HOW I SURVIVED THAT WEEK: REFLECTION PAPER ON MY TRIP TO LUMBAN

Gene Lloyd Torres

My mother would have loved to accompany me to the Barangay Hall of Concepcion in Lumban, Laguna; but for a twenty-year old guy like me, that would have been, well, embarrassing. She just wanted to make sure that I would be safe – after all, I was going to a place I’ve never been to before.

Before being deployed to Lumban, the southernmost place I’ve been to was Sta. Rosa City – and yes, that was when I went to Enchanted Kingdom. It was 2008, and I was in my junior year in high school. When I learned that my assignment was to be in Lumban, Laguna, I felt both happiness and fear. I was happy because I was assigned outside Metro Manila. I was afraid, too, because I did not know anything about the place, aside from it being the “Embroidery Capital” and the home to Lake Caliraya.

Luckily, I was able to persuade my mother not to accompany me to Lumban. At last, autonomy! I was going to travel somewhere alone.

I left at around eight-thirty in the morning, and arrived in Brgy. Concepcion at noon. I was introduced to Tatay Melchor Magano, Chairperson of Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Mangingisda sa Buong Baybayin, Inc. (PSMBB). My hosts were Mr. Jerrimi and Ms. Ann Vieron, who have three kids. According to them, their eldest is a scholar of ABS-CBN, and teaches violin… at thirteen years old! They welcomed me warmly into their modest home. I noticed that the flooring of their house was a little bit higher than what I normally see here in Metro Manila – apparently, this was one of the solutions they made to avoid water from flooding their house. They also had a second floor, which included my sleeping quarters for the next five days.

For the rest of the week, I found myself eating vegetables: eggplant, okra, ampalaya (bitter gourd), and dahon ng gabi (taro leaves). But make no mistake, I have no complaints with eating vegetables for the entire week, since it was the point of the entire activity: to immerse myself in the daily lives of the people there. They still raised some points though: that I was adamant in eating vegetables and not eating something I like (I only ate meat during lunchtime in a barangay fiesta) and that I failed to get water from the poso. But truth be told, I really appreciated what my host family served me, and even though I don’t usually eat those kinds of foods, I already had my mind set in not being choosy with the food.

The place was like something I had read from the books – as if the typical rural life portrayed in elementary textbooks came to life. I saw plots of eggplants, pechay (Chinese cabbage), okra, tomatoes and other vegetables growing in almost every corner of the community – one house even had rice growing in their backyard. And the houses, especially those in the area where a creek used to pass, were elevated from the ground in preparation for what could be another flooding.

The people there were nice, possibly in part due to my being a guest; however, when my evaluation day came, they were direct in giving me points for improvement. I acknowledged these, because firstly, this was my first volunteer work; and secondly, no one is perfect, and everyone has a flaw, however minute these may be.

My interviewees were all recounting their stories to me, and I felt how hard it was for them to live in those times, as some of them were cash-poor while taking care of very young children. It’s a struggle that I once encountered when I was still residing in a house near a creek in Angono, Rizal. We were also affected by a waist-deep flood and our main problems were food, security and health. We had (thankfully wealthy) relatives nearby who helped us, but unfortunately for the people of this community, they weren’t as fortunate. Imagine their situation: no matter how much they want to, even your relatives can’t help you because they are also cash-poor, have little children, and have lost their crops and animals to the flood. To whom you will call for help? To whom you will ask for food to feed your children and shelter to sleep in?

The people there were thankful for the relief sent to them, but I didn’t particularly like that they thought I was doing interviews on select people and will come back in a few months with another set of relief goods ONLY FOR THOSE I’VE INTERVIEWED. You could blame me for not informing them all about why I am there chatting with the housewives, but I think there was a miscommunication between the officers of the organization and its members. After all, they learned about my objectives just when I arrived there. They had a meeting two Sundays ago, and they just assigned people to supervise and guide me. Do you think I should have asked to call for a general assembly and announced to the people there about my mission? Anyhow, it seemed to them that I was a walking balde (pail), because the relief goods given were put in a large pail. And, because of the misconception of some people that I was there to give away relief goods, they were all asking why they weren’t interviewed. Baka daw hindi sila mabigyan ng grasya. It goes to show how malicious some minds can be.

In my defense, those who have directly asked me about this dilemma received an explanation from me. I carefully and politely explained to them that I was not there selecting a few people who will be given relief goods; rather, I was there to write an article on their lives after being flooded and how the relief goods and medical mission provided by PHILSSA contributed to their welfare. I felt that it was my obligation to defend myself because I was not there for my own personal reasons; I was representing an organization that helped them. Also, my host organization, KSDTLCL and its officers were put in a bad light by these members who thought there was a “priority list”. I just said that I am a humble volunteer who was assigned to revisit the beneficiary community of the relief operations, and assess how it helped them, even for a short period.

There really are malicious and opportunistic people out there, even if you are bringing good intentions. They’re like people who just don’t want a share in the pie, but want everything to themselves. That’s a negative thing that I learned from this experience. Of course, that’s the nature of man. This brings to mind a lesson on Modern Political Thought: everyone must submit their natural rights to an authority who will look after them. They have to cooperate for the welfare of all people. It’s a liberal means for liberal ends. Meaning, in an organization, cooperation is the key to success, not agitating your fellow members into action.

Personally, I still have a lot of things to improve on. Based from this experience, I need to be more conversational and sensitive to the community. I have learned some things, too. First, I learned to adapt in a community that is different from what I am used to. Second, I have learned to sympathize and identify with the people – a must for all researchers, especially if you are going for an ethnographic type of research like this. For one week, I was just like a neighbor listening to their stories, and hoping that they, too, will see a better life in the future. Lastly, I learned that development work is not as easy as one may perceive. It takes patience, curiosity, and compassion to understand the situation a community is experiencing. I have curiosity and compassion, but I am really impatient. However, I think I did well in that department during the deployment. It’s not because of pagapapakitang-tao (hypocrisy), but because it is a must. If I do these more often, maybe I will eventually become more patient, because I will be enjoying what I am doing. You will not get bored or impatient when you like what you are doing. By that time, I think mother will stop telling me that she’ll go with me, because I would have matured more than the “me” of the previous week.

Gene Lloyd Torres just graduated with a degree on Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of the Philippines, Diliman. His research interests include youth political participation and Southeast Asian politics and culture.