In 1996, DEVELOPERS Foundation began organizing farmers, women and fisherfolk on Tabon Island in order to set the stage for the people to increase their food and livelihood security. This process went forward as planned, but slowly. Within two years, new people's organizations had become organized around the pressing issues and concerns facing Tabon women, farmers and fisherfolk. However, few concrete changes had been made in the basic circumstances of members' lives.
DEVELOPERS Foundation did not find out about opportunities for people's participation in local governance until late 1998. However, already there was a clear need for assistance and leadership in development to come from the Tabon barangay council. In spite of this need, the barangay council was not active and did not encourage people to participate. Development plans were made and approved unilaterally by the barangay captain, and rarely reflected people's development priorities.

In late 1998, DEVELOPERS Foundation began to facilitate barangay development planning in Tabon, having provoked the interest in the barangay council in the possibilities for development that were available through the Local Government Code of 1991. DEVELOPERS and the barangay council solicited participation in development planning from the organized P0s for women, farmers and fisherfolk. A development planning series was convened involving the use of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools and processes, followed by practical visioning, goal setting and project identification.

The P0s and BC members chose to participate because they believed the new three year development plan could help them set a clear direction and access more resources for projects they had selected but not started for lack of support. A key result of the barangay development planning process was the formation of a new barangay development council (BDC). The purpose of the BDC was to encourage and mobilize people's participation in development planning, draft plans and launch programs for barangay development that are approved by the barangay council, and monitor and evaluate development programs from national to municipal agencies that are implemented in barangay, like infrastructure projects. The BDC was required to include 25% PO and NGO representatives among its members. Their participation gave new energy and direction to development in Tabon.

The BDP ultimately called for the integration of sustainable agriculture into the overall barangay development program to increase rice and vegetable productivity. This came about because the PRA process of barangay development planning had surfaced a number of problems. It became apparent that some of the problems of farm productivity could be addressed using sustainable agriculture practices. As a result, it became desirable to shift farming increasingly to sustainable agriculture. The main issues for members were that they were paying for expensive agro-chemicals and still not achieving needed yields. They were unable to repay their debts and did not make enough money from farming. In addition, chemicals that had been used to control predators in some of the fishponds were polluting the fishpond water. The introduction of sustainable agriculture in rice production has since helped raise productivity and save money for Tabon farmers.

The BDP also set a priority on assisting women in starting or expanding backyard vegetable gardens. This idea had originated in the period of organizing of women's P0s, in which training had been given by DEVELOPERS on the technology of household food security, highlighting organic production methods. ne immediate benefits of organic vegetable gardening for the women were better nutrition for their families and possibly added income from the sale of vegetable crops. However, participation in the BDC was important for the women also because it could ensure that women's concerns were reflected in the BDP. Not only this; the women's P0s, if approved for a seat at the BDC and able to gain approval for their projects, could access five percent of the development funds of the barangay directly, as this money is earmarked for women's projects. As a result of their participation in the BDC, 52 women in Tabon have made plans to begin organic vegetable gardening with initial funding from the barangay council.

Popular participation in local governance has not been without problems. For one, Tabon's barangay leadership belongs to a political party that rivals the party of the mayor of Batan, the municipality to which Tabon belongs. As a result of patronage politics in Batan, Tabon was not given any resources for ongoing development work apart from the normal allocation of IRA funds from Manda, over which Batan has no authority. The barangay development council would ordinarily be a good tool for accessing resources from the municipality. This option has not available. This has delayed a number of projects and scaled back others. Along the way, DEVELOPERS has agreed to help Tabon "shop around" its BDP to external funding agencies in the hope of accessing capital funds for the people's projects despite municipal opposition. In the next year DEVELOPERS Foundation will work with the people as they seek outside capital for new project implementation.

The larger significance of people's participation in local governance in Tabon is that for the first time anywhere in the municipality of Batan, a barangay development plan is being driven largely by priorities of the people, rather than local officials. The participation of women, farmers and fisherfolk in the BDC has been decisive in directing development priorities and funding for the next three years.

At this point, the people of Tabon are beginning to negotiate with absentee landowners for conversion of the land to sustainable agriculture development. It is clear that they see participation in the BDC as beneficial to them. Through this participation, they have been able not only to where their barangay is going over the next three years, but have helped set the direction themselves. They now are more invested and enthusiastic about implementing the BDP, and have been successful in landing capital funding for their own projects.

Case 3