Citizen Awareness and Satisfaction Survey: The Case of Tumauini, Isabela Philippines

Local governments in the Philippines are the nearest service units to its citizens. They are expected to deliver quality services to their constituents. As recipients of the different services, citizens are deemed in better position to assess whether quality services are delivered by the different municipalities in the country. In order to address the need to gather citizens’ feedback on the service delivery performance of the local government units (LGU), the Department of Interior and Local Government developed the Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS). The municipality of Tumauini in the province of Isabela is one of the selected LGUs to implement the CSIS project in the country to measure its performance in service delivery for 2018. This study assessed the awareness and satisfaction of the people in Tumauini, Isabela on the services for Public Works and Infrastructure delivered by the LGU. There were 150 respondents selected using the multi-stage probability sampling method. In gathering the data needed, face to face interview was used with the aid of survey questionnaire. Overall, results revealed that citizens of Tumauini are aware and satisfied with the different service indicators of the Public Works and Infrastructure programs. Results of the study may help local government officials in crafting policies and making management decisions to improve the performance of the local government of Tumauini in the provision and delivery of Public Works and Infrastructure services to its constituents.


Introduction
The government is known to be the supreme authority of a certain state and nation that sets rules for a society. It is expected that the government promotes the general welfare of its members, the people or its citizens. The Philippines Republic Act (RA) No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code mandates the transferring of control and responsibility in the delivery of basic services to the hands of local government units (LGU). It aimed to enhance provision of services in the grass roots level, as well as improve the efficiency in resource allocation. Further, it sought to widen the decision-making space by encouraging the participation of stake holders, especially in the local level. With this Republic Act, local government units are then expected to deliver basic services to its constituents through the leadership and initiative of elected LGU officials and different department heads.
An executive department in the Philippines, known as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety, and strengthening the capability of local government units to effectively deliver basic services to the citizenry. The DILG assists the country's elected president in the supervision of local government by promulgating policies, rules and regulations over local governments. To assess the performance and capabilities of LGUs, various measurement tools were used in the form of assessment tools, surveys, competitive appraisal, LGU Scorecard to name a few. In 2012, the DILG took the initiative, launched and pilot tested another performance measurement tool for LGUs -the Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS). CSIS actual implementation began in 2013, it aims to gather feedback from citizens as to their awareness and satisfaction on the basic services delivered to them by the LGU. In this regard, municipalities must determine to what extent citizens benefit from the services they offer (Orselli, Bayrakci, & Kahraman, 2017 In the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, infrastructure development is one of the top priorities of the government. Public works and infrastructure service includes projects constructed and funded by the government that include but not limited to public buildings, transport infrastructures, health facilities, energy facilities, recreational facilities, educational facilities and the like. The presence of infrastructure projects are very essential in economic development and in improving the quality of life in both urban and rural communities. The "Build, Build, Build" agenda of the government is seen to boost infrastructure development by intensifying investments on public infrastructure. Thus, local government units are expected to join in implementing public works and infrastructure projects. Citizens are in better position to give feedback whether or not these services are effectively and efficiently delivered according to their needs at the right time. Moreover, as the intended recipients and end-users of public services, the citizens are the right ones to assess the performance of the LGU in its obligation of delivering services to its people. Increasing the awareness of the citizens is an effective tool for promoting their engagement and improving service delivery (Almarshad, 2015).
This study aims to gather citizens' perspectives on the reach and quality of the services delivered by the municipality of Tumauini in the province of Isabela, Philippines. Specifically, it seeks to determine citizen's awareness, availment, satisfaction, and assessment on the need for action on the public works and infrastructure services.

RESEARCH METHODS
This study made use of the descriptive research design. In choosing the respondents as research participants, multi-stage probability sampling method was used with a margin of error (MOE) of +/-8 and percentage points at a 95% confidence level (CL). There were 150 respondents randomly selected through the Kish Grid. Primary data were gathered with the aid of survey questionnaire and face to face interview was employed. Respondents who are aware of the service will be asked if they availed the service, and only respondents who availed the service will be asked on satisfaction and need for action. In data analysis, descriptive statistics were used such as frequency, percentages and ranks to ascertain the awareness, availment, satisfaction and assessment for the need for action of the respondents to the public works and infrastructure services delivered by the municipality of Tumauini. In interpreting percentage scores, adjectival rating was used which is based on passing the test of 50% + MoE, which is determined by a cut-off point computed for every service indicator. Ratings in the satisfaction and need for action were construed using an action grid to determine the general direction of the LGU of Tumauini, Isabela in its public works and infrastructure programs and services.   With regards to the source of information about the services, programs, projects or activities of the municipality of Tumauini, Isabela, large majority (74%) of the respondents get the information from barangay officials and personnel, 11.33% said that television is their source of information, 6% are informed by the municipal government, 4.67% are informed through family members/friends and from radio, internet and other source of news with 1.33% respectively. Respondents are also asked if their family are recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a program of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor. Result shows that large majority (84%) are not recipients of the said program while 16% of the respondents are enjoying the benefits of the program.

Availment on Public Works and Infrastructure Services
Programs, projects and services of the local government units are meant to be availed by the intended recipients. Availment of the services means the use and subscription of the services offered by the local government for its constituents. The study conducted showed that all respondents availed the use of Barangay Roads in the municipality of Tumauini, huge majority of the respondents (97.33%) utilized the programs and services of Public Markets and Satellite Markets, 96.62% availed services of the constructed Barangay Hall, high percentage (96.48%) of the respondents benefitted on the use of Municipal Roads and Bridges, 93.29% availed the use of Municipal Government Buildings (Table 4.). The results show that the availment of public works and infrastructure services and programs is high for almost all of the service indicators except for Information and Reading Center that obtained low availment percentage score (46.15%). This signifies that residents are availing the use of the public works and infrastructure. Moreover, people of Tumauini are benefited of the different projects and infrastructure programs of the municipality.

Satisfaction on Public Works and Infrastructure Services
It is very necessary to know how well citizens are served by the local government units in terms of Public Works and Infrastructure services. Satisfaction to services refers to the contentment of the respondents after availing the services. As to the municipality of Tumauini, respondents who availed the different services were asked if they are satisfied of the services. The study shows that projects on the construction of Barangay Hall had the highest satisfaction rating (94.41%), 93.53% of the respondents who availed are satisfied with the programs and projects for the Municipal Government Buildings, another large majority of the respondents (93.43%) answered that they are satisfied with services and projects for Municipal Roads and Bridges, 93.18% said that they are satisfied with Sports Center and Facilities and 88.17% of the respondents are satisfied with Public Parks and Open Spaces programs and projects. As seen on Table 5, almost all of the services have positive feedback from the respondents as to satisfaction. On the other hand, it is important to note that the satisfaction percentage score for Public Cemetery is low (34.95%).
The results indicate that the local government of Tumauini is performing well in their Public Works and Infrastructure services as evidenced by the satisfaction approval from its citizens. It demonstrates that the service delivery performance of the local government is satisfactory and acceptable to its people. (2021)  10 High

Need for Action on Public Works and Infrastructure Services
Paying attention to the feedbacks given by the citizens will help the administrators of the local government to determine and identify services that need improvement and appropriate action. Base on the study conducted, the table below show that there are three service indicators for Public Works and Infrastructure Services that resulted to high percentage scores for need for action which are: 1. Public Cemetery, 2. Barangay Roads and 3. Public Markets and Satellite Markets. Thus, appropriate attention must be given and action should be done. Considerable improvement and significant interventions are necessary to address the needs of the citizens and to provide better programs and projects for Public Works and Infrastructure Services. On the other hand, all the other service indicators received low percentage scores in the need for action. This may suggests that the quality of services met the needs and standards of the citizens, thus, maintaining the programs and projects is necessary. Low

General Direction of the Local Government of Tumauini
Comparative results of the satisfaction and need for action for the different service indicators are shown in table 7 which determine the general direction of the municipality of Tumauini in its Public Works and Infrastructure services. As observed, Barangay Roads and Public Markets and Satellite Markets fall under quadrant 1 labelled as "Continued Emphasis". This means that the LGU must sustain positive aspects of the two mentioned services. There is a need to finetune on specific aspects of service delivery that Management System belong to quadrant 2 labelled as "Exceeded Expectation",. With this, the municipality is sustaining positive aspects of the nine services cited by citizens. There is a need to evaluate if other resource commitments can be refocused. A lone service indicator -Public Cemetery landed to quadrant 4, "Opportunities for Improvement". This indicates that there is a need to pay the greatest attention to this service for improvement by focusing on resources and efforts to improve citizen satisfaction.

CONCLUSION
The local government of Tumauini executed effective strategy in disseminating information about its services and programs on Public Works and Infrastructure to its constituents. Barangay officials and personnel played a big role in information dissemination. Citizens of the municipality find the programs and services useful as evidenced by the high availment percentage scores of the various service indicators, thus, the different services served their purpose. Indeed, the services offered by the municipality are deemed beneficial to the community.
Moreover, in this study carried out, it showed that citizens are satisfied with the delivery of Public Works and Infrastructure services by the local government. It is an indication that the quality of services are pleasing and acceptable to the people of Tumauini. Programs and projects on Public Cemetery, Barangay Roads and Public Markets and Satellite Markets demand attention and need appropriate action for improvement. Proper planning on the improvement of the said programs ISSN: 00333077 5487 www.psychologyandeducation.net should be done, further, implementation of better interventions are needed.
In view of the above findings it is recommended that results of the study will be utilized as basis for policy formulation and reforms should be done to bring about responsive local governance. In addition, results should be considered in the preparation of the strategic and development plans for the municipality. The municipality of Tumauini should sustain the awareness campaign on its services and take advantage on the use of information and communications technology in information dissemination. Further, availment program must be intensified on the different Public Works and Infrastructure Services. Researches to determine strategies in enhancing service delivery by local government units is encouraged.