Mini Task 2: The Problem

I. Problems in the Community

Poblacion is one of the Barangays in the Municipality of Itogon. Most of the

residents in the said Barangay resides in mountainous areas rather than the side of the
roads. This kind of environment led the residents to have needs like transportation
and water. The demand for water supply and transportation services have increased
due to the increasing of population in the area.

One of the problems in Poblacion is the shortage of water.

This happens especially in the summer seasons because this is
the season when the trees will lack raindrops to absorb and
produce tree saps, a clean and filtered water. This lack of tree
water will cause the “bubons” or the small shallow wells to be
dried up and be emptied. The shortage of water will likely
make the residents to have no choice but to buy water on the
water stations mainly in Sufang.

Waste management is also another problem

in the Barangay. We all know that Waste
Management deals with all types of waste,
including industrial, biological, household,
municipal, organic, biomedical, and
radioactive wastes. This includes the
collection, transport, treatment and disposal
of waste, together with monitoring and
regulation of the waste management process
and waste-related laws, technologies, and
economic mechanisms. The problem being
referred is the improper waste management.
This kind of problem is caused by the lack
of cooperation among the residents
especially the youngsters to segregate
wastes or to put them in the right garbage bin. The wastes of the Barangay is not
properly managed making the biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage to get
mixed up instead of being separated to different bins.
The officials of Poblacion are taking action of the
problem but it is still not solved as of now.

There are other problems the Barangay is still dealing

with and the main focus of the residents within today is
the transportation system. Unlike other Barangays like
Ucab and Tuding, the transportation system of
 Poblacion is slower and longer with an expensive fare. This affects the resident's time
on arriving to their destination and it mostly have an impact on the student's
timeliness making most of them late in school or becoming absent on their first class.

Water shortage, Waste management and the Transportation System is the three major
problems in Poblacion. The officials still have errands to do that’s why they are not
able to focus on these. As SK members, we aim to contribute on solving these
problems by proposing a feasible solution to solve one of the existing problems.

II. Problem

A. The Problem
Observing the surrounding and taking
interviews, the main problem that most of us
encountered is the Transportation System. The
Transportation System have impacts not only to the
workers but also to the students and elders. The
student's punctuality to wait for PUJ's (Public Utility
Jeepneys) will go to waste since the drivers are not
fond of taking in students and they only focus on the
ones going to town. They will overload the Jeepney
with passengers so that students will not able to
squeeze through. The elders will also have no place to
sit since the seats are over-occupied.

There is a need to establish some solutions because some things are getting out of
hand. One of the things we thought of is a road extension in mountainous areas. As
written earlier, most of the population resides in the mountainous areas and these
residents will have to hike their way to go to the road only to spend time waiting for
jeepneys to arrive. These residents are the ones who have a hard time riding a jeepney
due to the transportation system. Road extension may help the residents to ride jeepneys
easily without hiking for hours and it’ll also help in the improvement of the barangay.

B. The Solution

Looking more on this problem regarding the transportation system we are able to
gather ideas and had formed several solutions to outcome this problem:

•Seminar for PUJ (Public Utility Jeepney) Drivers

- Seminars had been one of the activities that barangay officials hold whenever they
want to talk about a certain topic. Holding a seminar for jeepney drivers will be
one of the ways to achieve a cheaper fare. This seminar will have discussion
about the fare for different passengers namely the students, seniors, PWDs,
 children and the regular passengers. This seminar is also held to advise and re-
instruct drivers about the do's and don'ts of their work.

•Service for Students (Bua)

- Since most of the jeepney drivers are not fond of taking in students or the ones
riding in for a short trip especially to Bua Tuding, it is also good if there is a
jeepney service specialized for students just like the ones on Barangay Ucab. It is
estimated that three jeepneys will be needed to take in all of the students and the
fare for each individual will be Php 25.00 since the only destination is the school
in Bua.

•Continuation on the delayed Road Extension (Malasin-Goldfield)

- A road extension project had been approved and funded by the former mayor,
Victorio T. Palangdan, extending the road from Malasin Ucab coming to
Goldfield Poblacion but it was later on delayed due to some community matters.
Seeing this as a lost opportunity to improve the transportation system, we want to
bring this back for continuation since most residents will benefit in this said
matter. The road extension will likely bring more PUJs for the passengers not
only on Goldfield but also to First Gate and so forth. The continuation of this
project will improve the transportation system making the waiting time shorter
and for the residents to be able to arrive at their destination early.