For 65-year-old Ignacia Pagtulombon, a Friday morning trip to the clinic used to mean standing by a dusty roadside and braving the elements while waiting for her turn in a cramped space for patients-in-waiting.

Today, the scene is drastically different. On a serene morning, Lola Ignacia can now sit calmly inside a spacious, well-maintained facility, joining over a hundred other residents to have her blood pressure monitored and receive her maintenance medicines.

“Mas okay kaayo karon diri kaysa didto sa ubos kay ang health center didto gamay ra ba. Diri karon, naa na halos tanan. Iya-iya sila og kwarto. Mas hawan (It’s much better here now compared to the one below, which was small. Here, almost everything is available. Each service has its own room, and it is spacious),” Ignacia shared.

This tranquil reality perfectly embodies the vision of making quality healthcare within reach of every Filipino.

For four years and counting, this vision has been a living, breathing reality in Barangay Bonbon, Aloguinsan, Western Cebu, thanks to the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Bringing the KALAHI-CIDSS program to the community was made possible through the collaboration of the DSWD, through its Field Office (FO) – 7 Central Visayas with the LGU of Aloguinsan.

A new health station for the community

With a population exceeding 10,000, Bonbon is the municipality’s largest barangay. Its former health center—small, strained for capacity, and displaced by a road-widening project—could no longer keep up with the people’s needs. Recognizing this urgent gap through participatory planning, the residents chose a new health facility as their top priority over other proposed projects like street lighting and public toilets.

Officially completed on March 24, 2022, the “COVID-19 Response Through Construction of Barangay Health Station with Amenities, Medical and Disinfectant Tools, Equipment and Supplies”, the subproject was funded under the KALAHI-CIDSS National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP) Additional Financing Phase 1.

The facility was built at a cost of P5,582,200, combining a P4,421,300 grant from the KALAHI-CIDSS and a P1,160,900 local counterpart from the LGU.

Now relocated to a safer area and built roughly three times larger than the old clinic, the health station defies the usual expectations for a rural public facility.

Barangay Councilor Owen Manguilimotan, who served as the barangay captain during the project’s implementation, recalled their past struggles.

“With so many residents, people used to wait by the roadside. The new health center is essential so they no longer need to travel far,” Councilor Owen said.

Led by midwife Ana Mercedes Manguilimotan and staffed daily by six of the 32 barangay health workers (BHWs), the center has significantly expanded its capabilities over the last four years.

Family planning is available daily, while pre-natal checkups are conducted during the first week of each month while child immunizations are scheduled every third and last Friday of the month.

The facility also provides blood pressure monitoring, first aid, circumcision services, and occasionally hosts bloodletting drives, feeding programs, and health monitoring for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.

Ana Chuchie Adolfo, a barangay nutrition scholar, highlighted how the new building revolutionized their daily operations.

“Now that we have more equipment, we’ve been able to expand our services,” Ana said.

Sustaining the gains of the program

What sets Barangay Bonbon apart is not just the successful construction of the building, but the fierce dedication of the LGU and the community to sustain it. And to further prove the effectiveness of the KALAHI-CIDSS sustainability evaluation tool, the barangay has consistently invested in the facility’s upkeep.

The barangay council doubled its 2025 budget for maintenance medicines from P200,000 to P400,000 and plans to allocate 5 percent of its funds to provide medical assistance for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

They have also set aside P25,000 for utilities and minor fixes, and P50,000 for repainting. Plans to construct a perimeter fence are already in motion, driven by the relentless advocacy of the health staff and residents.

“Matrabaho jud na siya kay sige man pod sila og pangulit (It will get done because the residents and workers keep following up),” Councilor Manguilimotan said.

The strong sense of ownership even extends to private citizens, with BHWs happily noting that some residents have voluntarily donated functional medical equipment, including a wheelchair and a nebulizer.

Beyond the concrete walls and the medicine dispensaries, the true triumph of the DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS in Bonbon lies in its Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach, which empowered ordinary citizens to become leaders.

Ana Chuchie is a living testament to this transformation.

“From answering questions to speaking on stage in front of a crowd, people even joked that I might run for councilor because of how well I spoke about the KALAHI-CIDSS project,” Ana said in Cebuano.

The Bonbon Health Station stands as more than just a medical facility. It is a monument to what a united community can achieve when given the right support.

While the DSWD through its KALAHI-CIDSS program provided the initial blueprint and resources, it was the people of Bonbon who built it, sustained it, and ensured that quality healthcare will remain within the reach of every resident for generations to come. (KB)