Socio-Cultural, Economic, Community Involvement and Priority Needs of Anawin Community at Barangay Rumbang, Pototan, Iloilo: A Baseline Survey for the University Outreach Program and Future Project Implementation 

ABSTRACT 

The baseline study was conducted to determine the socio-cultural, economic, community involvement and priority needs of Anawin Community at Barangay Rumbang, Pototan, Iloilo which will serve as basis for the Entrepreneurial Action in US (ENACTUS), College of Business & Accountancy, and the University general for the future projects to be implemented. A combination of qualitative and quantitative descriptive research approaches was used. The “post-test only” or the one shot survey” design, supplemented by the key informant interview (KII) and community focus group discussion (FGD) with the school personnel, residents and barangay officials were employed. There were 42 respondents out of 46 residents of the community which were selected randomly. Frequency, percentage and mean were used to describe the findings. The summary of the findings were as follows: 1) the respondents are mostly females, youngster to middle-aged (35 years old and below), with a mean age of 42.21 years old, mostly were married, secondary school-educated and dependent on being laborer with Php5,767.56 as average monthly income. 2) The average household size is 4 to 6 members, with a mean age of 34, with around 60:40 male to female ratio. Nearly half of them have 3 and above school age children. Two fifths of the respondents children were in primary school and almost the same ratio were in secondary education. Rice, banana, fish/dried fish, meat, vegetables and fruits are the main source of food either for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 3) The presence of cultural activities like Holy Mass, Community Anniversary, Bible Sharing, Community Meeting and Holy week and participation thereof is high. 4) The expenses of the households are meager for education, medicine, food, clothing, recreation and utilities, yet, these expenses exceeded from what the household could earn monthly from all sources. 5) Business and labor are the main source of income, the respondents used portion of land for farming vegetables. Great percentage also are unemployed and housewife. 6) The respondents are aware of the presence and members of organizations in their community, had voted in the last election, have attended the barangay assemblies that are held monthly and are knowledgeable of the barangay ordinances passed especially on curfew hours. 7) Half of the respondents have temporary housing materials with electricity as lighting source and firewood utilized as fuel for cooking. 8) There exist functional roads from plain sand and gravel with functional drainage facility, only an open drainage system. The barangay has pre-school, a functional health center open daily, a basketball court, and a Senior Citizen‘s Center. 9) The respondents source their water for drinking and cooking from distilled /mineral. Most of the respondents source their water sealed kind of toilet. They rely on open drainage for wastewater and a schedules garbage pick-up truck for solid waste disposal. Common illness are a combination of cols/fever, cough, and diarrhea. 10) It can be assumed from the stated priority needs and problems of the community, households, men, women, youth, and children that if lack of or no income can be addressed through employment, skills training and availability of business startup capital, most of these major problems may be addressed. They include, among others, income concerns, lack of food and allowances for school children, vices for the youth, malnutrition and sanitation.