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OASNON MANIFESTO

“The Isle of Mt. Mayon to the pristine waters of Burias Pass”
(The Oasnon Manifesto)

Oas is a land mass spread out along the vast expanse between the foot of Mt. Mayon and the coastal waters of the Burias Pass; a land area of 291.7335 square kilometers.  She has in abundance: fertile rice fields with water tributaries, verdant hills and mountains and pristine waters of the coastal areas.
Oasnon are the people living on it now at 70,000 and growing. Despite the abundance of the natural resources, latest statistics showed that the marginal poor is at 85%.

This town is dormant, a third class municipality strategically located in between two progressive towns of Ligao and Polangui in the province of Albay, the former of which had been made into a city just recently.

The following are some of the features of the town, which though perceived as assets, are not harnessed to its potentials thereby leaving the town still as a third class municipality after all these years:


Cabilogan River. The people are resilient and continuously dependent on the fruits of their labor and what nature could offer. But more often than not, labor and nature do not seem to compliment each other.

There is always flooding of the main tributary, the Cabilogan River. This problem has been inherited from the past and handed over to the present generation with no resolution.  The river runs over the gullies created by the lahar flow from Mt. Mayon. It only takes a small rainfall to trigger flooding along the banks and into the rice fields destroying the crops along its path.

Road Network. As an isle, the transportation network is vertically set up thereby bypassing the town proper of the commerce that is rightfully theirs. The produce from the upland barrios and coastal areas are deviated to the nearby towns due to the road network. Furthermore, the diversion road of the Manila bound traffic is also detoured thus, sidestepping the poblacion.

Clear and Pristine Coastal Waters. Local residents are looking at these resources as an alternative to map out their future, however, with the absence of good roads and other infrastructure needed as springboard for development, these have been left only at the drawing board of stakeholders.

It is for the above reasons that we, the undersigned, the Oasnon expatriates who are strongly attached to their hometown and local civic-minded citizens, have joined together with one purpose = to help our town rise above these hardships and help all Oasnon live with dignity and purpose.

We enjoin you to endorse the immediate implementation of the Bicol River Basin and Watershed project which has a funding from the World Bank to the tune of  $15 million for irrigation, flood control and watershed conservation. This regional development program will carry a great deal in solving the problems of the Cabilogan River.

We urge you to include the Municipality of Oas in the Bicol Calamity and Rehabilitation Effort spelled out during the SONA. This could help improve our road networks and thereby opening the floodgates for development to the upland and coastal areas.

For our part, we will continue to actively work closely with our local hometown counterparts in implementing programs vital to the livelihood of the different households and in line with health, education, social services, poverty, shelter, and citizenship development.

Any help extended to this cause is a manifestation of your concern to our plight and will be posted and viewed in the Oasnon World Wide Web (www. oasnon.com). Moreover, all Oasnon living here and abroad will be forever grateful.

We, the undersigned, do affix our signatures in support of our manifesto:

Organization/NGO/Expatriates-Country-Region:_________________________________________________________

Group Leader:___________________________________________________________________________________

Signatories:

PRINTED NAME                                         ORGANIZATION/NGO/COUNTRY