The MASAGANA Community is a story of Filipino resiliency through Bayanihan in its best form. The people of MASAGANA lived in the midst of a fishpond in Brgy. Tanza, Navotas. Because of this, they were continuously burdened with flooding and other hazards that arose from it, especially during the typhoon season. This led them to search and resettle for a 1.4-hectare lot in Brgy. Pulong Yantok, Angat, Bulacan back in 2012 with the aid of the Technical Assistance Organization (TAO-Pilipinas). Since then, both the MASAGANA residents and TAO-Pilipinas have concentrated their efforts on creating a sustainable community with the same necessities they experienced before.

TAO-Pilipinas became a partner of Sikat when it was recognized as one of the Sikat Impact Challenge winners back in 2018. Its renewable energy initiative was focused in the MASAGANA Community Development. Initially, only 22 of the 66 household members have resettled. Because of the community’s small population, basic necessities such as water and electricity supplies are difficult to access since there is the absence of economies of scale. This issue also adds to the reluctance of the other household members to resettle in their area.

To address this, TAO-Pilipinas has pursued an initiative with Sikat Foundation to provide affordable potable water access and improve security in the community using renewable energy. Thus, Project Recharge is born utilizing solar energy to address some of the needs that were identified by MASAGANA—water, electricity, lighting, and livelihood. It is two-pronged, providing not just the infrastructure but also the capability to sustain and scale up the project. Not only did the initiative has given the community a solar-powered water purification facility and solar-powered street lights, but the community has also been given sufficient training on Renewable Energy and Business to self-manage the system.

MASAGANA Residents being given a Sustainable Development workshop on Renewable Energy.

Through TAO-Pilipinas’ facilitation, the community is able to direct its bayanihan spirit to the installation of the system. From directly partaking in the procurement process up until the setting up of the actual infrastructure, every able-bodied member of the community is putting up his time and effort to bring their idea into reality. This method also strengthened their ownership of the project and their desire to sustain it.

The Solar-Powered Water Purification System in the MASAGANA Community.The official opening of the Water Purification System together with the key partners.

Currently, Project Recharge is still operational and is gaining popularity in the community. All of the current households have purchased from the community. Around 10-12 households have already become regular customers of the water purification system. Because of their business training, the community has also been successful in allocating financial savings for their Project Sustainability Fund which will cover the repairs and replacements of the system. Although TAO-Pilipinas has acknowledged that its progress is slow here, it assured Sikat Foundation that the progress is steady and will continue to bring in positive results in the future.

Aside from Project Recharge, both TAO-Pilipinas and the residents of MASAGANA are continuously seeking ways of improving the living conditions of their lot in Angat, Bulacan. Their commitment to this has brought them support from the Australian Embassy to pursue other initiatives in their community. At the same time, the community is also working on their organizational development – updating policies, reviewing their organizational structure, and ironing out their procedures. 

With this, the MASAGANA Community has proven that bayanihan can really be a critical driver in resiliency as long as it is honed and guided properly.

TAO-Pilipinas and the residents of the MASAGANA Community