland areas have been constant problems within
the Sierra Madre ranges of Quezon and Bicol. In fact, the towns of Infanta, Real and General Nakar are major
transshipment points of illegal cut logs and other forest products coming from the forest of Aurora and Isabela.
Despite a total log ban policy already imposed in the areas, rampant poaching remains.

The deadly effects of the denudation and destruction of the Sierra Madre mountain ranges was clearly
shown with the devastating effects of the tons of felled timbers, uprooted trees and millions of tons of eroded
upland soil that cascaded as mudslides into the towns of Infanta, Real and General Nakar. To address this
man-made threat, the towns of Infanta, Real and Nakar in 2006 have formed an inter-LGU forest management
council that would serve as coordination and cooperating body that will counter-act rampant illegal logging
and protect the remaining forestlands in their upland areas with strict enforcement of forestry laws and
monitoring of illegal activities in their respective areas.

With strong coordination with environment department, local police and military authorities, the
council has netted increased confiscations of illegally-cut logs and lumber over the last three years. As of
September 2008, local police authorities have confiscated from January 2004 a total of 20,072 board feet (bd
ft) of illegal logs and a total of seven (7) loggers arrested. On the other hand, local environment enforcers
reported the confiscation of some 19,104 bd. ft of illegal cut logs and timber from June 2007-September 2008.
The volume of cut logs confiscated in the last15 months clearly shows that even after the devastating effect of
the November 2004 event there is still a need for strong enforcement of logging laws in the upland areas of
Infanta and the REINA area, which unfortunately, is under the jurisdiction of other LGUs.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)
D. Sustainability

The sustainability of Infanta’s CBDPM programme is clearly assured with the following:

1.0 “Disaster-resilient citizenry” as part of town’s 30-year strategic vision. As a manifestation of its
determination to inscribed disaster preparedness and readiness among its citizenry, the Municipal Development
Council (MDC), the town’s multi-sectoral development policy body, formulated and approved in 2007,
Infanta’s revised local development plan that has integrated “disaster-resilient citizenry” to town’s strategic
vision for the next 30 years. It meant the inclusion of CBDPM into the mainstream of good governance as well
as assured sustained allocation of budgets and programmes to support the municipality’s CBDPM in
succeeding years (Galing Pook, 2007).

2.0 Revision of town’s comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) to be disaster-risk averse and situated. The LGU
has also revised its comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) to integrate disaster risk and mitigating factors in its
land use and zoning areas. This included reclassifying previously identified residential zones within danger-
risk areas, relocating existing settlements and structures outside of danger zones, imposition of development
and construction restrictions in risk areas and realignment of municipal and barangay roads and streets.

3.0 Local community’s continuing vigilance. Finally, the sustainability of Infanta’s CBDPM rests in the
continuous vigilance and participation of local community members in local development efforts and plans.

E. Replication

Infanta’s experience in CBDPM has been cited as a model for disaster preparedness and governance
by national award giving bodies such as the Galing Pook awards. Other municipalities, NGOs, and academe
(UPLB, UP Diliman, etc.) have visited the municipality on study tours to learn from their experiences such the
residents of Gen. Nakar, Quezon started organizing its own group, “Task Force Kalikasan”, patterned after
Infanta’s SCARRFC for the rehabilitation of their own side of the Agos River.

Infanta’s municipal mayor and other key municipal officials have served as resource persons in
different national and international fora sharing its experience with other LGUs and national agencies. The
latest was a Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) conference last May 2007 in Japan were its
experiences served as inputs to future intervention measures and assistance programmes that the Japanese aid
agency will develop in disaster-stricken countries in Asia and other parts of the world.
(NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION; FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES
ONLY)
F. References

a. Documents and Reports

Resito David and Jessie Felizardo, “Alternative Local Disaster Countermeasures for Agos River,
Infanta, Quezon”

“Infanta, Quezon: A Community Prepared for Disasters” (2007), Galing Pook 2007, Galing Pook
Foundation, Quezon City.

Community-Based Disaster Preparedness and Management Programme of Infanta, Quezon

(PowerPoint presentation), Mayor Filipina America, Ateneo De Manila, 14 December 2007, 24 slides.

“From Victims to Survivors – Some Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction Lessons from Infanta,
Quezon” (PowerPoint presentation), Ron P. Crisostomo, JBIC Seminar on CBDRM, Kobe, Japan, 08
May 2007, 16 slides.

Application Document for Gawad Galing Pook 2007 submitted by Infanta, Quezon.

Various source documents from the Municipality of Infanta

Local Fiscal Management Tables, Galing Pook Foundation, Quezon City.

b. Interviews

Hon. Filipina Grace America – Municipal Mayor, Infanta, Quezon

Mr. Ron Crisostomo – Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator, Infanta, Quezon
Ms. Armi Marquez - Municipal Public Information Office, Infanta, Quezon
Ms. Pamela Grafilo – Programme Manager, Galing Pook Foundation

c. On-line sources
www.infanta.gov.ph
www.wikipedia.com
www.galingpook.org