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Survival of the Fittest: Brgy. Lumangan Livelihood Survey Report
by Ann Rency Custodio
In a quick survey conducted by the group assigned to check on the Livelihood sector of the Brgy. Lumanggan Miagao, it was found out that most of its residents depend on farming as the main source of living. Most of them are tenants of other people’s land, who depend on the small percentage of share during the harvest seasons. The most disturbing part is that higher percentage of the respondents has a higher daily expenditure than its daily income and there are some whose daily income is just enough for its daily expenditure, but no respondents proclaimed that their daily income is higher than its daily expenditure, which is an indicator that poverty is prevalent in the place. Having a lesser income than the amount of money essential for one’s daily needs could result to small but worst forms of human deprivation, such as hunger.
When asked, if there is any projects or programs by the Municipality of Miagao that offers help to improve their livelihood condition, all of them were consistent that there was none. The result was not a surprise; one could really determine from looks of their dusty uncemented road to the totality of the structure of the place, that it need s serious help from the government.
In looking at the bigger picture of the situation, Brgy Lumangan is one of the many Barangays of the country which needs livelihood assistance from the higher government. One of the eight goals of the Millennium Development Project of the United Nations among 189 nations, including the Philippines is to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty by the year of 2015. The United Nation Development Program in the Philippines together with the cooperation of central and local government units is moving forward in achieving these goals. Specifically, our country has a Philippine Mid-term Development Plan which goals are parallel with that of MDG. It aims to work out its objectives through advocacies and development projects to ensure better life for poor Filipinos
The sound of the goals set by MDG can instill hope and positivism to every individual below poverty line. On the downside, it is less than 5 years from now until the set deadline, but the said international project is not yet conceivable in places which needed it the most such as Brgy. Lumanggan.
Development Goals for the NEXT Millenium
by Bemjo Torema
A goal is useless if it remains as it is – a goal.
Every year, the national government lays out its plans for the improvement of this republic. But how many of these plans actually get realized by the time they’re due? Of course, we cannot be extremely cynical as to say that nothing ever gets done in this country. You can rest assured that some plans have been successfully pulled off, although the number of these successes as compared to the failures is quite discouraging.
In 2000, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) created the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) – goals aimed primarily to combat poverty in every country. These MDG’s have a deadline: 2015. They have five years left.
Out of their eight goals, Goal 7 is the one that pertains to sanitation, or more generally, environmental sustainability. Their targets include improving access to safe drinking water and access to sanitary toilet facilities. In the Philippines, from 2002 to 2004, the improvement in the two targets have only been 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. This is not exactly something to be proud of.
Taking into consideration that these goals are not only meant for the National Capital Region of the country, we should also look into improvements from even the most far-flung of barangays anywhere in this country, like, say, Barangay Lumanggan in the Municipality of Miagao.
Four out of five respondents asked by members of the class did not have closed-pit types of toilets, or toilets with sealed water. Flushing was done by manually pouring water onto the toilet bowl.
As for improvement in the access to safe drinking water, two out of the five respondents had to personally get a deep well system like Bestank installed in their houses just to have safe drinking water. One respondent buys distilled water from refilling stations. The two other respondents get their drinking water from the traditional deep well — the barangay bomba. This is because the barangay’s water supply — given in ratios to each part of the barangay at a given time — was found to be unsafe by Chemistry students from the University of the Philippines Visayas.
Barangay Lumanggan certainly isn’t part of the 0.2% and 0.1% that felt improvements in their sanitation and access to safe drinking water in this country. If this continues to develop at this slow a rate, the 99.8% of the population will have to wait for another millenium to experience whatever goals this country has for them.
Can This Get Any Hotter?
by Ann Rency Custodio
Did you ever experienced going out of your house at 8 o’clock in the morning; check out your watch for the second time because you are already feeling a mid-afternoon sun hitting every inch of your bare skin? If yes, then you just experienced the effects of El Niño together with the worsening condition of our ozone.
We are experiencing an extremely hot weather this time. It’s the effect of the El Niño phenomenon hitting the Southeast Asia. The name El Niño is a Spanish word for “the child,” refers to the infant Jesus Christ and is applied because of the current that lead up to the phenomenon, usually begins during the Christmas season. In short scientific description, El Niño happens when easterly trade winds collapse or even reverse its direction. Thus brings heavy rains to South America and can cause droughts in southeastern Asia. Because of this, more serious problems rise up like shortage of water and destruction of crops that can cause a sudden fall in our country’s economy.
This extremely hot weather we are experiencing right now is not only because of El Niño. The phenomenon can be a part of it but what makes it worse is the “never-ending” issue of global warming. Something people are familiar with but not given much attention. The global warming issue had been the center of numerous debates among industrialist and environmentalist for so long. Yet, no absolute resolution among the two had been made. Although a lot of green projects and advocacies were created to counteract it, still no conceivable improvement happened. In fact, our ozone layer is getting thinner and its effect on human is getting more alarming.
On the other hand, we had to adhere on the fact that improvement entails sacrifices. For a country to be more industrially advanced and competitive, natural resources are to be compromised. At the end of the day, it is our choice of priority that determines our fate. This extremely hot condition we are experiencing can be an understatement ten years from now. This is not a warning, just a realization.
After all, Mother Earth does not need us, it is us who need her.
Climate Changes Me
by Kate Aubrey Hojilla
I am not an environmentalist. I love the smell and color of flowers. I hate wastes scattered in places where they are not supposed to be seen. I love the greenery of mountains and the fresh breeze from the seashores below them. I hate the stench from mismanaged sewage. But still, I am not an environmentalist – because being one involves concern about the environment’s quality.
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Yet, the environment is fast changing, even deteriorating. And I can’t find any more options rather than caring. How can I not care when more and more people around me are getting sick because of the abrupt changes in the weather? How can I not care when I live in an archipelago endangered to sink when the ocean level continues to rise? How can I not care when phenomena such as flood and rain lose their being natural?
The temperature even in our locality, Iloilo, has reached its hottest only last month. Sun-block lotions, even with high sun protection formula (SPF), render useless in times when the heat of the sun almost literally burns bare skin. Good for establishments selling cold drinks because they provide the must-find products, but bad for the people who hardly get use in the now unusually-hot tropics. Heat strokes are very rampant and are now becoming one of the major reasons why people collapse these days. Sadly, the El Niño phenomenon caused running water in Iloilo City and some municipalities to be available only for a maximum of twelve hours, usually night time, a day.
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The worsening weather caused decreases in the thickness of ice caps in the Arctic sea. Although it’s far and the species directly affected are polar bears, it doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t care. The melting of ice caps and bergs contribute to the steady rise of the ocean’s level. So as threatening as it sounds, more land masses which lie low above sea level, could one by one disappear. And I never wanted to drown only because the land I lived in for my entire life is flat and lower than sea level.
Natural phenomena, they say, are God’s design. But when they cause thousands of lives and millions worth of properties while appearing not at all “natural”, then blame is shifted to us, humans. As to how big capitalist companies and their huge factories correlate with the worsening global warning, no clear data have been presented. Although I believe that each of us contributes to the problem in one way or another. Acid rains, flash floods – these are not at all natural.
I am against all these terrible threats facing me and my way of life. And it all boils down to one label which almost everybody has been using like as if it’s ordinary – climate change. While I know that the problem is BIG and I am just one individual, I believe that I can stir change through my actions and later on work collectively with others who care about the environment.
How exactly? I can start by resting my car and walking more. Aside from walking being the best and cheapest form of exercise, I could save money from gassing up. Then, I could study more about the causes of climate change and learn more tips from experts. This way, I could share some thoughts to my friends about the issue, and maybe persuade them to do their part as well, like not burning, but reusing, plastic products.
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I am not an environmentalist because I don’t show so much concern about the quality of the environment.
But by virtue that I’m against environmental degradation and I push for vigorous actions to preserve the environment, I call myself an ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST.
Living Healthy
by Rachell Janine Leyva
It’s a given that a major part of a good life is good health. Even with its status as a developing country, the Philippine government has shown this commitment in ensuring that its citizens get what they need to stay healthy and happy. The Department of Health continuously conduct medical missions and free clinics to various barangays nationwide. Information campaigns about communicable diseases, their causes and cures, help the people realize the value of prevention and the practice of vigilance. Examples of such are the TB-DOTS for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS program and STD. For government employees, they enjoy the benefits of PhilHealth and SCGEM that aid them financially when major operations, tests or hospitalization occurs.
Such moves to address health issues especially in small barangays in all regions of the country is an indicator of a road towards progress. People could throw all sorts of insults on its government, but they cannot deny the fact that in this regard (health) it has not failed. The free vaccines given to children and pregnant women cost thousands of pesos in private hospitals. Check-ups are usually being paid for but come free in government health offices and medical missions. The quality of treatment and service in both private and government hospitals are basically the same. One cannot pirate supposedly life-saving procedures and methods.
The big difference is in staying conditions and the processes you have to go through to avail of these benefits. You have to endure long queues, the heat, the chaos, the stack of papers to identify you as a real beneficiary. The living conditions in government hospitals and the sanitation of most are significant problems yet to be addressed. These are the aspects that contribute to health, good health, that have been gravely overlooked and must immediately be developed.
We all have struggles, and wherever we go we are bound to face hassles. But the road to a healthy, happy life requires one’s own desire to take care of him/herself. With the programs of the health department, we are being given the chance to be able to do something to ensure that we can maintain a tiptop shape. The choice, the desire to do take advantage of these benefits is in our hands. The ball is in our court, let’s make good use of it.
UPV: Now Online
by Bemjo Torema
When you first receive your UPCAT notice of admission, along with it will be a student number and a password you have to enter online in order to confirm your decision to enrol in UPV.
If I remember correctly, this only started back when in 2007, when I was an incoming freshman.
The rapid rise of online transactions and the online availability of so many things ranging from business to academics, banking to shopping, has made life much easier, even for those without their own internet connections at home.
I am particularly thankful for UP’s online system. You can do almost everything online now: confirm enrolment, check grades, enlist subjects, see if there are class schedule conflicts, edit your enrolment profile, and even see if you’ve got some unreturned library books or unpaid fees.
Although technology will always have some glitches here and there (actually, it was this online system that turned our first ever enrolment into a nightmare, but the administration has learned its lesson), and although there are still quite a lot of transactions that need to be done personally, it’s become a lot more efficient.
Now you won’t have to waste time and money on a boat or plane ride just to confirm your enrolment; you won’t even have to spend for a long-distance phone call.
And even without an internet connection at home, you can always ask help from somebody who does, or maybe just head out to the nearest internet cafe for an hour or less, which is definitely cheaper than taking the boat to Miagao.
Instead of waiting for your copy of grades from the post office that definitely lives up to the term “snail mail”, you can just log in the UPV-CRS website and check them out. However, whatever may be in there is most likely not the fault of some computer bug or virus, but still your actual grades.
Even Before the Deed is Done
by Kate Aubrey Hojilla
Why are there more contraceptives for women compared to men? (A modern tale.)
Once upon a time, in a cool, dark room, two equally attractive people are starting to get “hot”. They are both young – but spirited. They are both smart – but excited. So as they say, it happens if it happens. But of course, not without any “safe” measures. So pretty girl, playing with her long curls, asked pretty boy to get himself some rubber. Pretty boy ran to a nearby pharmacy – to buy rubber. But Ms. Pharmacist seemed to readily understand what rubber is there to give. So pretty boy hurried home and when the deed is about to be done – poof! – the rubber broke! So when two became three unexpectedly because of the rubber from the pharmacy – SCRAP!
Meanwhile, Ms. Amitee organized a family planning drive. Her main thrust was to introduce the concept of vasectomy in the men of a community. She recognized the importance of information dissemination, so together with her group, she drafted and produced posters which aimed to educate her target audience about vasectomy, a surgical procedure which cuts the tubes where sperm passes, thus making a man sterile. However, in the pretesting, the material proved to be ineffective. Why? It’s simply because the image of the male’s penis was “at rest” – down, small, and resting. Vasectomy then was perceived by the men of the community as a method which makes their sexual drive “at rest”. So SCRAP!
Some time in between the stories above, a group of girls were playing couch potatoes, watching television. An advertisement showed that contraceptive pills for women help fight off the unbearable pain of dysmenorrhea. And this is the pain – worse than any form of tootache and migraine – that men could and will never understand. So by the odds of it – CONSIDER.
A well-researched friend shared that her mother used patches. These patches release hormones to prevent pregnancy. And it’s a one shot deal. Stick it up and you’re ready, no pain, no sweat. So by the sound of it – CONSIDER.
In the Biology class lecture that the same group of girls missed, Prof. Eks explained to the class the scientific process of getting pregnant, as well as preventing pregnancy. The class learned so much – Injectibles for women, which kill sperms, are 99% effective. The IUD, or intrauterine devive for women, which is a plastic preventing the entry of sperm, is 99% effective. Birth control pills for women, which prevent ovulation, are 92% effective. Vaginal contraceptive rings, which release hormones to prevent pregnancy, are 92% effective. And more to that, they learned that all effective and “acceptable” methods are FOR WOMEN.
So one wonders why contraceptives are being fought against, not only by the church but also by women’s groups.
If one looks at it, more contraceptives for women mean more protection designed for them. Besides, only women have uterus. Men simply can’t bear a child, can they?
But then again, why should all “acceptable” adjustments be done by the women? Isn’t sex, or making love, supposed to be mutual? Contraceptives for women affect their hormones, much is internal. Much that has been popularized, that is.
But if equality really exists, even just in sex, then both men and women should take full responsibility of the deed – before it is done, before they are both “done”.
Let’s Go on A Trip!
by Bemjo Torema
When the time comes that all my efforts at arranging random numbers on a sheet of paper pay off and I win the Super Lotto, I shall buy my family a nice big van. This is to spare them from the modern-day torture that is public transportation.
Since I go to a university conveniently located in the faraway land of Miagao (tastefully nicknamed Miami, so as to somehow create a semblance of urbanization), public transportation is something that has been a regular part of my life for three years now.
Before I went to university, public transportation meant a short jeep or tricycle ride. But, having to travel from Negros Occidental to Miagao, it’s now composed of a tricycle ride, a bus ride, a jeep ride, a pedicab ride, a boat ride, another pedicab ride, a jeep ride, and then a (certainly more crowded) jeep ride.
If you’re luckier than me at Super Lotto and you enjoy the full benefits of having a car, then you may slash out the first four rides of my trip. If you enjoy the full benefits of being at the top of this country’s social ladder, then you may as well cross out everything and just give your personal pilot a call, but I highly doubt you would actually want to study in Miagao.
Public transportation is not exactly something I detest 100%. I actually enjoy the natural scenery that comes with it, although my other self would like to argue that the same scenery can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own car. However, there are quite a number of points about taking public transportation that irk me, to say in the least.
1.The heat.
- Cue Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On” song. Oh-wo-ho. Oh-wo-ho. Retro song aside, the heat is the root of all public transportation evils. It is the prerequisite to dust, sweat, irritation (both of the skin and of the emotional sense) and everyone’s favorite — body odor. And no, airconditioning is not a very good solution to that, especially when it comes with the driver’s favorite oh-so-pine-fresh air fresheners capable of turning your stomach into a miniature carnival. Also, “aircon” also usually translates to “plus P10 on your fare.”
2. Dust and sweat.
- Ahh, heat’s BFFs. Dust is commonly referred to as “free face powder”, and when mixed with sweat, becomes “free moisturizer.”
3. Body odor.
- Even with the millions and possibly billions of pesos spent by deodorant companies on advertising every year, they simply just can’t reach everybody. If you are lucky enough, taking public transportation may give you the chance to sit right next to someone who has never heard of Rexona. Or has heard of it but never really got around to using it. Or has used it but it never really worked. (Blame it on the manufacturers!)
4. Profit-oriented drivers.
- As if haggling with ukay-ukay sellers weren’t enough, drivers now also want to join the fun. Tricycle and pedicab drivers, to be more precise. Fares change depending on how you look. If you happen to wear gold jewelry, then you may be charged a bit more than usual. If you look like a probinsyano trying to find your way around the city, then you may possibly be charged triple of the usual fare. Try haggling, and you will either get a lecture on the rising prices of gasoline (yes, even from a pedicab driver!), or a spew of colorful vocabulary. Also worthy of mention are drivers who suffer temporary deafness when you ask “Manong, kambyo ko? (Manong, my change?)” and drive away at the speed of light.
5. Non-stop trips.
- Running late? Do not believe the “non-stop” signs hanging from the front windows of buses, or conductors who tell you “It’s non-stop Ma’am.” They will stop for every person standing on the side of the street. Your trip will probably be just as long as any other non-”non-stop” trip.
6. Byahilo.
- Sure, you can get sick in your very own Ferrari, but how much more awful can it get when dozens of strangers are looking at you while you empty your guts out into a plastic bag?
7. Lots and lots of free space.
- NOT. Yeah right. Have you ever tried riding Miagao-Iloilo jeepneys? Well, I have. And most of the time it won’t be a very kind experience to both your hips and your derriere.
But since I probably won’t be winning the Super Lotto anytime soon, I might as well enjoy it.
Welcome!
The Decagon is the group blog of the Communication and Media Studies 132 (Writing Views) class under Mr. John Ryan Recabar.
Feel free to read around, and comments are greatly appreciated!
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