Editor's Note

Abstract

This volume contains seven research articles. Five articles evaluate different issues or concerns (i.e., service delivery; community capitals management practices; water governance; knowledge, attitudes and practices of dog owners; and persistence of poverty) in a specific community. One article explores the influence of social network approach in transferring policy, while the remaining article is on the social and economic benefits of organic agriculture.

Amores and Querijero assessed the service delivery in Makati Homeville (MH), Calauan, Laguna, focusing on the Makati Social Welfare and Development-Extension Office’s collaborative capacity. The results indicated that despite the collaborative initiatives taking place in MH, some basic services needed improvement, particularly access to livelihood, electricity, and potable water.

Focusing on two villages in Thailand, Nongtakhem in Buriram province and Somboon in Surin province, Suwannakam and Dizon analyzed the community capitals management for household well-being. Findings of the household survey conducted showed that both villages practiced all the community capitals management strategies (group membership, family planning, sufficiency economy, savings plan, household accounting, and secondary occupation) except family forest management, which was practiced only in Somboon.

Dayo et al. examined the various water governance roles of state and non-state actors within the Santa Cruz Watershed (SCW) in the Province of Laguna, Philippines amidst increased competition for water use due to rise in population and urbanization. Results of the focus group discussions and key informant interviews with state and non-state actor groups indicated that both state and non-state actors positioned themselves to support their respective interests. In times of water shortage, local governments at the village and the municipal levels coordinated and negotiated among themselves for access to water sources.

Meanwhile, Piamonte and De la Cruz assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices on rabies among dog owners in the Municipality of Los Baños, which is also located in the Province of Laguna, Philippines. The results of a survey of 418 dog owners in three barangays of Los Banos showed that although most of the respondents knew about rabies, their knowledge was limited. The bulk of respondents practiced regular feeding, dog grooming, and vaccination, but only a little over half of the dog owners interviewed confined their dogs at home. Registration of dogs was done by just a minority.

The article of Lapitan and Palis explored the different measures of embeddedness within a social network of mayors in the Province of Bohol, Philippines, and examined whether policy transfer mechanism hinge on the social network approach (SNA). Results of the survey of 24 mayors in Bohol indicated higher incidence of policy attitude similarity between a mayor and his immediate (ego) network peers compared to the similarity with peers in the broad network.

Madlangbayan and Rola evaluated the empirical support of the health and environmental benefits of organic agriculture by generating data from a survey of rice farmers and focus group discussions in rice farming communities. The results implied that farmers failed to identify social benefits with economic benefits that they could derive from adopting organic agriculture practices. Future policy research using multidisciplinary approaches is recommended where technical data can support the socio-economic analysis.

The last article by Usman and Baconguis studied the contributory factors why poverty persists among the poorest communities in Tawi-Tawi, Philippines: the Badjaos. Results revealed that conditions of deprivation that keep the Badjao people poor include low educational background, lack of skills, low aspirations, low income, lack of assets, poor nutrition and health conditions, poor social and political capabilities, and poor access to limited services. A collaborative and culturally sensitive model of program intervention for the Badjaos is proposed. The components of which are participative, informative, and formative, and the proposed model involves the networking of various institutions.