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Assessment of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Swine Dispersal Program:

The Case of Concepcion, Iloilo (2005-2010)

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in

Political Science 150- Philippine Public Administration

Submitted by:

Merille Benedian

Evarista Buaya III

Jordana Mari Jaco

Allyn Laguda

Julie Anprilyn Salili

Submitted to:

Mr. Juhn Chris Espia

Adviser

March 17, 2011

Introduction

Municipality of Concepcion is located at the northern part of Iloilo. This 3rd

class

municipality in terms of income classification is basically an agri-fishing (77.9%) area giving us

the idea that fishing and farming are one of the primary sources of income. The municipality has

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a total land area of 9,702 hectares with 25 barangays, 11 islands and 12 mainlands, with a total

population of 36,881. Upon knowing that the municipality is made up of many islands a lot of

people don’t have that much liberty to go to the mainland wherein majority of the products are

located because most of the transportation schedule of public boats are at least once or twice a

week, giving them limited access unless you have your own private boat, which only a few

Concepcionanons have ( (Municipal Profile of Concepcion, Iloilo).

Swine Dispersal Program (SDP) complements other initiatives of the National and

Provincial government in facilitating the development of alternative and supplemental

livelihoods for the poor (Province of Bohol). Given that Concepcion is a strategic location for the

5th

district. For the reason that the municipality have 67.18% in terms of land uses in agriculture,

in way the program also serves as vehicle to boost the agricultural aspect of the municipality

(Municipal Profile of Concepcion, Iloilo). Basically the project provides a livelihood that serves

as an alternative for the people to be able to cope with their finances in their day to day life. The

process starts when a certain person or organizations request for a piglet by writing a letter to the

governor, for recommendation and pass to the Agricultural Center Chief’s of the different

breeding stations that are responsible for dispersal. Prior to the dispersal, seminars were

conducted for the recipients to at least have an idea on how to raise and take care of the piglets

(Citizen’s Charter of Iloilo). Each of them has the privilege to have one (1) piglet, requiring them

first to have adequate housing facilities so that they can take care and produce well, wherein in

return they would give to the center at least two (2) for the project to continue (Swine Dispersal

Contract). The breeding centers are composed of technicians that assist the recipients in the

health aspects of the piglets, like conducting artificial insemination (A.I.), injecting

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medicines/vaccines, and management in the littering period in the case of Concepcion they have

two (2).

On the other hand, the recipients are required to submit a monthly report to the Provincial

Agriculturist, updating the condition of their piglet; this is because for the authorities to know the

state of the piglet and in a way if there are certain symptoms detected for a certain disease, it can

be prevented. In case of the sudden death, the recipients are responsible for also passing a report

stating the cause of death, including affidavit of beneficiary, livestock death certificate,

certificate of inspection of the Provincial Auditor or his duly authorized representative, affidavit

of two (2) disinterested person who have acknowledge of the death, after fifteen (15) days. As

much as the contract is concerned, autopsy will take place for further investigation. In the case

injuring the piglet due to negligence the recipient is liable to pay for the book value of the time

of its conveyance. But if the process of raising the piglet is fruitful, they should stick to the

condition in the contract to give at least two (2) female piglets in which these will be also use in

another batch of dispersal (Swine Dispersal Contract).

In general, SDP not only alleviates the poor, but also increase the ownership and boosts

the swine industry. It also gives the farmer an alternative source of income and trains them to

engage in micro-business. The program have this term “passing the gift” which describes the

activity of the recipient upon having the piglet brings back at least two (2) involving them also to

the cycle of dispersal.

(Swine Dispersal Contract)Methodology

The group employed various methods to acquire the necessary data for the study. The

group used the Key Informant Method. The Livestock Division Head-Noel Bautista was

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interviewed as the direct in-charge of the program for the whole Province of Iloilo. Alexander

Laguda was also asked for being the Center Chief of Concepcion Breeding Center. The two

technicians in Concepcion were also interviewed as the key informants.

Likewise, survey was conducted employing the random sampling technique. There were

thirty (30) respondents coming from five (5) mainland barangays namely- Loong, Poblacion,

Jumal-awon, Agnaga and Batiti. The researchers provided guide questionnaires.

Ocular observation was also used to get more information likewise to verify the answers

of the recipients. Related literature and documents were also sought to acquire additional

information especially on the background of the Swine Dispersal Project.

Various methods were maximized by the group in order to check the veracity of the data

gathered.

Issues

One of the important processes of acquiring a swine by a recipient after writing a letter of

request and approval of the governor is to sign the contract provided by the provincial

agriculture’s office. The contract states all the responsibilities of both parties- the agency and the

beneficiary. After the contract signing is the discharging of the swine from the different centers.

However, the SDP poses different issues that are classified into policy and process.

Regarding the policy issues, the contract states that there should only be one two-month

old piglet to be released to a certain recipient. This shows vague policies for there is no

specification on the discharged swine whether boar or sow, thus this can be assumed that the

provision on the contract which states that there should be two piglet repayment is applicable to

both boar and sow. However, based on the interview with some personnel in-charge of the

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project in the Municipality of Concepcion and a number of recipients of the swine dispersal

program; it has been found out that there exist a different mode of payments for boar and sow.

Furthermore, with regards to the repayment of the recipients of boar, the Provincial

Agricultures Office said that the mode of repayment should be its book value. On the contrary,

repayment for boar is not stated in the contract and has not been brought to the knowledge of the

recipients which resulted to their confusion whether to pay the book value or to follow one

provision in the contract that the recipient shall have the options to sell and replace the boar with

a six month old sow so it can be able to reproduce and they can repay after littering.

There is also a question on the rationality of the provision “that the Transferee shall

submit a monthly report to the Provincial Agriculturist through the Municipal Agricultural

Technologist the condition of the animal, date of breeding, number of offspring, etc. on the form

prescribe by the Transferor”. First, it is illogical in the sense that we cannot expect the recipient

to be that eager enough to comply with this provision. We should take into consideration that

some of the recipients are farmers and most of them were not knowledgeable when it comes to

paper works.

Secondly, the submission of monthly report on the part of the recipient only duplicates

the task of the Provincial Monitoring Officer. Whereas, it should be the task of the monitoring

officer to ensure that the gilts were in good health condition. Aside from that the monitoring

officer is more knowledgeable when it comes to that matter.

The program also doesn’t have a clear specification of who were to be considered as

recipients. It has been said that the swine dispersal program is for alleviating poverty but the

contract doesn’t define the standard level of poverty or they have not specified the average

income for one to qualify to the said program because base on the survey, most of the recipients

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has an average income of P3, 000-P5, 000 a month while it has been noted that there are also

recipients whose average income a month is more than P10, 000.

According to Head of Livestock Division, Noel Bautista, his definition of recipients is

those who are poor but can provide an adequate housing facility for the pig. In contrary, it has

been found out that a number of recipients in Barangay Loong, Conception don’t have pigpen,

and their swine “board” with their neighbor’s pigpens.

The contract also doesn’t specify that the recipient must be an individual because basing

on the data gathered on the survey, all members of Loong Women’s Organization are recipients

of the said program but then aside from members being individual recipient, the organization

itself is also a recipient. This simply shows that the recipient may not be necessarily be an

individual but can also be an organization.

As to the issue of process, there is also a problem on the side of the people who wanted to

be a recipient of the program. This problem arises because the approvals of the recipients were

subject to the political whims of the governor. This was shown by the profile of the recipients

whereas some who were financially stable were approved since they were known supporters of

the governor during elections while some poor constituents who are really financially needy

were not. This was in contrast to the programs main objective to alleviate poverty. In addition,

the lack of well-defined benchmark provides the reason of the governor to approve any person

even if the person doesn’t belong to the poverty level. For instance, based from the ocular

observation of the researchers, a barangay captain is a recipient even if the person is wealthy

enough to have a plasma TV, a business and a private car. This is because the governor finds it

strategic to establish influence over the barangay captain.

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Another issue with regards to swine dispersal process that emerged is the lack of

manpower for monitoring that has the difficulty in going over different centers. This was

justified by the multiplicity of the technicians’ task. Aside from the supposedly just assisting the

recipients they also assume the task on the monitoring process.

Analysis

Effectiveness

Effectiveness measures reveal the extent to which objectives have been met: it makes no

reference to cost (Treasury 1992: 33). It concerns in achieving what we want to attain. It is also

about the relationship between intended outputs and actual outputs (Lawton & Rose 1994: 156).

Administration, arguing on the notion that the Swine Dispersal Program (SDP) is effective,

contended that the SDP’s implementation in the vicinity is effective basing on the actual survey

comprised of randomly- picked 30 respondents from 5 barangays, Batiti, Jamul-awon, Loong,

Poblacion, Agnaga. Figure 1(refer to appendix) illustrates this notion on the basis of the

recipient’s response on the conducted survey, indicated by 27 interviewed recipients claiming

that they benefitted as opposed to 3 who did not benefit due to unnecessary incidents such as the

swine obtain disease and eventually die under the recipient’s custody. Recipients claimed that the

SDP was able to confer their lives alleviation in aspects such as additional budget for their

children’s school fees, as well as, supplementary resource fund for their day to day household

expenses. But, still based on the survey, opposition, arguing on the ineffectiveness of the

program, strongly bickered that SDP, despite that it was framed to help poor farmers avail swine

as a means to assuage poverty in rural areas, businessman and even barangay captains were able

to be recipients. Part of this dilemma was that the program’s provisions was not able to provide

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benchmark in contouring who will be considered below the poverty threshold and only stated

farmers as a qualification for one to be a recipient on the aforementioned program. Thus,

businessman and barangay captains as recipients in the first place refute the program’s chief

objective.

Additionally, on the issue confronting the framing of the program at the level of

the policy, vague contract provisions managed to flourish in the milieu of the dispersal and

repayment issues, as well as the illogical provision regarding submission of monthly reports by

recipients, for these are essential factors in determining whether the SDP has been effective in

attaining the program’s goal. The dispersal issue, which later would boil down to the repayment

issue, professed that there is no specification on the discharged swine whether it is a boar or a

sow, resulting to the perplexity on the part of the recipients for the contract’s provisions are only

applicable for female swine. Hence, how should male swine be managed are left to the initiative

of the recipients, thus contributing to the incapability to repay because of the insufficient

knowledge to supervise the boar. On the other hand, the claim that the submission of monthly

reports by the recipients, provided by the contract is illogical because the Provincial Office could

not expect the recipients to pass a monthly report given that they are expecting the Provincial

monitoring Officer to be in-charge of this task, thus, this would emanate a redundancy on the

monthly report provided by the recipient and the monitoring officer.

Equally important is that there is an inconsistency on the technicalities between

the contract signed by the recipients and as what is provided by the Citizen’s Charter of Iloilo

Handbook of Iloilo Provincial Government Services, delineating what should be the flow of

process from the receiving and recording approved written request from the Office of the

Governor up to the release of stock after submission of duly filled- up and notarized Dispersal

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Contract by the Provincial Capitol. Variation occurs on the part of the service provider as

indicated in the Citizen’s Charter of Iloilo Handbook of Iloilo Provincial Government Services,

where the clients or recipients are required to acquire orientation regarding the program, but the

Dispersal Contract failed to consign this supposedly imperative provision.

Moreover, administration still confute the ineffectiveness presented by the opposition due

to the program’s ability to offer of use service bestowed and manifested by the two technicians’

proffered role as a “monitoring body” in the local vicinity. But, as what opposition would like to

stress, based on the technicians statement during the key informant interview, that their role is

merely assistance to the task of the monitoring officer, such that, they operate only when called

by the recipient, for instance, vis-à-vis on matters such as executing artificial insemination on the

swine, management of the animal during the breeding and littering stage, and facilitating when

the animal acquires disease. Thus, the SDP exhumes ineffectiveness due to the fact that there is a

disparity and confusion on the part of the people expecting the technicians would monitor the

condition of their swine, given that there is only one (1) monitoring officer for the whole

province of Iloilo, where in fact this is outside the scope of their mandated task.

Efficiency

The Treasury and Civil Service Committee defined efficiency as “Given the objectives

and the means to pursue the objectives the minimizing of inputs to the programme in relation to

the outputs from it” (Treasury and Civil Service Committee 1993:52). Efficiency focuses with

the relationship between the inputs and the outputs. Thus an efficient programme is one where

the target is being attained with the least possible use of resources (Lawton & Rose 1994: 156).

Likewise, to attain the target, the actual output should be secured with the least use of resources

(Treasury and Civil Service Committee 1982: par. 52). The administration side argued that it is

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efficient because it has continuously operating for more than a decade now. The Local

Government Unit of Iloilo has able to sustain the project devolved from the national government.

Livestock Division Head- Noel Bautista said that the project can always be sustained because

there will be a yearly budget allocated for the program. The survey conducted from the recipients

also supports this claim. They want the program to continue and many more people are asking

for additional swine. Moreover, Mr. Bautista stressed that it must be continued for it serves the

interest of the governor. And it is beneficial to the people of Iloilo.

However, opposition claims that it is inefficient. From the statement of other members of

the livestock division, they want to stop the program for the reason that the government is just

wasting money. The Local Government of Iloilo has been allocating every year budget for the

project for about php180, 000.00 for Concepcion breeding center alone but more or less 12%

based on the survey comes back to the government as a form of repayments. The government is

spending on a nonproductive project. This shows that the program has not sustained by the

available resources it has rather it continues because of the yearly budget the government give.

At the same time, opposition asserts that the length of its existence is not tantamount to being

efficient since the scope of the program has not broadened. The number of recipients has not

increased even with the SDP’s advent a decade ago. The data (refer to fig.2) depicts that from

year 2005 up to 2008 the number of recipients has decrease. Though, there is a great raise in

number in year 2009 still by 2010 it drops to almost 90%. This shows that the program is not

consistent in providing service to the people. This reflects also in no consistency on the number

of piglets released every year and low repayment turnouts. Figure 2 illustrates that for every year

since 2005 there are only 8 who give their repayments out of 104 recipients. There may be

discrepancies because from the surveyed 30 subjects (refer to figure 1), there are 9 persons who

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claimed that they had already given their repayments but records of the breeding center proved

otherwise. Only 2 people were recorded; the dilemma started when a particular Celso Villamino

assumed the role of collecting the repayments but he did not turned it over to the breeding center.

And the government did not respond to the issue granting the technicians knew it.

Conclusion

The Swine Dispersal Program is effective because it has helped the people in Concepcion

in uplifting their condition. The people in Concepcion find hog raising a good way to augment

their financial needs. In fact, more are still expecting to have swine and others to continue the

hog raising.

On the other hand, it is inefficient because there are no significant developments of the

program. The SDP has existed for more than a decade but there are no increase in the number of

recipients rather the government are just spending yearly to sustain the program. Thus, the

program has been maximized to support the interest of the person in authority or the governor. It

is the advent of the patron-client relationship. Previous and present governor took advantage on

this program to established influence over the people.

However, basing the arguments presented the Swine Dispersal Program is a failure. The

accounts of the people suggest that it benefitted them but vis-à-vis the amount of money the

government has spent since its establishment, the total repayments collected cannot augment the

expenses. The money for this program can be allocated to other sustainable livelihood projects of

the government. But it can be noted that many are still depending on this project.

Recommendation

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The researchers still strongly recommend continuing the program because of the benefit

it provides to the people. It is a failure now but with the help of this study the program can be

sustainable. Thus, there should be amendments of the provision to avoid confusions on the part

of the recipients and the implementing body. The policy must be well defined such as clear

provisions on whether the discharge swine is boar or sow and the mode of repayments. At the

same time, the provision that requires the recipients to submit monthly reports must be scraped

off. There should also be a specified benchmark of recipients who will be qualified for the

program. Moreover, the monitoring task will be given to the technicians since they have direct

contact to the recipients. And the monitoring officer will be the one to collate the reports from

the technicians thus there will be a strong communication between the technicians and

monitoring officer. Lastly, the task of approving the request will be given to the Livestock

Division so that the said office can conduct ocular observation before approving the request.

Appendix

Figure 1: Impact of the SDP based on recipients’ response on the effectiveness of the

program in the alleviation of poverty

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Figure 2: Number of repayments based on the survey compared to the actual record

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Benefitted

Not Benefitted

27

3

# o

f Su

rvey

ed

re

cip

ien

ts

Number of Respondents Benefitted and Not Benefitted(2005-2010)

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Figure3: Number of swine disperses every year vis-à-vis repayments

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Repayment

# o

f R

eci

pie

nts

Repayments

(Recipients vs Breeding Center)

Recipients

Breeding Center

15

2005

2008

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

# o

f re

cip

ien

ts

Dispersal and Repayment of Swine(2005-2010)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

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