Poverty is and still remains the serious problem of the City of Ligao and in any other places countrywide.  The incidence of poverty is even higher in the rural areas where a growing off-farm labor is rapidly increasing.  These are the people that cannot be employed in agricultural activities due to overcrowding and the lack of agricultural expansion in agri related industries.   

The debilitating effects to the income of the farmers caused by calamities, price fluctuations, low agricultural output, inadequate infra support facilities like farm-to-market roads, post harvest facilities and credit facilities, has deprived the rural areas with the necessary instruments to fight poverty and extricate themselves out of economic hardship.  The absence of roads and fast transportation has made it difficult for the villagers to sell their produce in town.  They could not compete with other traders because the transportation cost eats up a lot of their profit.  Their income from sales was not even worth the trouble of bringing their crops to the market.  They just chose to consume their own products.  These have taken a toll on their well-beings and rendered them incapable to address basic needs like health, education and their social and economic stability to lead an improved quality of life and assure themselves of a bright future.  The lack of purchasing power has rendered a weak economy.  These reasons have presented the rural population ripe for the rise of armed struggle and insurgency.

The project aimed to alleviate poverty in a cluster of barangays troubled with insurgency in Ligao City.  The project covers the upland villages of Tupaz, Oma-oma, Tandarura, Tiongson and Busac in Ligao City.   

The City Government embarked on providing the basic infrastructure like farm to market roads, electricity and potable water supply.  The core project was the establishment of a mini-economic zone in the area.  It sits in an area of about 10 hectares bounded by the 5 villages of Ligao City situated in sitio Managanaga in Busac, Ligao City.  It is located about 22 kilometers from the city proper with an elevation of 350 meters above sea level.  This area has been declared by the City Government as a zone of peace. 

At present, 30 to 40 motorcycles serve the area that pass through the concrete roads constructed by the City Government of Ligao that connect the villages serving about 5,000 inhabitants.  Jeepneys and trucks haul copra and other farm crops to and from the zone.  With its accessibility to the city proper, the once barren and seemingly abandoned place has become a beehive of economic, social and religious activities. 

Business establishments have sprouted in this ecozone such as trading outlets for copra and other products, a bakery and lots of retail variety stores.  A cockpit has been added as a form of recreation.  A market place is now available complete with stalls, with market days on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Villagers are now earning more from their produce and the money no longer leaves but is circulating in the area.  Everyone in the area has now the opportunity to work and earn a decent living.

Technical assistance from other government agencies, i.e., DA and BFAR-Fishery Resource Management Project (FRMP) were tapped.

The intervention has produced multiple benefits, like : better farm gate price for the agricultural products, available products for household necessities, socialization of the rural folks, farmers are now able to send their children to school and most of all the reduction of insurgency. 

The place now serves as the converging area for buyers and sellers of coconut, copra, peanut, palay, livestock, pineapple and other high value crops.  Pork, chicken and fish are cheaper than those sold in the city.  The villagers need not spend time and money in going to the city just to buy necessities because it is already available in the place.  Because of the low prices of the products, more investors and businessmen are encouraged to visit the place.     

Villagers who used to be timid have become confident and sociable just like the city folks.  Every Sunday a Catholic priest visits the place with his small choir to say mass.  No matter how tired the people are at the end of the day, they gather together to participate in social activities, such as playing ball games, singing and dancing.  At night, everyone enjoys watching the news and his/her favorite soap operas shown on a cable – ready, wide, flat colored television set positioned near the basketball court.  This is not to mention the other residents who have television sets and other amenities in their homes.  Many residents are now able to send their children to school to acquire higher and better education and become better citizens.

At present everybody is busy doing his/her livelihood and earning a decent living. Insurgency is reduced to the minimum.  The inhabitants of the five barangays are now enjoying the fruits of their hard work and it extends even to the people of the nearby barangays in the adjacent municipalities of Guinobatan and Oas.