Sorsogon City, Sorsogon

January 31, 2007

The Bicol Region of Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoons Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Seniang (Dec 7-12, 2006) and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO formed 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the 4th of a 10 part series of FtH stories.

Wed, Jan 31, 2007- FtH Team No. 2 of Celia, Gretchen, and Malu stayed in Bulan to do the gift giving for the 300 families and continue assisting the Bulan Medical Mission.

FtH Team No. 3 of Carl, Jeanette, Tessie, and Pablito and with CFO’s Ivy and Edwin were picked up early in the morning with a van provided by the Mayor of Sorsogon City, for the trip to Sorsogon City. We arrived in Sorsogon City about 8:30AM and checked in our Hotel Fernando. We were then escorted to the Office of the Mayor, Sally Ante-Lee, to make a courtesy call as scheduled for 9:00 AM.

Mayor Lee started introducing herself, and the rest of the story of her life came out in the open; that she would like to be a nun but was persuaded by the last of her suitors to get married and has been happily married to the Governor of Sorsogon; that before she decided to run for Mayor, she asked for Divine guidance and signs and all 5 signs were positively answered, so she run and won against a powerful incumbent. She is going to run for Governor so that she can continue the progress of Sorsogon.

Mayor Lee came to our meeting looking like a regular housewife, with loose hair, still wet after her morning bath. She reported to the office in ordinary dress, with no make-up. But her simplicity stops there. She was with us for a day and a half showing us the ‘city within the city’ with all the government offices in one place, one-stop permit processing; the employees are to be provided with housing within walking distance of the government offices so there will be no more reasons for being late due to traffic; housing for the poor are in a GK Village within the city, with bigger living floor area than the standard GK housing. We had the gift giving in a covered court provided by her son. Carl talked about FtH and the Mayor replied with a thank you and enjoined the crowd to appreciate the efforts of strangers from Washington, DC. The Mayor also provided some used clothes where the recipients were allowed to pick what they want, as many as they want.

After lunch in their house with no fence around; where she built a chapel where everybody can go; the Mayor gave us a tour around the City, where the roads are ALL concrete paved, done by the City Engineer’s Office, even in the areas where the residents did not vote for her. She took us to Bacon where some squatters are to be relocated after their houses were damaged by the typhoon, so that the space can be developed into a tourist area. The Mayor took us to the Buhatan High School, and calls it a character school with a mission and requested the FtH for assistance for additional classrooms. Mayor Sally then invited FtH to tape a TV interview in their TV Station that will be aired that evening.

After the tour, we had dinner in a restaurant near her home. The talk got into ball room dancing and the Mayor started to clear some dancing space and Carl started the cha-cha with the Mayor. I reluctantly did my part and dance with the Mayor’s friend, the chief of the PIA’s office in Sorsogon City. CFO’s Edwin and Ivy joined in and we had some fun. After we got tired and sleepy, the Mayor asked her driver to drive us back to the Hotel and she walk by herself to her home, no security escorts; a big change of condition from our previous Bicol missions.

Thursday, February 1, 2007- At the dinner yesterday, the Mayor invited us for an early morning exercise at the Sorsogon City Bay walk. That “early” made us wake up at 4:30AM for the 5:00 AM Tai-Bo exercise at the Bay walk; a not-so-lighted pier that was made into a promenade, very clean, no squatters or vendors. With a portable generator, the sound system was blaring with a very catchy music and somebody was barking the instructions in the dark. We saw the morning light at the pier and left about 6:30 AM for breakfast in the same restaurant. It was a very sumptuous breakfast of the local variety and followed with another round of ballroom exercise, as if the Tai-Bo is not enough. My shoes repaired in Bulan by the ‘kid’ passed the test and will serve me for many years to come.

We were then escorted to another meeting with PALFSI to discuss some livelihood project in Sorsogon City, similar to a Grameen Bank, a micro financing project in different Barangays. After the meeting headed by a Monsigneur, we made a last stop on a livelihood project of processing pili nut. We bid Mayor Sally Ante-Lee good-bye with a promise to consider seriously their proposed projects and proceeded to the next FtH mission in Legaspi City.

NOTES: Mayor Sally Ante-Lee was introduced to Pablito and Tessie by Nonoy Mendoza of Arlington, VA when Sally visited DC last year. Nonoy was very impressed with the governance system and can-do attitude of Sally and we witnessed her capability and determination to improve the resident’s lives in the short time we spent with her (including her ballroom dancing expertise at all hours). Nonoy made a donation of $1000 toward the relief of the typhoon victims and pledge the donation of 2 classrooms in Sorsogon City which we tried to inspect the site.

The preparation done by the CFO staff in coordinating the procurement and packing of the gifts, arrangement for the hotels and transportation for the volunteers, scheduling the gift giving with the local government units (LGU) and non-government officials (NGO) is incredible! And the bits and pieces of the puzzle all fall into its places. There were some delays and breakdowns but all were manageable and we were able to carry out the missions.

It was a fun trip of nine days. After 2 bottles of Robitussin DM, 30 capsules of anti-biotic provided by Nurse Malu in Bulan, a bottle of Listerine to gargle my sore throat, living in a hand carry luggage and a back pack of video camera, flashlight, camera, bottled water and TP; using one shoes and a pair of slippers; sleeping in 6 hotels with somebody snoring like me and me coughing all the time; practicing my ballrooms moves in 2 nights and after one breakfast; having a night swim in a hot spring in Irosin; having my $50 shoes repaired expertly by a child labor for $1 using his agile hands and crude tools; seeing the smiles of about 2,050 recipients having Christmas gifts in January; being able to locate the sites of eight (8) classrooms to be donated through FtH, I will do it again for FEED THE HUNGRY and the poor people of Bicol. If there’s a will, HE will show the way!

Pablito
Sunday, February 18, 2007