Feed The Hungry Philippines

Rosario, Cavite

2011-02-27T05:54:00.000-08:00

From 2005 through 2011, the physically challenged students of Rosario Elementary School (RES) had grown from the one-classroom donated by Fil-Am Manassas to the 4- classrooms, 2 story building donated by the Local Government Unit (LGU). The funding was not enough to provide the ceiling in the hallway and the principal is requesting FtH to assist to complete the building with a ceiling to give comfort to the students during the hot summer weather.

Almost every year since 2005, FtH is visiting the RES, donating 2 Braille machines, school supplies and snack or lunch for the physically-challenged (PC) students. This year, in addition to the snacks and slippers for the students, the Principal requested some materials to fully cover the ceiling and provide comfort to the students. Mila with her ever-ready tape measure in her hand bag, measured the area to be covered and Eve of CFO will provide the estimate of materials needed. The school official is requesting only the materials and their local engineering staff, with the PTA, will install the ceiling.
After the turn over of TV and Braille machine in Indang, Cavite and snacks for the students in Rosario, Cavite, the FtH Volunteers, except Martin, Pio and Dr Eusebio, were treated to a special merienda at the local residence of Cesar and Fely Pontanilla of Fairfax, Virginia who are from Rosario, Cavite.

In this FtH mission, Larry and Mila donated the Braille machine and TV for the students of Indang, Cavite. With the funds Larry and Mila donated, the lunch and snack of all the PC students were also provided. The balance of the funds available will be spent on the purchase of building materials for the ceiling of the Rosario SPED classrooms. It is expected that the balance of the funds available will not be sufficient to cover the cost of building materials for the ceiling of the SPED classrooms. Any tax-deductible donation to FtH for this special project will be greatly appreciated.

Pablito
February 20, 2011

Indang, Cavite

2011-02-27T05:36:00.001-08:00

FtH dedicated this day for the physically challenged students of Indang Central ES in Indang, Cavite in the morning and the SPED students in Rosario, Cavite in the afternoon. These students need more special attention than the regular students because of their mental or physical capabilities. One parent reported to me that her daughter who is 14 years old will be joining the regular Grade I students in the same school, and she’s very happy because that’s progress! One parent mentioned that they come all the way from Mendez, a neighboring town, because the school in their area is not equipped to handle special students. This is the first FtH classroom specially designed for physically challenged (PC) students with ramps, accessible from the street, wide toilets with grab bars, etc. Martin and his son Jonathan co-sponsored these classrooms with the sister-in-law of Martin, at considerable cost than a regular classroom. We had to demolish an existing building so that this classroom could be located near the main road and be accessible to wheelchair-oriented students. Martin and his 2 brothers, Pio and Dr. Eusebio, also joined this trip, the first time the three brothers were together on an FtH charity mission.

On the way to the school, we passed by a Pure Gold Store in Alabang to buy a TV set requested by the teacher. As if Somebody is also watching after the PC students and FtH, the TV was put on sale one day before we bought it with 20% discount to be within our budget of P5, 000. The Braille machine to be donated to the school by Larry and Mila was ordered from the manufacturer in New Jersey at 50% off to FtH. It was shipped to California where the kin of Martin shipped it to Manila at no cost to FtH.

As a side story, on a recent FtH mission in Roxas City, Capiz last January 20, 2011, the SPED school in that city requested a Braille machine for their school. The FtH Volunteers Gloria and Baby immediately agreed to donate the Braille machine and it was ordered. The machine arrived one day before Larry and Mila left for the Philippines and it was hand-carried to Manila. The machine is now with CFO for delivery to Roxas City SPED School.

The PC students and their parents/lolas were already in the room waiting for us. The program was started by the principal with the introduction of Larry and Mila as the donor of the TV and Braille machine and Martin as the donor of the building. The PC students were treated to a lunch from Jollibee and then were fitted one by one for slippers by “Old Navy”, a branded name in the Philippines that were donated by Terry and Eden Dela Cruz, nephew of Tess from California. It was shipped by balikbayan box last Nov 15, 2010 and arrived in the Philippines about a week before the visit to Indang SPED FtH classrooms.

After sharing the lunch of fried chicken, spaghetti, and rice with the special students, we said goodbye to the very happy students and the much happier teachers and principal with their new teaching aid of a Braille machine and a TV.

February 14, 2011

Muntinlupa, Rizal

2011-01-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

Do you know what it takes to make a Feed the Hungry Feeding Project come to a fruitful, meaningful, successful ending? A lot of coordination, lots of expensive phone calls, meetings, checking and double checking and on the day of the event…. you crossed your fingers, say a lot of prayers and let things happen as to come what may. And the best things always happened for HE said, “anything you do for my brethren, you do unto me” or something like that.

This all started when we arrived last January 10, 2011 at the T. S. Cruz Village in Muntinlupa, Rizal where we saw young boys playing basketball in the court where it is supposed to be young kids being treated to lunch on a FtH sponsored Feeding Project. We, and 3 other car-load of FtH volunteers did not know and we were not informed that the venue had been transferred to another location about six (6) months ago. We ended up in a meeting at our house in Hillsborough, getting to know each other and talking about other FtH projects.

A lesson learned, we did not leave it to chance for the next feeding session in the new location. We got a map showing the location but the driving instruction is different as indicated on the map. We met with the operator of a rental van at Jollibee in Glorietta 4 in Makati and talked about rates, dates, time and pick up station but 3 days before the event Lottie called to ask about the van whose driver is supposed to contact Lottie right after our meeting. On the day of the event, our guide suggested meeting at the parking lot of Festival Mall, near the “Shuttle” Café ( actually Seattle’s Best) and I changed it to the my favorite place, the Jollibee shop at the rest stop at Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) where we do not have to pay parking fee. There were five volunteers from the Makati area but the meeting place is in Shangri-La-Edsa, about half an hour away. Baby H. called that she will be driving and I requested her to pass by Cielito Inn to pick up Carl, Jeanette and Kara.

Then I asked Vi B. if she and her niece can take a taxi to Muntinlupa because the van is already full with 15 passengers. She did and asked her to meet us at Jollibee at SLEX which is closer. After calling me for more instructions, talking to the taxi driver and the niece, we saw them at Jollibee enjoying their second breakfast and happy about the experience. The driver asked to be paid for the trip back and toll fees but Vi still insisted it is very cheap, and with her portable calculator, “only” $9 for the trip!

Our guide arrived and I asked her to go ahead with Tessie as I need to wait for Baby H. and Carl in another car but asked to leave behind somebody to guide us to the place. Baby arrived in a small red car with three passengers crowded at the back. I asked Kara to transfer to us as I was driving a bigger but older Nissan Cefiro (this model is not in the US). We arrived at the Espeleta Feeding Center, passing through narrow streets with no names, crowded with tricycles and pedestrian, made it to the place with no scratches.

The van carrying Lottie, Willie, Ethel, Mario, Bing and wife, Armando and wife, Dr Chua, Dr Sonny from Hawaii who traveled from Greenhills, Ernie, Paul M who joined the D’Palaos Golf Club, Ben and Grace was almost behind us. Twenty one (21) FtH volunteers in 2 cars and a van made it to the feeding center this time, on time!

One more additional problem on our return from the Feeding Center. Baby with Ethel had to go another place leaving 5 volunteers in the Makati area stranded. How do you fit 5 passengers in 3 spaces in the van? Very easy, I requested our host to drive Tess, a sacrifice, back to Hillsborough and drove the 5 volunteers to Makati. We had lunch of 2 biggg pizza, 2 lettuce wrap and bottomless tea at the CPK in Glorietta 4. I had free lunch since I am the designated driver. And we all went home happy to have done our good deed for the day.

PABLITO
January 26, 2011

Pandi, Bulacan

2011-01-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

DO you know what it takes, what happens when you donate a classroom to Feed the Hungry? As soon as FtH receives your donation of P400,000 per classroom, complete with blackboard, chairs, teachers table, lights and electrical outlets for future computer connections, 2 electric fans, upgraded comfort room (called CR in the Philippines, Restrooms in US) with flushing toilet, wash basins, soap and toilet paper holder, ceramic tiles in the floor and walls for easy cleaning; with removal partition to convert the two (2) classroom into a big meeting room; insulated roof, 2 exterior doors for safety, grille windows for security, painted through out……..the wheels of progress starts rolling.

With the assistance of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, FtH start looking for a suitable school that needs classrooms due to overcrowding of students. The schools in the town that the donor will select or where FtH will assign the classrooms, a short list of schools with a high student to classroom ratio, generally those with over 50 students per classroom, or those with 2 shifts of classes, from 7:00AM – 12PM and from 1:00 – 6:00PM. With the short list of schools, CFO staff and/or FtH Volunteers visit the site to ascertain that there is ample space to build the classroom, selection of the building site to minimize the cost of construction; that it is not on a flood plain or the floors had to be elevated to prevent flooding; that the lot is titled to the school to insure that the classrooms will stay in the school “forever”.

With the school selected, the site approved for building, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is drafted by CFO, naming the signatories to the agreement and their responsibilities; FtH to provide the funds to build the classroom, to seek the services of a contractor to build the classrooms; CFO to coordinate and monitor the construction of the classrooms, to provide to the contractor partial payments as progress is achieve according to the agreement; the contractor to build the classrooms; the Principal to provide temporary housing and utilities for the construction; the Barangay Captain to provide the permit at no cost to FtH and assure the safety of the construction workers and provide assistance as needed like providing back fill materials when the floors had to be elevated.

Assuming that there are no delays due to inclement weathers, lack of building materials, the classroom can be completed in 45-60 days. The classrooms are turned-over to the school for immediate use. Inauguration ceremonies are held to instill into the students the need of giving back to the communities, hoping they will follow the example of the FtH donors who have been successful in life because of their education.

Pandi is the last of the 3 schools we visited, after Meycauayan NHS and the Kagabay Site in San Jose Del Monte, all in BULACAN. We started early and went home late but always happy that FtH were able to donate another classrooms, Nos. 77 & 78.

Pablito
Saturday, January 15, 2011

Payatas B, Quezon

2011-01-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

YOUTH HOPE CENTER

April 5, 2010: We visited the unfinished Hope Youth Center in Payatas B, Quezon City with contractor Engr Myles, and discussed the situation with Rev Lando Jaluag. The original contractor went bankrupt and abandoned the construction. Rev Lando was able to get in touch with FtH Board member Lito and Lito seek the help of FtH to complete the construction. Together with financial help from Lito’s church in Kona, Hawaii, it was decided to help Rev. Lando finish the building where he planned to help the youths in the area.

December 28, 2010: Rev Lando is now Fr. Lando, after his vows of priesthood. In seven (7) months of preparation, signing of the Memorandum of Agreement, and construction, the building has been completed and painted. It was time to inaugurate the building with the arrival of the donors from Kona, Hawaii. We drove to Dusit Hotel in Makati to meet with Lito at 1:00PM, where Martin picks us up. Together, we proceeded to the Tower Condominium near Wack Wack G&CC in Greenhills, where Dr. Sonny Genio is staying. One more stop at Richmond Hotel in Eastwood to meet Edgar Francisco, all from Hawaii. With the party completed, we headed for the Youth Hope Center (HYC) in Payatas B, Quezon City for the scheduled 3:00PM inauguration.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Antipolo did the official blessing of the building. We had a candle light procession from the parish church to the HYC about 2 block s away. There were 2 stations where we cut a ceremonial chain, before we reached the front door of the HYC where the Bishop started the blessing of the building. The Bishop sprayed the holy water in all the rooms, the kitchen, bathrooms and the walls of the building to make them resist damage. After the blessing, we returned to the church, had snack prepared by the students of culinary department, entertained by some members of the youth club.

The YHC will be used for training of the youths in the area for massage, cooking, weaving, sewing, and other skills to help them find jobs and be productive citizens. The YHC will provide a place for the youths to meet and keep them busy, away from drugs and crime, under the guidance of Rev. Lando.

Pablito
Jan 7, 2011

Dumagats

2011-01-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

Vangie just arrived the day before from the US and immediately went to work in giving the Dumagats (an indigenous people, IP) of Rodriguez, formerly Montalban, Rizal some meaningful beginning for the Year 2011. Tess did the preparation for the gift-giving to 300 families AND a separate package for 200 children. With a limited budget of $7 per pack, Tess selected the items from Pure Gold Grocery store and arranged with the manager to repack into individual packages and deliver the 500 packages to Martin’s warehouse in Pasig, Rizal. Rodriguez is some 2 hours away from Manila, through narrow, congested streets and Pure Gold will deliver only up to Pasig. Martin volunteered to deliver the gifts to Rodriguez in their company truck, free of charge. On Dec 28, 2010, we went back to Pure Gold to order additional P100 worth of groceries per package, when we were told that there was some left over budget available to spend in 2010.

We were supposed to be in Rodriguez, Rizal by 10:00 AM and Martin decided to meet in Pasig at 6:30 AM, making allowance for traffic delays. I left Hillsborough Subd. At 5:00AM, waking at 4:00AM, to meet with Eileen A., a new FtH volunteer from Seattle, Washington, whom we met during the conference sponsored by CFO last Dec 8, 2010. I emailed Eileen with 3 possible locations where we can meet but I did not get a reply back. When I left Hillsborough, I texted Eileen that I am on the road and when she replied “ OK, see you soon”, I thought she was not coming and we will see each other on the next mission. When I was some 15 minutes away, already on C-5, she texted again that she’s on the way. I found out later that she was trying to get a taxi since 4:00 AM and finally her cousin checked on her and decided to give her a ride. The moral of the story is email and texting is cheaper but phone, in person, is better to avoid miscommunications.

I parked on a Shell gas station on C5 in Pasig and emailed my location and waited until Eileen arrived. It was 5:30 AM; we decided to have breakfast at Jollibee at Tiendesitas before continuing to Pasig. A breakfast of corned beef on fried rice and egg with coffee is very much welcomed by my empty stomach. We were at the warehouse of Martin by 630AM, well-fed, happy and on schedule.

Martin also had to be awake by 5:00 AM to do some last minute grocery shopping for
his New Year dinner party at home, with only about 20 relatives. It was a big sacrifice for Martin to go with us on this mission and leave his duties at home but he knows about 300 families are waiting for us in Rodriguez and away we left his warehouse at 7:30AM in his van, with his truck and 2 guys following us.

We passed by San Mateo, Rizal the town before Rodriguez. We noticed a lot of indigenous people (IP), maybe Dumagats or Aetas, dark short people with curly hairs, some with babies tied with bandanas on their front or backs, begging in the streets, living on sidewalk, under canvas tents. About a week before, I read in the papers about Badjaos camping in the Monumento area in Balintawak. These Badjaos are normally living on houses built on stilts over water in Sulu, in Southern Philippines. Same stories about mountain people in Mindanao migrating to Davao City, being housed temporarily in basketball courts, begging in the streets. It only means that ‘progress’ claimed by the government are not filtering to this indigenous people.

We arrived in Rodriguez around 9:30 AM, after asking for some direction twice. There were already some beneficiaries waiting in the courtyard of St Rafael Parish Church. We noticed some volunteers hauling lunch boxes and lining them up in the church. We also noticed that some of the ‘natives’ are straight haired, light complexions and doesn’t look liked the IP guys we saw in San Mateo. We talked to a mother with a baby in tow and she told us that they came from the mountain, about 2 hours away, by walking down the mountain and taking a tricycle into town. It appears that some IP had already intermarried with some lowland people and “improving” their race, the real Pilipinos.

We backed up the truck and unloaded 800 gift packs, one at a time, passing the pack from one volunteer to another, like a fire brigade. We then distributed lunch boxes of rice and ground beef, with gallons and gallons of water to push it down. After lunch, the IP settled down and Vangie started the program with a prayer and information about FtH, introduction of the volunteers and acknowledgement of the assistance of Martin for the use of the truck.

Vangie invited some natives to perform before the crowd and we were not disappointed. A girl even cried while singing, an adult lady sang with gusto and then a party of 4 dancers and 2 singers, in their native attire, did a native dance but with a Tagalog song, I think. The performers were given some chocolates as their prize and then we proceeded with the gift giving.

We started with the 300 adults that were issued a claim ticket, no ticket, no gifts. And the volunteers relayed the passing of the gifts from one volunteer to another until all 300 were served. Some late comers were also given their gifts. It was a smooth operation until some IP decided to form a second line and then a third line, very eager to get their gifts or afraid they will not get any. We had to stop the distribution a couple of times until they form just one line and everything went fine.

FtH volunteers then had a quick meeting on how to handle the gifts for the 200 children with no tickets. There are families with 4 or 6 kids and we only prepared for one kid per family, for 200 kids. It was decided that each kid will line up with their mother or father or Lolas and the barangay captain who knows all the families was positioned in front to identify and make sure that only one kid per family will receive the gift. The plan worked and we were finished by 1:00 PM.

We said our good byes to Vangie, her sister Loy who requested the distribution of the gifts to the Dumagat people, her brother who brought along his 3 teenage daughters to help in the distribution, and other local volunteers in the area. Then, on the way back to Manila, Martin treated the very hungry FtH volunteers of Pablito and Eileen and himself to a very delicious Chinese feast at the Shangri-La in Ortigas.

It was a very long day, a long journey for me starting at 4:00 AM and ending up about 4 PM, luckily on the same day. Was it worth for the Dumagats to spend a day waiting for $8 worth of gifts, traveling more than 2 hours, one way, from the mountain to the town and then another 2 hours going back in the afternoon? It must be or else they would not have done it. And they were very happy to bring back something without paying for it, a gift after Christmas although some or most of them are not Christians. If the Dumagats are happy, the few Feed the Hungry volunteers are very happy to bring smiles to so many families.

Pablito
Jan 5 2011

Barangay Lubayat Elementary School, Real, Quezon

2011-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Tess was already awake even before the alarm I set on my cell phone which is 5:00 AM. I also set another alarm on my watch at 5:30AM, just in case I overslept and miss the first alarm. We are still suffering from jet lag due to the time difference between Virginia and Manila which is 13 hours at this time of the year.

I have a schedule to meet with Martin at 7:00 AM in Valle Verde 5 in Pasig City, then to meet with CFO staff in Real, Quezon to inspect the ongoing on construction of 2 classrooms donated by Jonathan Gaw from NY and his father, Martin Gaw, in memory of Martin ‘s brother, George Gaw. To accompany us in this inspection is the auditor from the Commission on Audit to make sure that the construction is done according to the agreement with CFO and the contractor, before allowing CFO to make a partial payment to the contractor, Engr. Myles.

I left our house in Hillsborough, Alabang around 5:30AM, hoping to get some breakfast along the way. The McDonald and Jollibee on C-5 were still closed before 6:00 AM but the Chow King at Tiendesitas in Pasig was already waiting for me. I ended up with a bowl of King Congee, a bowl of porridge with salted eggs, a piece of meat, etc., and a cup of coffee, for less tahn $2.00. Savoring my salty breakfast and reading the bad news in the Manila Bulletin, I left at 6:45 AM to meet with Martin, about 5 minutes away.

Martin and Pablito are supposed to meet with CFO in Real, Quezon, at the crossing of the National Rd and the local road leading to Barangay Lubayat. The last time Martin visited Lubayat to do the site inspection, Martin used his brand new Toyota and the road was so bad that the chassis of his car kept bumping on the road. This time we transfered to the CFO van which has a higher clearance but still bumps the road in some spots.

The local resident in the rest stop where we waited for CFO told us that Barangay Lubayat is just a ‘short’ 9 kilometers away, maybe about 30 minutes drive only. After the CFO arrived and had snack of soda and pastry (actually local bread with some fillings) from the corner store, we all rode on the van and started our ‘trek’ to Brgy. Lubayat.

After a short 100 feet of concrete pavement, the road turned into 10-kilometers of mixed surface; of dirt road, dirt and gravel road, some boulder road, some road over a creek with no bridge, then another 100 feet of rough concrete road in front of the school and then.... no more roads. And it took us an hour of crawling, and bumping and rolling but we made it to the school. Now I know how Martin felt with his new car last time.

We were met by Principal Rowena R. Sagun and Teacher Mary Jane F. Friginal of Grades 5 and 6, who will occupy the new classrooms, who’s students are old enough to take care of the new classrooms, with brand new flushing toilets, compared to the principal’s office with the ‘squat-buhos’ style of toilet. We were told by Principal Sagun that they were visited by The Learning Tree for possible donation of computers but were turned down because their old classrooms are not properly secured to prevent theft of the computers. Prin. Sagun will request reconsideration with The Learning Tree with the new classrooms.

We were shown the stage which ‘temporarily ‘housed the students for more than a year, while waiting for additional space to come from heaven, as the teachers prayed for a miracle to happen. And the miracle did happened when FtH donated the classrooms. The new classrooms were provided with lights, 4 ceiling fans, the chairs and tables will arrive tomorrow to complete the project, the painter will finish the label on the walls, the stainless steel marker is already in place; the movable partition was greatly improved from the earlier version; the walls are freshly painted just waiting for the inauguration to happen in January 2011 when the students are back in session. The new classrooms are a big contrast in appearance to the old dilapidated, un-repaired, un-painted classrooms with broken glass.

We were treated to lunch of rice with sweet and sour sauce on assorted kind of fish, small fried fish, and a mix of veggies of corn, peas and carrot direct from the USA. It was a very welcomed lunch prepared by the principal and the teacher, we traded some jokes and laughs and tentatively set the inauguration on Jan 19, 2011, weather permitting.

After lunch, we turned over a set of encyclopedias, a bag of toys, and a box of colored paper they can use in art class. We said our goodbyes and head back to the crossing, dreading the trip back, but we must, to get home.

Pablito
Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Agoncillo, Batangas

2011-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

CFO driver Angie and PMO Staff Erwin and Tobi picked up Pablito in Hillsborough Village at 8:00 AM for the site visit to the FtH classrooms in Brgy Bangin, Agoncillo, Batangas, the AURELIA CAROLINO SOLIS LEARNING CENTER. I noticed that Angie skipped the faster, shorter Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) in favor of the busy, traffic-clogged route of Bacoor, Dasmarinas, Tagaytay most probably to avoid the high toll fees. We stopped for breakfast in a Jollibee restaurant in Tagaytay for about 15 minutes and proceeded to our destination to Agoncillo, arriving at the school at around 11:00 AM.

Today, the teacher from DSWD decided to combine the 2 sections into one and dismissed the class by 10:00 AM and the students were all gone when we got there, but she stayed behind and waited for us. Usually there are 2 sessions in the morning, from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM and the second session from 10AM-12:00 Noon. The classrooms were very clean, the ceramic floor tiles very shinny. Only one of the 2 classrooms was being used for the kids ages 3-5 years old as a day care. Later, the Mayor explained that the other classroom will also be busy when some kids from another Barangay will be transferred to the FtH Classrooms by January 2011. It appears that some parents are resisting the transfer due to the additional cost of commuting of the students with the parent in chaperon.

The DSWD teacher accompanied us to the office of the Mayor, Glorioso Martinez, whom we have met when we first made the courtesy call during the initial stages of the classroom project, some 2 years ago, how time flies when you are enjoying your work. The Mayor explained that the survey of the school grounds, as required in the MOA, has been done already but could not be released until paid for, and the voucher is almost ready. After the survey, the title will be registered, the fence will be built, a marker will be posted at the gate to the school, some playground equipments will be installed, all scheduled to be completed by 2011. The Mayor also expected that the 2 classrooms will be fully utilized when other day care center in other Barangays will be transferred to this Center.

We left Agoncillo by about 1PM, had lunch in Tagaytay in one of those native restaurant with a grand view of Taal lake and I was home in Hillsborough by 4PM tired but happy that we were able to clarify some issues about the school.

Pablito
Dec 16, 2010.

Aplaya Elementary School, Pila, Laguna

2010-04-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Looking back a year ago, the Principal cried in the middle of her speech, on the stage, in front of everybody, when the Principal accepted the donation of 2 classrooms from FtH to the Balatbat Elementary School in Lobo, Batangas last April 18, 2009. It is a gift of much needed classrooms in the crowded school from FtH, an organization half way around the world, the Principal have not heard of until February 2009. The classrooms, donated by the Gaw Family, built in less than 2 months are a gift of love from the FtH volunteers to the students of Balatbat ES, from FtH volunteers the students have not seen and most probably will never meet.

And today, the Barangay Kagawad, looking tough and weathered beyond his age, always exposed to the sun the whole day, with his everyday farming and fishing for a livelihood, cried unashamedly in front of schools staff and FtH volunteers when he acknowledge the donation of 2 classrooms to Aplaya Elementary School in Pila, Laguna. The classrooms will replace the classrooms damaged by Typhoon Ondoy last November 2009. For two months after the typhoon, the students had to pay P2 to ride the boats to another school on higher grounds in another neighborhood, until the water subsided and the school ground had been cleaned of mud and debris. Grades 1 and 2 had to share the basketball court since their classrooms had been damaged by Typhoon Ondoy. The teachers had to play musical chairs with the blackboard to shield the students from the hot sun in the morning and later in the afternoon. The students had to suffer the dust and the noise from the street in the open classrooms. The school officials and local government have repeatedly asked for some help from the Department of Education and high government officials and all they get were empty promises to replace their classrooms.

FtH must be doing something good to make these seasoned people cry, in appreciation of the classroom donation. These people must have prayed for some miracles and FtH answered the call through some divine guidance. It was already late in the afternoon, FtH volunteers and CFO staffs were very tired from visiting about six (6) sites in Pagsanjan and Pila, since we left Manila about 8:30 AM. We already called it a day around 4:00PM; since we need two more hours to get home, when the phone rang and the teachers were asking our contact, Jerry of CFO, if we can still visit the school. We turned back; saw the school and we agreed on the need for the classrooms. Today, we met with the school staff, the Barangay officials, PTA for the pre-construction meeting, signing of the MOA and the ground breaking. The classrooms will be ready when school starts in June 14, 2010.

St Anthony Boys Village

2010-04-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

St Anthony Boys Village (SABV) is a home for indigent students, located inside the 7 hectares compound of the Rogationist College (RC) in Km 52 Aguinaldo Highway, Brgy Lalaan 2nd, Silang, Cavite 4118. Fr. Herman Abcede, RCJ, is the Superior of SABV, a member of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus.

My contact with SABV is Mr. Venancio De Los Reyes, a SABV supporter, who used to be with the Scholarship Department of the De La Salle University (DLSU) in Dasmarinas, Cavite where the Philippine Association of Metropolitan Washington Engineers (PAMWE) have a scholarship when Pablito was the head of the Scholarship Committee of PAMWE. Ven is no longer with DLSU but was able to re-establish our contact through the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). Ven invited me to visit the SABV and promised to treat me to an Italian lunch or dinner, if I should come. Last month, coming from a trip to Tagaytay, Tess and Pablito dropped unannounced to visit SABV but there was no Ven and no Fr. Herman at the RC. Persistence and patience ruled and FtH with CFO finally made it to SABV today.

Fr. Herman and Ven were on hand to welcome the FtH volunteers Fely and Manny D. from Las Vegas and Pablito and CFO staff Eve, Marie and Angie. Fr. Herman gave us an introduction to SABV and RC and then a walking tour of their facilities. The campus is not designed for physically challenged persons and/or students; no escalators and elevators; Manny noticed no provisions for emergency or security lighting or public address system. But RC is like UP Diliman and Don Bosco School, combined, in a smaller scale. Besides high school, RC has many different colleges and trade schools. RC accepts students from outside and the residents of the SABV, called interns, are integrated in the school.

Starting with the Administration Building, we then climb up to the 3rd or 4th floor Library, then down to the trade building of welding, automotive, electronics, physics and chemistry laboratories, etc., a complete, commercial-quality printing press; an amphitheater; a huge, well ventilated, insulated gymnasium where they held the graduation exercise for about 500 high school and college graduates a year, a cafeteria with complete institutional kitchen facilities; the boys home and finally, to their dining room where we were served, among other Pinoy foods, the delicious Italian spaghetti and pizza promised to me by Ven and topped with fruit salad and espresso coffee made from a big, commercial coffee machine.

We said TY and goodbye to the interns and other fathers and went back to discuss “business” with Fr. Herman in his air conditioned office, a welcome respite from the tropical heat outside. Being an educational facility, Fr. Herman is seeking assistance to be able to accept more indigent students to the school and to be able to build more rooms to house the interns. Pablito suggested to Fr. Herman to prepare a ‘wish list’, with estimated cost and number of beneficiaries; submit the proposal to CFO for evaluation and recommendation to FtH and other associations who might be able to help them. We were thankful to Ven and Fr. Herman for the tour of the SABV and RC, which you will not be able to appreciate just looking from the outside.

April 21, 2010

Our Lady of Peace Hospital

2010-04-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Sister Eva Maamo of the Our Lady of Peace Hospital in Brgy San Dionisio, Paranaque, recieved a variety of medicines and medical supplies from FtH . This hospital provides free medical services to indigent families around the area as well as extended medical services to the indigenous tribes in Zambales and Mindanao

Pasig

2010-04-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Left to Right: Pablito of FtH, Ms. Flordeliza A. Adan, Administrator Pasig Gen. Hosp., Ms. Imelda Biscocho,Pasig. Gen Hosp., Sir Boyet of CFO, Tess A. of FtH, and Tobi of CFO

MEDICINES FOR PASIG GENERAL HOSPITAL
The medicines were solicited by Bettina O. of FtH from the Catholic Medical Mission Board of New York; was shipped last December 8, 2009 through donations of Washington DC Fil-Ams; cleared through Custom by first week of Feb 2010 and stored in his warehouse by Martin G., a FtH. Honorary Chairperson based in Manila. The Administrator and a staff of Pasig Gen. Hospital is very appreciative of the medicines and have stated that their indigent patients can really use the free supply of medicines. The rest of the medicines are being given to other areas affected by Typhoon Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi.

Los Banos, Laguna

2010-04-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Feed the Hungry Classrooms Nos. 75 & 76, was formally started today with a pre-construction meeting among the signatories to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) namely FtH volunteers Pablito and Tess, CFO staff Tobi, Contractor Engr. Adriano, Principal Encabo, Brgy Captain Alborida, PTA president, and other school officials.

Principal Syl was very excited about the unexpected donation of the classrooms as she was wondering where to place her new teacher and more students from a new GK village nearby. Her prayers were answered and she was surprised when the construction crew and building materials arrived this week.

Capt. Alborida and the PTA President promised to fully support the construction of the classrooms by providing sweat equity from the parent and barangay residents by helping haul the materials from the road to the construction site, some distance away. Capt. Alborida assured the provision of back fill materials to level the site. All local government officials and school staff promised to protect and maintain their new classrooms.

After a long day of hard and enjoyable work, on our way back to Manila, we treated every one in our group of FtH, CFO and Engr. Myles with an ice cold , delicious, sweet, 'fiesta' (as in super big bowl) halo-halo at Chow King.

In 1993, the idea of Feed the Hungry was borne here in Los Banos when Pablito and Tess met a young street orphan begging for alms. Instead of giving some change, Tess invited the boy to have lunch with us. In gratitude for his breakfast and lunch (and maybe dinner), the boy did not accept any handout and kept on repeating his thanks to the couple. Noticing that Pablito could not back out into the very busy street, the boy placed his young body in harms' way and stopped the traffic from both directions to gave me a chance to drive home. As we drove away, we still heard him say "THANK YOU and BALIK PO KAYO", which we did every year, ever since, with other FtH volunteers joining in.

Donsol, Sorsogon

2010-04-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last Feb. 12, 2010 , another historical milestone happened in the FtH Classroom Project. While some of the FtH Volunteers were inaugurating the first FtH classrooms for the physically-challenged students in Indang, Cavite, four seasoned FtH volunteers traveled to Donsol, Sorsogon, on their own expense, to inaugurate two classrooms donated to Donsol Comprehensive National High School. That's two classroom inauguration in one day!

Joe Naldo, the donor, and his mother Mrs. Naldo who hails from Donsol, Carl Abella and Jeanette Calahong flew to Legaspi City, took a shuttle to Donsol, Sorsogon to inaugurate the two classrooms. On the trip back the same day, they inspected the water system FtH donated in Buhatan NHS in Sorsogon City and stayed overnight in Legaspi City for the trip back to Manila the following morning. It is a long, exhausting, expensive, trip for two days but the FtH volunteers were happy to be able to donate the classrooms and make the students very happy.

During the inauguration, the students of the newly donated classrooms were also treated to a lunch and gifts of school supplies, also donated by Dra. Juliet (also from Donsol) and Joe Naldo.

Since 2003, Feed the Hungry has donated 72 classrooms through out the Philippines, two (2) are under construction in Talingting ES in Carles, Iloilo in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Kalibo, Aklan; two (2) will start construction this Wednesday, Mar. 17, in Los Banos, Laguna and four (4) more are to be built in Pandi, Bulacan and Infanta, Quezon. The Philippines need around 39,900 more classrooms and they need them yesterday. Those individuals and organizations wishing to donate classrooms can get in touch with any FtH Board members and/or visit the FtH web site www.feedthehungryphil.org.

Taguig, Rizal

2010-03-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

The first of 30 boxes of assorted medicines was turned over to Mr. & Mrs. Bobby and Tess Rodrigo of Rotary Club and Gawad Kalinga of Taguig, Rizal for free distribution to residents in need of the medicines.

Two other medicine boxes will be delivered by Manny and Fely D of Las Vegas to typhoon victims in Anabu-I Health Center in Imus, Cavite and Payocpoc Sur Health Center in Bauang, La Union.

Some of the medicine boxes, together with some relief goods shipped from Virginia last Dec 8, 2009, will be mailed, some will be picked up at the office of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the rest will be delivered personally to save on the shipping charges. Pablito 3/8/2010

Pandi, Bulacan

2010-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

I took a taxi at 630AM for the 8:00 AM trip from CFO to Pandi, Bulacan for inspection of 2 classroom sites and a livelihood project. I arrived at CFO at 7:00 AM and had a leisurely breakfast at Jollibee across from CFO’s office. The combination fried corned beef, fried egg, fried rice and strong-fried coffee cost me Php65 ($1.50) after a 20% discount for senior citizens.

We left CFO at 8:00AM with Engr. Adriano and Tobi of CFO. Our driver, Leo, was hesitant to leave early as the traffic near CFO is really very heavy with the closure of a bridge near CFO for repairs. There were grid locks at intersections as there were no traffic lights; a lone traffic officer was on one corner directing traffic from the sideline. At one intersection, Leo got excited, got out and confronted a tricycle driver blocking our left turn while the tricycle driver was trying to go straight. It was smooth driving when we reached the North Luzon Express Way (NLEX).

Tobi used to be a salesman for Coca Cola and Pandi is part of his territory. Even with his consulting with a friend who is still with Coke, we missed the turn to Pandi by at least a mile. We then stopped by a Petron gas station and meet with our contact in Pandi, Tony J., who owns a ‘farm’ there. The farm turns out to be a breeding farm for game cocks, about 400 of them, about P5000 each.

Tony led the way to our first stop at the Ramirez NHS. We met with the principal who is very hopeful that FtH will donate the classrooms to them. The principal told us that the school have title to the property, have the space to build the classroom, have a 70 student per classroom ratio, willing to get the PTA involve with the construction and maintenance of the classrooms and will accept the ‘red color’ standard of FtH classrooms. Our next stop was at a primary school, photo attached, who have a classrooms donated by CGMA, a new 2 classroom building given by the DECS at a cost of P1,300,000, an old Marcos-type classroom and a single room building. Their student/classroom ratio is 40 students per classroom, even with the new students relocated there from Manila. If we add 2 more classrooms in the only space available, the whole school with be wall-to-wall buildings with no space to breath the air.

Tony treated us to lunch of chicken tinola, chop suey and caldereta and with other barangay officials as we discussed their proposed livelihood project. Tony then showed us a rice field, very dry with dead grass which he would like to turn into a vegetable garden for the community, with a possible FtH funding of a deep well. I urged Tony to prepare a proposal to FtH about this livelihood project, estimated cost, number of families to be benefited by the deep well and FtH will evaluate the proposal.

Our last stop was Tony’s farm with his game cocks, his breeding stocks, a piggery and a tilapia fish pond on his 5 hectare lot. Tony was just recuperating from a bite from a part- pit bull when he tried to break a fight between his guard dogs. I told him my story of being bitten also by a dog last week. With the temperature at 90 degrees, we were given ice cold water and we said our TYs and ‘till we meet again’ for the classroom construction and livelihood project. Pablito 3/3/2010

Catbalogan, Samar

2010-03-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

Feed the Hungry volunteers Percy and Pepito S., Pablito and Tess, Fely and Manny D. and their niece Gloria F. from Las Vegas met at Terminal 2 of the airport at 6:30 AM, Feb 18, 2010 for the 8:50 AM flight to Tacloban, Leyte. From the airport, we hired a van to take us to our hotel in downtown Tacloban. We had lunch at Chow King, toured a couple of sites around Tacloban and retired for the early trip the following day. We spent Friday, Feb 19, visiting the water system in Brgy Pagmisian, Bontoc and the classrooms in Maasin, Southern Leyte. Saturday morning, Feb 20, we checked out of our hotel in Tacloban and boarded a van arranged by Betty L. for the trip to Catbalogan, Samar.

We crossed the beautiful San Juanico Bridge, connecting Leyte and Samar. Last time I was in this area was in 1962, in a Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey ship, navigating the San Juanico Strait, under the bridge. The small huts/stores near the pier in 1962 are now a BIG MacDonald restaurant. At that time in 1962, McDo is not yet in my vocabulary.

We checked in at Fortune Hotel in downtown Catbalogan and right across our hotel is a banner announcing the FtH mission. The venue is in the St Mary's College, next to the church, about a block away from our hotel. We had breakfast in Jollibee, about 2 blocks away, and took a walking tour around the market, plaza, and church to get familiar with Catbalogan.

Sunday, February 28, 2010, we took a walk in the opposite direction and reach the pier about 2 blocks away. We saw the fresh catch of the day, shrimps, they're big, lots of them. We had breakfast at Jollibee again; hear the mass and then the gift giving at 10AM.

Our partners in this gift giving are the Ladies of Charities of Catbalogan. They selected the 500 indigent recipients, purchased the gifts, prepared the individual packages and issued the claim tickets to the recipients. We also have the assistance of ALERT, a local organization to help with crowd control. Pepito introduced FtH, mentioned that the funds are coming from donors from Metro WashDC and the distribution began with Tess collecting the tickets, Gloria handling the gifts and the rest of FtH volunteers assisting. The recipients were grouped in 10 to avoid overcrowding. After the gift giving, Betty treated the volunteers to lunch and we then visited a Monsignor whose house on top of the hill provided a panoramic view of Catbalogan City and Samar Bay.

We also visited the on-going medical mission by the PMAA of New York, under Dr. Prospero Lim and Evan and Dra. Prado. The mission is for 3 days and they expect to treat about 8,000 patients, with free medicines. We met Dr Lim in NY last November 2009. Dr Lim donated $500 to FtH to cover the cost of shipping 23 boxes of books to Catbalogan.

We were invited for dinner at the LIM CLAN REUNION held at the Samar School gymnasium. We arrived while Dr. Prospero Lim of NY was addressing the rest of the Lims. The first clan reunion I attended was about a week ago with the JOYA Clan Reunion in Gen. Trias Convention Center in Cavite, attended by about a 1,000 of the Joya Families. When we were about to leave, Betty was requested and she did a very graceful rendition of the “Kuracha” a money-dance tradition where people throw money on a table cloth on the floor to keep Betty dancing. Then, local dance instructors partnered with Betty, Tess and Percy for a cha-cha number and then we said good night to all.

Monday, Feb 22, 2010, about 9:00 AM, we left Catbalogan for the shuttle to Tacloban Airport for our flight back to Manila. The original 2PM flight was moved to 5:00 PM. We had plenty of time so we dropped by the Dept. of Health Processing Plant, just after the San Juanico Bridge, where Pito and Fely bought some Lagundi Plant and Lagundi and Sambong tablets, Bayabas soap and toured the plant. The Philippine Airlines came and left on time. We were home by 8PM after a successful 3-FtH mission trip to Leyte and Samar.

Maasin, Southern Leyte

2010-03-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

CLASSROOMS IN BACTUL-I PRIMARY SCHOOL, MAASIN, SO. LEYTE

We arrived at Maasin for an inspection of the existing classrooms in Bactul-I Primary School.

The classrooms were built in January 2007 by the contractor of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) through the Classrooms Galing sa Mamamayan Pilipino Abroad (CGMA), a joint project of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department for Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Education and Cultural Services (DECS) and were inaugurated on March 16, 2007 by the donor, Eleanor Credo-Lindner and FtH volunteers Pablito and Tessie. It was reported about a year ago that the glass on the windows were breaking by itself and numerous cracks on the walls were noticed. These classrooms were revisited this Feb 19, 2010 in conjunction with another inspection of a water system in Bontoc, a nearby town of Southern Leyte.

After getting lost and asking for directions twice, we arrived at Bactul-I Primary School to the welcoming committee of the students and faculty. The family of Eleonor was on hand to greet us and Diego, the brother, had a local contractor to estimate the damage and repair of the classrooms. YES, there were several cracks on the walls, some glass on the jalousies were missing and one end wall has exposed foundations due to erosion cause by running water when it rains since it was built on a lower elevation. The school built a ditch to intercept the running water in front of the building but maybe too late, too short, to prevent further erosion of the foundation. If the classrooms were built according to the specification of the DECS, as required in the Memorandum of Agreement between FtH, CFO and CGMA, there should have been no problem with the classrooms. But we were told during the inauguration in 2007 that the construction materials and labor were transported all the way from Tacloban, about 4 hours away, and the building was completed in 2 weeks.

As usual, after the inspection, we were treated to some snacks and we bid goodbye to the students, faculty and family of Eleonor. The faculty also requested the provision of electrical and lighting system of the classrooms. We got an estimate from the local contractor. Before we left Maasin, we were treated to dinner by Governor Mercado of Southern Leyte. We got back in Tacloban around 6PM, before sundown, as scheduled.

Upon arrival in Manila, we requested our partner, CFO, to request assistance from the Southern Leyte Provincial Engineer’s office to investigate the construction of the classroom, if according to the standards of the DECS and for action against the contractor, if found defective.

February 23, 2010

Water Supply System in Barangay Pagmisian

2010-03-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

Muntinlupa City

2010-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

THE FTH T.S. CRUZ VILLAGE FEEDING PROGRAM STORY
FEB. 11, 2010

We arrived in Manila after an almost 36 hours travel from Leesburg, Virginia. Our son drove us to the airport for a 630AM flight and we were at Washington Dulles by 2 in the morning of Feb 9, 2010, to allow for possible snow emergencies. The 630 AM flight was first postponed to 7:09; then the Delta counter announced that they are just waiting for the flight crew; then they announced that they have problem with fueling the plane but they already have a mechanic looking into it; then Delta announced that they need to transfer the fuel from one side to the other to balance the load; then they announced that they are looking for volunteers since the flight was overbooked. The Delta offer for volunteers was very tempting but we ignored it because of this feeding project in the TS Cruz Village; we final took off by 1030 in the morning.

As we landed in Minneapolis, I saw the de-icing operation in all planes in progress. We had to transfer in Minneapolis for the plane to Japan and then to Manila. Because of the 4 hour delay in Dulles, we arrived in Minneapolis about 30 minutes before the flight to Japan. We talked to the steward for some help and she said she will have a cart standing by when we land to drive us to the other side of the terminal for the connecting flight. But there was no cart to drive us and I told Tess let’s run for it. On the way, I put my 200 lb body in front of a cart and requested the driver to take us to terminal B as we are trying to catch a plane to Japan. The driver agreed (he had no choice) and I admired his skill in zig-zag-ing around people along the way, using no horns! We arrived on the last call for boarding, with NO minutes to spare! We touched down in Manila at 1030PM, Manila Time, Feb 10. After we cleared Custom and Immigration, we were home by 2AM Feb 11

On Feb 11, same day as our arrival, we arrived at the covered basketball court at 1030AM, inside the T.S. Cruz Village in Muntinlupa City where the feeding program is being done by the FtH partners, COPA, the community outreach of the parishioners of Alabang. We were told that this FtH sponsored feeding once a month is very special to the 150 kids or so, since they get extra food; today it is hot dog, marshmallow, spaghetti and fruit juice. The kids normally get a plate of rice, one ulam and water.

A sister from the parish read a bible story about the prodigal son, one group of kids performed a dance exhibition, a prayer was said and the volunteers started giving the lunch. While having lunch, the kids were also treated by FtH to a gift of toys and school supplies.

Ex-Rep Jun Abinsay from Hawaii arrived and joined us in the distribution of lunch and gifts see photos. Later, Mr. Abinsay handed FtH a donation of $6,000 for relief operations in Baguio and Isabela affected by Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng. The Hawaiian International Relief Operation (HIRO) is coursing its relief operation through Feed the Hungry.

After the feeding, we proceed to another FtH gift giving mission to indigent families in Imus, Cavite where we almost missed the end of the event but manage to taste some newly fried turon for snack. It was a fun day that day!

Indang, Cavite

2010-02-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

FtH Inauguration of the Classrooms for the Physically Challenged students of Indang Central Elementary School, Indang, Cavite
Feb 12, 2010

Murphy’s Laws states that when you think you have prepared for everything, the least expected event happens. The date was set a long time ago but the time had to be adjusted when we arrived in Manila due to local FtH events overlapping each other. We were late.

The ceremonies just barely started at 10:00 AM when we arrived at the school with the donor’s father, Martin G., bringing along a BIG box of Braille books we solicited from Chuckie I. from Fairfax, VA. and a set of Braille machine. The Mayor has another engagement and had to be placed ahead of the other speakers. The Tolentino sisters and their brother, Mercy, Vi and Julie, with Paul S. from US were there with their donation of a brand new wheel chair. Larry and Mila, with their apo from Maryland, donated the Braille machine that we secured directly from the supplier from Massachusetts. Other FtH Board Pepito Lottie, Percy, were already seated at the head table with the rest of the VIPs from the Department of Education, the Mayor and Brgy Capt, the Principal, the teachers, the handicapped students, about 20 of them. Other FtH volunteers Fely and Manny D. from Las Vegas, Joe C., from Virginia. The engineer who handled the construction, Ms. Myles A. was there. Staff from CFO headed by Evelyn with Veda and Toby and driver Leonard. Local FtH volunteer Flor A. from Imus hitched a ride with the Dumo’s now living in Anabu, Imus, Cavite. And the rest of the event went on very smoothly except that we did not get the ice cream promised by a local supplier.

The lone entertainment was from a young, pretty student who exhibited her expertise in baton twirling, with both hands! Pepito spoke about the role of FtH. Martin gave some very good advice to the officials and PTA to help preserve the condition of the classrooms, and to the students to keep on persevering in their goals. The turn over of the Braille machine was made by Larry and Mila. The Tolentino family donated the wheel chair. Lottie, pepito, Percy, Tess, Fely and Manny turned over the Braille books. Pablito was the camera man.

After the speeches and turn over of gifts inside, the group went outside to cut the ceremonial ribbon and exhibited the stainless steel marker naming the donors, FtH, CFO, local officials of the school and the community. The school prepared a very sumptuous lunch and gifts of fresh fruit of caimitos and mangoes which every body enjoyed, to go, with these very successful celebration.

We said the usual good-byes and proceeded to two more FtH missions, a livelihood project in Paliparan, Dasmarinas, Cavite and a scholarship program in DeLaSalle University-Dasma Campus.

Payatas, Quezon City

2008-03-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Whatever happens in life, HE designed it with a purpose. For one misunderstanding in scheduling, FtH have a corresponding success story. Please read on to know the hows and the whys.

We have been changing the schedule of the launching of the Feeding Program in Lupang Pangako, Payatas, QC so many times we had a confusion in the end. Last week, we requested Ms. Jennifer of CFO for the use of a van this Monday, March 10, 2008 for an 8:30 AM pick up at the Intercon Hotel for a 10:00 AM launching in Payatas, Quezon City. Gina, Norma and Gretchen were at the Intercon before 8:00 AM and met Lottie and Willie at the lobby. At 8:30 AM, while having breakfast at Bread n Talk in Glorietta, I texted Jerry and Evelyn of CFO that we are already waiting at Intercon and I got two different replies. Jerry said that Elmer, the driver, is already at the Intercon while Evelyn replied “ wer r u going?” . It turned out that the schedule was for 2:00 PM, confirmed by Vicky Weineke, the head of our partner “Kabisig ng Kalahi”. Vicky said it is very hard to move the schedule to the morning as no families will be there and the head of Mead Johnson, the milk supplier, coming from abroad, is already scheduled for 2:00 PM. Ms. Vicky agreed to meet with the FtH volunteers at 1:00 PM at Intercon to lead the way to Payatas.

Emergency FtH meeting among ourselves, we decided to wait for the 2:00 PM for Payatas and just do another FtH tasks while waiting. We went to the Pius Center in United Nations Ave. in Manila where we hope to rent an office space, as recommended by Bishop Ted Buhain, for a very minimal fee, almost free. The office in Manila is required so that Feed the Hungry can be certified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to be a non-profit organization in the Philippines. The office is about 12 x 20 ft with the front window facing UN Avenue. With a very good location, all we need now are some details to make a decision on the office.

Before we left Intercon, Ms Gretchen invited the FtH volunteers for lunch at the Manila Golf Club. After the office visit, we met with Ms. Gretchen at the Manila Golf Club. It was a big brunch of boneless daing na bangus from Dagupan, gumbas, Vigan langunisa, garlic rice, mixed gulay, pickled mushrooms, bread and local cheese, etc. About 12:30PM, we headed back to Intercon to meet with Ms. Vicky. For one misunderstanding, FtH Volunteers were able to visit the future FtH office and had a very nice lunch at the prestigious Manila Golf Club.

Ms. Vicky arrived on time at 1:00 PM at the Hotel Intercon. She gave me a sketch showing the location of the Barangay Health Center where we will hold the launching. We followed Vicky in their Honda SUV to Payatas. After about 5 stops to ask for direction from tricycle drivers and bystanders along the way, we finally arrived at the newly completed Health Center in Barangay Payatas and met the local barangay officials, head and staff of the DSWD, Health Department, and a group of about 50 housewives and 2 fathers with their kids in their lap. Some of the mothers are very young, some with no more teeth (look for her in the photo).

Payatas used to be the dumping site of garbage from Metro Manila. Behind the Health Center is a BIG mountain covered with grass. I believed it is a mountain of trash already put to ‘retirement’ and covered with grass. What is trash to others is the livelihood of many people in Payatas where they pick the garbage of re-useable items like plastic bottles, metals, glass, etc. You will know when you’re in Payatas when you can see the tons of materials gathered from the trash, with a different “aroma” in the air. FtH have been here before doing gift giving to the Payatas children on the invitation of former VA resident, Boots Anson Roa.

The program started with an invocation, followed by playing of the National Anthem, speeches by the local officials, Ms. Vicky, chief of Mead Johnson; Lottie, wearing 2 hats, talked about FtH as the Chairperson of FtH and the other, with Willie, as the sponsor of this Payatas Feeding Project. While the officers were signing the Memorandum of Agreement between the mothers, Kabisig, FtH and local officials; Gretchen, Gina, Norma and Willie started giving away donuts and juice (donated by Gretchen) candies and chocolates (donated by Gina and Norma). Mead Johnson also distributed to the kids their chocolate milk product.

After the program, we head back home, braving the rush-hour traffic, dropping Gina and Norma in time for their next appointment at St. Lukes; thanking Gretchen for her participation in the mission, donation of donuts and juice for the kids and inviting FtH volunteers to lunch; we said good byes to Lottie and Willie who are heading back to Virginia after their very successful and meaningful 2 month FtH Mission in the Philippines.

On the way to Payatas, one of the FtH volunteers donated to Feed the Hungry the sum of P28,000 for a Feeding Program in 2009, in Pangasinan, regardless of the misunderstanding in scheduling, another success story.

Calauit Island, Palawan, Philippines

2008-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Feb 2-4, 2008

What ever HE wants done for the long-neglected school children of Calauit Island Primary School in Coron, Palawan, HE has shown FtH the way to do it. There are just too many people and events converging to affect this mission, it is hard to imagine that it is just by coincidence.

In 1976, the indigenous tribe of Tagbanuas was forced out of Calauit Island to provide a place for the wild life animals from Africa as sponsored by the government. In 1986, with the success of People Power EDSA1, the natives started trickling back to their island but were turned back by the military assigned in the area. With the help of Bishop Ed Juanich of the Diocese of Palawan and UP Los Banos Staff, the natives won a court decision to co-exist with the wild life but still waiting for their right to own a piece of the island where their ancestors have farmed all their life. In 2006; a school was authorized to be built in Calauit Island to spare the students the danger and inconvenience of crossing the channel to go to the school in the main island.

This FtH Story all started from the time Olive (a volunteer teacher in Calauit Primary School ) while in UP Los Banos Ugnayan Ng Pahinungod Office (UPLB) sent out an appeal in the internet to her friend Jennie for books and school supplies for the school children. It was an appeal heard around the world and people responded. It was relayed to Fr. Bustamante, a Cebu Tech alumni, a parish priest in Zamboanga. Fr. Bu relayed the request to his fellow Cebu Tech alumni all over the world; picked up by Tita, the wife of Cebu Tech alumni in Herndon, Virginia, USA, Tita inquired from Tess of Feed the Hungry, Inc. in Leesburg, Va., asking if FtH can help. Tess transferred the request to Pablito who is in charge of the Education Program of FtH. About the same time, Gloria of FtH inquired about any FtH mission in Palawan that her sister Cayan can join. Remembering the children’s books that Tess saved from the FtH Book Drive last September 20007 and stored by Carol and Bong in their house ever since, Pablito merged the three events together and the FtH mission in Calauit was borne.

I have traveled to many places in the Philippines but I do not have any idea where Calauit Island in Palawan is. We were in Puerto Princesa about 2 years ago on the request of George and some FtH volunteers were also in Palawan during the time some tourists were kidnapped in Dos Palmas Resort. With the help of Mr. Google, I found out that Calauit Island is one of the approximately 1,700 island forming the province of Palawan; is part of Coron town, in the northern tip of Palawan, about 12 hours travel from Puerto Princesa. Coron is about 12 hours ferry ride from Manila, once a week. There are 2 airlines that service Coron with one flight a day.

Cayan said that she is very much interested to go to Palawan and will bring her friend along. I tried to book our flight with Asian Spirit last December 2007 for a Feb 1, 2008 to Coron. The flight for Feb 1 was already full. I had to move our schedule to Feb 2, 2008 but I was unsuccessful in booking the flight in the internet, I requested Cayan to do it and she was successful and was able to charge the fee to her credit card. Not knowing that Cayan was able to book our flight, I kept playing in the internet to book myself and Tess and finally got through and was immediately charge. I requested Victor in Manila to follow up my request for refund but he was told I had to do it personally. We were booked for Feb 2-4, 2008 as we had to return to Manila for our Bicol trip on Feb 5-8, 2008 and then a Feb 9, 2008 mission to Padre Garcia, Batangas.

With the flight booked, I checked with our friend Menchu if they can ship the books to Calauit Island. Her local contact in Manila can only deliver the books to Puerto Princesa and forward the boxes to Coron at additional cost. We decided to ship 14 boxes of books to the residence of Martin, the FtH chairperson based in Manila. Martin said he can handle the shipping to Coron. As of Feb 10, after our trip to Palawan, the boxes have not yet arrived in Manila.
When we arrived in Manila on January 25, 2008, we were able to secure 3 boxes of children’s books from previous shipment that was stored with our partner, the Commission on Filipino s Overseas (CFO). Martin had the books picked up at CFO and with 3 other boxes of school supplies, it was shipped to Coron on January 30 on a rush order and arrived in Coron on Feb 1, the night before we arrive last Feb 2, 2008.

On Sunday, January 27, 2008, Martin accompanied Pablito and Tess shopping for school supplies at the Mall 168 in Divisoria. We also bought the gifts that we will provide to the children in Sucat on January 28 and in Sucat on February 16. Tess tried to bargain with each store owner. The back packs that Tess can get for P95, Martin will talk to the owners and explained that it is a charity mission and they will let us have them for P65 only.
Monday, January 28, 2008, we went to the ticket office of Asian Spirit in Festival Mall to inquire about my ticket refund and picked up our ticket to Coron. I tried to talk to the staff about our situation with 3 boxes of book to carry but only 10 kilos baggage allowance. I was given the name of the Mr. Rodriguez to present our request for additional baggage allowance. I wrote an email letter to Mr. Rodriguez about the FtH mission in Calauit and Mr. Rodriguez immediately replied doubling our allowance to 20 kgs per passengers, subject to space availability, on a 50-seater, 4-engine/propeller aircraft.

Also on January 28, six (6) boxes of school supplies arrived from Phoenix Publishing House in QC. Cayan, thru a friend, ordered 1000 balls pens, 500 sharpeners, 250 ruler, 250 crayons, 500 pieces of pad paper, 250 towels and 1000 pencils. We mixed some of the supplies for 150 students and with the other supplies we bought in Divisoria to carry on the plane and Martin again picked up 2 boxes from Sucat for shipping to Coron.
Saturday, Feb 2, 2008, still groggy with the jet lag, we woke up at 3:00 AM, one hour ahead of our alarm at 4:00 AM for the 5AM taxi pick-up for the 7AM flight to Coron. Our taxi came at 4:30 AM and we were at the Domestic Airport by 5AM. With 3 boxes of books weighing in at 70 kilos and 2 back packs for our 3-day trip, we presented our E-ticket to not-yet opened airline ticket counter and presented the email letter of Mr. Rodriguez allowing the extra weight. The ticket clerk asked for a formal approval letter on their letter head and having none, she had to check with her supervisor. After some time of consultation with her supervisor, asking the names of the other FtH volunteers, we were allowed to check in the 3 boxes and 2 back packs.

Next to arrive at the check in counter was Cayan, who arrived from Seattle the day before, with her heavy luggage with more dictionaries; then Ethel, Mario, Joe and Pinggay. Their entire luggage was checked in with no more questions. Last to arrive was Carl and Jeanette who were temporarily stopped by security for some documental reason. All FtH volunteers were present and accounted for.

Asian Spirit Flight 545 departed on time with FtH volunteers Cayan T. from Seattle, Washington; Arlene “Pinggay” Lara from New Jersey, a high school classmate of Cayan, attending a high school reunion in Manila; Mario, Ethel, Joe, Pablito and Tess from Virginia and Carl with Jeanette from Maryland. As we were about to get comfortable aboard the plane, Joe looked pale and complained that his seat do not have a seat belt. We advised Joe to demand a discount from the airline. Joe breathes a sight of relief when the steward found the seat belt under the cushion. Tess was assigned a window seat but had to exchange with my aisle seat when she was trying to close the window but there were no shades.

Before the flight, I asked the steward at what speed and altitude we will be cruising. She later came back with the answer and then later, the Captain announced it in the PA. As soon as we reached cruising altitude, juice or water was served to the passengers and then it was already time to descend to the Busuanga Airport, in the outskirt of Coron. The airport is about 30 minutes drive from the town of Coron, very close to some hills. Our pilot is very good, maybe with some experience as a bush pilot. We made a complete stop at the end of the concrete runway and made a turn around on the dirt road. The rest of the runway is still being extended and concreted.

Our welcome committee was already waiting for us at the airport. They slept in the Office of the Saragpunta Foundation in Barangay Sangumay, Coron, where Martin shipped the six (6) boxes of books and school supplies last Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Martin was telling me that the shipping normally takes seven (7) days to get to Coron but this time the boxes arrived the night before we arrived and it was already loaded in the top of the jeep to accompany us to Calauit. Three of the boxes we carried were loaded on top of the jeep together with the six (6) boxes from Martin and our back packs and carry-on were loaded inside. Nine of the FTH volunteers rode inside the jeep with our guide who is a Barangay official in Calauit Island. Two aides were assigned to the top of the jeep to watch out for our boxes.

Before we left the airport, our driver wraps his head with a towel and put on his sunglass, as if ready to rob a bank. We found out why when, as soon as we left the airport, the jeep started stirring the dust in the road and we were completely engulf with the dust. The approximately 70 kilometers of road ahead of us is a one lane dirt and gravel road, with grass growing in the middle. In the almost 3 hours ride before we reached Busuanga, we only met one gravel truck going our opposite direction, we followed one van and one motorcycle overtook us. After crossing 3 streams with no bridge, almost 3 hours of bumpy ride, we arrived in Busuanga where we had a rest stop on somebody’s rest rooms. It turns out to be the house of the Mayor of Busuanga, who have jurisdiction over Calauit Island. The Lady Mayor is in Coron or Puerto Princesa for a meeting and was not able to meet us. We bought some bottled water for our drinking supply and rode about another 30 minutes to New Quezon where we have to ride a boat to cross the channel to Calauit Island. Some guys were fixing the elevated walkway so we had to wade in water to get into the boat.

After a short boat ride of about 15 minutes over clear waters, we crossed the channel and finally landed on the gravelly shores of Calauit Island. It was like the landing of MacArthur in Leyte. All the towns’ dignitaries were there. Dr Rene Medina, the UPLB head of the mission in Calauit; Romel, our internet contact for Calauit Primary School; Olive, the teacher who requested the books and supplies for Calauit; other teachers and aides, students, Bishop Ed of Palawan who goes to Calauit to say mass for the natives, barangay officials, parents and a string band were on hand to welcome us. A short walk from the beach is the classroom where the classes are held. The classrooms had 4 walls and roof made of native materials. A new library building will be inaugurated to coincide with our visit with the books.

Calauit Island is a paradise waiting to be discovered. This is the place to be if you want a place for rest and relaxation. The water around the island is crystal clear. There is no hard wired electricity except a couple of generators. There is no TV in every house but there is a TV disc in one home where everybody watches some special news or programs. There are no cars, motorbikes, bikes, tricycles; people had to walk to where they want to go. There is plenty of fresh water from a spring, piped down from the mountain.

Dr. Medina encouraged each family to have a backyard garden. Even the houses near the beach have elevated pig pens and hanging plants to protect them from high water. On display in the common gardens are their harvested crops they grow in the island. Different kinds of bananas, Ube, Camote, Camoteng kahoy, tomatoes, okra, string beans, mustard, upo, patola, papaya, cashew, coconut, sugar cane; just like in the song ‘bahay kubo’. What I thought I will teach the natives about the miracle garden box being sold in US for $120 each, the natives are already using empty, big soft drink bottles, with the same results, thanks to Dr. Medina, a forestry graduate.

What the Tagbanuas lack in materials things, they have plenty of hospitality and sea food. Our lunch was a feast. The dining table was covered with woven coconut leaves. Lots of spiny lobster, grouper, another big fish (maybe talakitok), taclobo (giant clam), tamilok (a worm like thing that eats the decaying mangrove branches, kibao ( sea shells meat), papaet (goat meat), a meat dish and wild red rice they grow in the mountains. Dr Medina had a cow slaughtered for us which the natives preferred better than the lobsters. According to Dr. Medina, he only paid Ph4, 000 for each cow (in Batangas the cost is P20, 000 per head). The whole PTA community was divided into groups and has assignments as to who will cook, who will serve, who will shoo the flies away, etc. Plenty of coconut water from fresh coconut just taken from the tree. Carl, Jeanette and Joe were very brave and tried the fresh tamilok with a squeeze of lime. The tamilok was featured in TV in Exotic foods around the world by Zimmer. They said the tamilok tasted like oyster and wood. The natives preferred the meat but most of the FtH volunteers attacked the lobster. I completely forgot to taste the fish.

Bishop Ed held a high mass after the hearty lunch. Ethel spoke about FtH and Cayan explained the FtH Calauit Mission, the efforts to bring the books and school supplies to Calauit. Following the mass is the inauguration of the library with the cutting of the ribbons by Carl and Ethel, where the books from FtH were featured. Joe did a hand demonstration on astronomy to the students on the position of the earth, the sun and the moon. After the library’s opening, the students made some presentation with dance numbers, a show of calisthenics. Two ladies did an original rendition of Tagbanuas tunes. In the tune of a waltz. Pablito danced with Ethel and the rest of the natives started getting their partners, including dancing with Bishop Ed. We started the distribution of the school supplies and chocolates to the students.

Later, we had another full course dinner and retired for the night. The boys, Mario, Joe, Carl, and Pablito joined Bishop Ed and shared a bedroom in one of the host family. The girls, Cayan, Pinggay, Ethel, Jeanette and Tessie stayed at the guest house next door. Our contact advised us of lots of mosquitoes but no incident of malaria yet and told us to bring our own mosquito nets and just leave them to our hosts. Carl bought five (5) mosquito nets in Divisoria and we set it up for the night. Carl and Pablito shared one net and Mario and Joe shared the other net. We took turns taking a cold shower using a 'tabo' in the neighbor’s bathroom, which doubles as the Health Center. Ethel cut in the line after hearing about the shower from Jeanette. Before going to bed, Carl asks our host where the bathroom is, just in case he needs to use it later. Mama point to the back bamboo stairs, leading to the back yard. I had to use a jingle bottle when I felt the need to use the rest room but afraid to venture into the dark.

February 3, 2008: Four o’clock in the morning, our natural alarm clock, the rooster in the kitchen, next to our bedroom, started waking everybody. Yesterday, we had a rough day traveling more than 3 hours on dirt and gravel road, from Busuanga Airport to Calauit Island, a blast of activities in Calauit, a lot of good food the whole day, but the rooster did not know it. We had an early morning walk along the beach and admired the cleanliness of the natives. The houses were neatly arranged around a central community area were the classrooms are. Pig pen were elevated to keep the pigs from high tide. There are vegetable gardens in all backyards. Dr Rene woke up early and started joking the families to rise and shine.

We had our very healthy breakfast of boiled yam, boiled yucca, boiled ube, boiled banana, fresh banana, fresh coconut and strong coffee with brown sugar. It comes with some music from the string band and their crooner. After chanting a Tagbanuas melody ( like a passion during lent), the singers switched to the latest song hits in town, like ‘The Tennessee Waltz”, something I haven’t heard since I was in high school days back in the 50’s.

After breakfast, Dr Rene invited the FtH volunteers to plant some trees and they will call the area the Feed the Hungry Park. Carl ‘bribed' some kids to take care of the newly planted trees especially his tree. We had to wait for about 11:00 AM for the tide to rise so that we can cross the channel using the boats or else we had to wade in shallow waters for 30 minutes. Carl noticed a lot of kids milling around him and he started organizing a relay racing game. Boys and girls were mixed in two lines and they had to run around Pablito and Joe and pass on the baton to the next runner. The first group to finish wins the race. The kids had a very good time playing. Normally, we give prizes to these participating students in a parlor game. But we already distributed all our gifts the day before, so we just said thank you to the happy kids. We had an early lunch before we leave and bade good bye to all the kids and the community with all the happy memories of our visit to Calauit Island.

At the end of the boat ride, we rode the jeep waiting for us in New Quezon. Instead of the boxes of books and supplies we brought for the kids, we now have Dr. Rene, Romel and Olive and other natives that need to go to Coron. Instead of boxes, we now have bodies on top of the jeep. Olive need to have her aching tooth examined in Coron, suffering for about a week until she can get to town; Dr. Medina and Romel are taking the ferry back to Manila that night.

We had to wait until we can get our rooms at the Seadive Resort, a very nice hotel with no frontage on the road, built on concrete stilts, right on the water, with a long, narrow concrete bridge, between houses, connecting the hotel to the road. Unless you have plenty of money and the right connection, I cannot imagine how it was built. Joe had to share the room with Ethel and Mario; we invited Olive to stay with Cayan and Pinggay. Some FtH volunteers had their first hot bath in 2 days. However, the water heater in our room is not plug, the plug have only one pin, the outlet shows some signs of burnt problem. Still, it was heaven to have running water, doing your thing in a flushing toilet, being able to sleep in a real bed with a soft surface, having an electric fan running, and having a massage in the comfort of your room for less than $8.00 an hour plus tip.

We invited the Calauit school staff to a pizza dinner in the best pizza place in town, about a block from our hotel. The Italian owner was introduced to us by Dr. Medina and for about $50, we were able to feed about 15 people with 3 big boxes of home made combination pizza and drinks. It was a working dinner as we talked about the garden supplies in the wish list of the Calauit students. For about $70.00 we were able to provide for 2 sets of garden tools for the students to be bought in the local market, to be brought back to the students by the barangay official.

After dinner, we walked to the office of the Asian Spirit to arrange a shuttle from our hotel to the airport; but the airline office was already closed. We were told that the airline provide shuttle from town to the airport at P100 per passenger. When we got back to the hotel, we asked for shuttle service from the hotel management and we were told that they can have an air conditioned van to take us to the airport for about P2500 for the trip. With nine people, we agreed for a 6:30 AM pick up and went to sleep.

We had breakfast at the hotel with free coffee provided by management and some pan-de-sal bought by Carl from the corner bakery store; the hotel cafeteria does not open until 7:00 AM. Cayan and Pinggay decided to stay 2 more days in another island before going back to Manila but they joined us for breakfast and to say good bye. We boarded our shuttle service at 630AM for the 30 minutes ride to the airport for the 840 AM flight to Manila. We overtook the airline shuttle service and it was loaded full with boxes and some personnel. It was a right decision to engage the hotel van as we were spared the dusty ride back to the airport.

After checking in at the airport, Carl, Jeanette, Ethel went out to buy some souvenirs from the outside shops near the terminal. Carl tried to hurry up the shop owner so as not to miss the plane. The shop owner said ‘don’t worry, the plane has not arrived yet, we can hear them”. I noticed the plane arriving when the fire brigade came out of the airport to meet the plane. It was a lone guy with the fire extinguisher on wheel on his left hand, the signal flag on his right hand and the wheel chock for the airplane hanging around his neck. Busuanga is a very busy airport. Another chartered flight arrived a few minutes later. And that’s all the action for the day.

We arrived safely in Manila about 9:40 AM, all glad that we made the trip to Calauit Island and helped the students with books, school supplies and garden tools; interact with them in our own little way. We would not have seen the beauty of Calauit Island and the goodness of the people if HE had not shown Feed the Hungry the way. From the time Olive sent out the cry for help for the kids, Cayan wanting to go to Palawan, Tess saving the books, Cayan booking the flight from Seattle, buying the supplies in Divisoria, National Bookstore and Makro; finding 3 boxes of children's book at CFO, Martin shipping the books on time for our arrival in Coron, Asian Spirit allowing additional carry on baggage, all FtH volunteers appearing at the airport for the trip and getting back safely. It is just too good to be true, but it happened! Is it just a coincidence or SOMEBODY showed the way?

NOTES. The following contributed to the success of the Feed the Hungry Mission in Calauit Island: Olivia “Olive” L. Ranido, Jennifer “Jenny” Lee-Bonto, Fr. Francisco Bustamante, Tita Dumagsa, Romel Daya, Dr. Rene Medina, Bishop Ed Juanich, Martin Gaw, Menchu Castro, Gloria Caoile, Carol and Bong So, Carl Abella, Jeanette Calahong, Joe Clavecillas, Mario and Ethel Sanidad, Cayan Topacio, Arlene Lara, Tess Alarcon, Pablito Alarcon., Butch Rodriguez, etc., etc..Please reply if you do not wish to received any more FtH Mission stories. THANKS. Pablito Feb 27, 2008.

Sitio Pagkakaisa, Sucat, Muntinglupa City

2008-01-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

Mr. Joe Molano, the former Executive Director of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) requested a Feeding Project in a depressed area of Sitio Pagkakaisa, in cooperation with Aming Munting Handog Foundation (AMHF), Inc. It is very commendable that some group from the very affluent families in the Ayala Alabang Village is helping the very poor, squatter areas of Muntinglupa. There are 4000 families with 7000 population packed in Sitio Pagkakaisa where there are no streets, only alleys. We parked in somebody’s compound and walk the rugged, dusty, dirty East Service Road into the narrow alleys, down a path leading into a small church where we had the activity. As we thread our way, people were watching these “strangers” ‘invade’ their neighborhood. But we bring gifts and food and we were very much welcomed and felt secure.

The FtH Volunteers in the Philippines converged from all points in Luzon to Zone 1, Sitio Pagkakaisa, Sucat, Muntinglupa City. Pol and Merci Sebastian came all the way from Imus, Cavite with their daughter and twin mestiza apos. They arrived almost at the tail end of the program because of the ‘normal heavy traffic’ but they came and saw the place. They did not stay longer because of other appointments. Lottie, Ethel, Goody and Betty Litorja, Vilma Suguitan, Tessie Marfori, Violy Gavino came from Shangri-La Edsa. Baby Hererra, Danny and Lilia Alba came from Quezon City. Pablito, Tessie and Samantha Perez De Tagle (the 4-yr old grand daughter of Tess whom somebody noticed that she doesn’t belong to the squatter’s families), drove from South Bay Subdivision in Sucat West Service Road to the meeting place in Sucat on the East Service Rd and it took almost an hour to reach the place. The local government is trying to concrete the road and having one lane reversible traffic is compounding the traffic congestion.

The FtH Group joined the local group compose of Congressman Ruffy Biazon, Ms. Trina Biazon (Chairperson and President of Aming Munting Handog Foundation, AMHF, Inc.), Ms. Biazon (wife of Senator Biazon), Joe and Celia Molano, Regie Salonga and Edgardo Gabutin. The morning portion of the visit is to observe the feeding program for 100 kids of indigent families. Each kid, accompanied by a parent, was given a cup of rice and a cup of mixed vegetables and ground meat soup dish. The kids enjoyed their nutritious meal and some were asking for more. Betty mentioned to Tess that one mother was feeding her skinny daughter with rice only. Tess talked to the mother and advised her to also give the kid some ulam to give her some complete nutrition. It was speculated that the mother was saving the ‘ulam’ for dinner later. We also brought this issue to the head of AMHF to closely supervise the feeding program. Some of the parents are also taking the food home instead of eating at the feeding center, maybe to share the food with the rest of the family.

The afternoon portion of the visit is to give gifts to 50 school kids in the same area. After a short program where recognition where given to the parents and FtH volunteers, Estella and Lottie gave an inspirational message to the kids. Each kid was given a back pack filled with coloring book, crayon, ruler, and eraser. Betty and Goody brought some ball pens and each kid was given 4 each. Ethel also brought some coloring books. Tess bought some chocolates from the Duty-Free shop and Samantha helped in giving them to the kids.

Last Sunday, Jan 27, 2008, Martin went with Tess and Pablito to buy the gifts at 168 Mall in Divisoria for the fifty kids at Sitio Pagkakaisa and for others in the FtH list. We end up buying back packs, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, panties, jockeys, etc. Last Monday, January 28, 2008 we went to National Book Store to buy more school supplies like dictionaries, rulers, coloring books, etc. In the afternoon, to complete the school supplies, we went to Makro to buy more school supplies like hand towels, snacks, tooth paste, soap, etc. These buying activities where once handled by CFO staff but was discontinued by the present administration. FtH is very lucky to have Martin assist FtH to find the source and in the negotiation for a cheaper price of the items.

The highlight of this Feeding Project Mission is the offer of Goody and Betty Litorja to sponsor another module in another Zone in Sucat. Goody was so moved by the plight of the hungry kids. The Litorja’s left for Samar the following day and as soon as the funds are made available to FtH, the additional Feeding Project in another Zone will be implemented.

Maasin, Leyte

2007-03-31T21:40:00.001-07:00

March 15-17, 2007

Eleonor Credo-Lindner donated a 2-classroom building to her Alma Mater, Bactul1 Primary School in Maasin, Southern Leyte; in memory of her late husband, Arthur Lindner, who saw the need for the classrooms when he visited Bactul 1, so many years ago. Eleonor grew up in Barangay Bactul 1 to a poor family who prefer to have Eleonor go to work or be a housewife, rather than study. She walked to school sometimes barefooted or in wooden clogs, using banana leaves as umbrella to shield her from the rain. Eleonor persevere, worked her way through college and found success in America. In looking back through those years, she went back to Bactul1 to inaugurate the classrooms. Feed the Hungry is very proud to team up with Eleonor in donating these classrooms to Bactul.

Last Thursday, March 15, 2007, our taxi to the Domestic airport was already waiting before the 3:15 AM pick up, for our 5:10 AM Cebu Pacific flight to Tacloban. Thea of CFO joined us later at the waiting room in the airport. We saw Eleonor only when they called for boarding. In Tacloban, we were met by the Barangay Captain, ELeonor’s mom, brothers and sisters. Eleonor introduced us to her son Adam and friend Bob who accompanied her from Maryland. We boarded 2 passenger vans for the 4-hour ride to Maasin, Leyte.

In Maasin, we checked in at the Maasin Country Lodge and Restaurant. When we left Tacloban, ELeonor’s brother gave us a menu to order our lunch in Maasin. When we got to the restaurant, all our orders are already waiting for us. This is advance planning, Maasin style!

After lunch, we met with the Governor to sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the water supply system of Brgy. Pamigsian, Bontoc. After signing of the MOA, we traveled to Brgy. Magatas, Saint Bernard to monitor the Backyard Virgin Coconut Oil Livelihood Project. Saint Bernard is the town where part of Mt. Kan-abag slide down burying the Barangay Guinsaugon last February 17, 2006. The entire village was covered in more than 30 meters of mud, burying more than 1000 residents, including 200 students trapped inside the primary school. Almost ALL of the residents in the barangay at that time suffered, except for a few, in spite of international efforts to locate them. The few survivors are now housed in New Guinsaugon, Saint Bernard. We stopped at the Memorial Cross that was built to commemorate the event. From where we stand by the river, we can see the brown area where the slide happened, very distinct from the lush green landscape besides it.

It was getting dark; we decided to head back to Maasin as it will take another 2 hours to reach Brgy Magatas. On the way back, we had to slow down due to muddy road as we passed by fresh new landslide at 2 locations. What if a new landslide happens as we drive by? Well, although it was raining most of the time, no new landslide happened and we reached our hotel safely, had dinner, call it a day and went to sleep.

March 16, 2007- I woke up early and went to see the river at the side of our lodge. It was low tide and the very clear, shallow water was running smoothly. The river has multiple use as I saw some ducks swimming around, a kid taking a bath, a lady washing some clothes, several small fish gathering around the drain pipe from our hotel, a bigger fish feasting on some solid object ( I thought it was a yellow banana but it turned out to be yuk!) from the neighbor’s place.

We had breakfast and by 9:00 AM, we were at the office of the DSWD arranging the pick up of the school supplies to be distributed to the students. With a DSWD escort riding in his motorbike, we went to the store where they secured the supplies. Tess paid the owner, we loaded 3 big boxes and off we went to Bactul 1, about 30 minutes away. Bactul 1 was not too far but it was narrow, dirt, hilly road to the interior side of Maasin. Two welcome banners were at the entrance to the school and another banner was near the stage.

We arrived at the school at the middle of a mass for the blessing of the new classrooms. The priest was talking but everybody was looking at the newly arrived visitors especially with Bob, a six-footer American friend of Eleonor and her son Adam who do not look like a Filipino. The priest initiated the cutting of the ribbon to the building, the cutting of the ribbons to each classrooms and then the unveiling of the commemorative marker in the middle of the building. The priest then went around and blessed the entrance and every corner of the classrooms.

After the blessing, a very elaborate, well prepared program followed and the VIPs were invited to the stage including Eleonor, Bob, Adam, Tess, Thea, Barangay Captain, representative of the Mayor, the Governor, DOLE, DepEd, Principal, etc., etc. The invocation prayer was done by a group of students dressed in whites with white gloves; a girl sang the national anthem acapella; another group of students performed a native dance in full costume, barefooted, in the ground in front of the stage.

The governor praised Eleonor for ‘looking back’ into her roots in Bactul with the donation of the classrooms. The CGMA/DOLE explained the process of classroom donation. A very nice, enlarge, symbolic key was given to Eleonor to give to the Principal to signify the turn over of the classrooms. The DepEd handed out certificates to Eleonor, DOLE and FtH.

It was Eleonor who was the star of the moment. She told her story how she struggled through school despite their being poor; how she worked in college to afford it; how she rose from the ranks; how she found success from one position to another; how she decided to donate the classrooms in honor of her late husband; how she teamed up with FtH to be able to do it. According to ELeonor’ s brother Rodrigo, the construction of the classrooms was completed in 15 days by a labor crew and materials hauled all the way from Tacloban, some 4 hours away! It shows that no matter how hard it is, good deeds can always be done. That same afternoon after lunch, I talked with a furniture manufacturer and contracted to have 100 student desks, 2 teachers table and chairs, to be delivered to the principal in 2 weeks, at approximate cost of $12 each.

After the program, Eleonor started the distribution of the school supplies to about 100 students. Each student gets a back pack, colors, pens, pencils, papers, etc.; a lunch box and juice. Then, the adults get a chance to have a very sumptuous lunch inside the new classroom prepared by the brothers and sisters of Eleonor. We had the inauguration of a classroom in Batia, Bocaue, Bulacan last January 27, 2007; we had the ground breaking of a 2-classroom building in San Mateo, Rizal last Feb 12, 2007; this is probably the best classroom inauguration that I have attended so far. We went back to the Lodge and Eleonor stayed to bond with her relatives. Next day, she told me that they have a good time ballroom dancing in the barangay hall.

After breakfast, we had a tour around Maasin before we leave for the 4 hour trip back to Tacloban to catch our plane to Manila. We stopped for lunch in Palo, Leyte at the McArthur Park; took a brief photo-op at the memorial to the landing of Gen. Douglas McArthur commemorating his “I shall return” to the Philippines. The plane was about an hour late and as soon as it was ready, we flew back to Manila, completing another successful Feed the Hungry Story.

Pablito
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Siquijor Province

2007-03-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

March 10-12, 2007

Feed the Hungry received a donation of $10,000 from Mr. and Ms. Harry and Rosa Yu and Mr. and Ms Johnny and Betty Ng of Valle Verde, Metro Manila. The couples were recent guests of Pablito and Tessie last October 2006, while attending the wedding of their niece in Lansdowne Golf and Country Club in Leesburg, Virginia. Since Siquijor is one of the last 3 provinces not yet reached by FtH, Pablito and Tess decided to visit Siquijor to do a feasibility study for the construction of 2 classrooms in Siquijor. Jeremiah Opiniano, a UST professor and a long time supporter of FtH, also collected dictionaries from his students for distribution in schools in Siquijor, through FtH.

At 4:00AM on Saturday, March 10, 2007, I sent a text message to Hazel of CFO and to Manny and Fely of Las Vegas that Tess and Pablito are on the way to the airport for the 6:30AM Air Philippines flight to Dumaguete City. Hazel replied that she is going to pass by CFO to pick up the dictionaries donated by UST students for distribution in Siquijor schools while Fely and Manny were also already on the road to the airport. In Dumaguete Airport, after retrieving our luggage, we hired a van to shuttle our party for the 15 minute ride to the Port of Dumaguete, for the ferry to Siquijor, Siquijor Island. At the ferry, we were met by Verna Alih, a local member of the Greater American Siquijorian Association (GASA) of California whom we have maintained a constant email communication since last year to jointly sponsor a project in Siquijor.

The fast ferry to Siquijor is no match to the rough seas between Dumaguete and Siquijor. It was a little bit windy and Bohol Strait, the sea passage, about 25 kilometers in width, is rolling and reeling, with “white caps” (breaking waves on top, meaning rough seas) all over the area. One in our party is very quiet, pale in color, while the other gave back to mother nature what she ate that morning. After about an hour of pitching and rolling, we arrive in Siquijor with a sigh of relief. At the pier, we were met by Leo Mamicpic, brother of Verna, a former resident of Las Vegas, now retired and residing in Lazi, Siquijor; and Ms. Pura Jumadla of the Department of Education, with a list of ALL public schools in Siquijor.

On the way to our hotel, we passed by schools in San Antonio, Cantabon, Pangi, and San Juan. After having lunch in our hotel at Coral Cay, we continue our trip to the other schools in Canmunag, Campalanas, Poo, Kinamandagan, and Lazi. It was a Saturday but there are some students and teachers in the school doing some review work in preparation of the national test. We talked to the teachers/principals about the student population in every school, the number of classroom, the problems facing them, etc. We distributed one dictionary for each classroom and the teachers were very happy about the donation. Fely and Tess gave some chocolates and lollipops to each students and kids in the school. In every school where there are teachers and/or principals, we were treated to fresh ‘butong’ (young coconut) juice and some cookies or merienda or something. Siquijorians are very hospitable and happy people; we forgot the warning given to us before the trip; to be careful of the food in Siquijor that it might be laced with some poison and/or potion of the ‘aswang’ (witch). About a week before our trip, a movie titled “Siquijor, The Enchanted Island”, similar to the Blair Witch US movie, was showing in the local cinemas bringing apprehension to some members of the group.

Leo gave us a tour of the St. Francis of Asisi Church and Covent in Lazi where he and Verna are members of the restoration committee. The floors of the church are big, hardwood, wooden planks, arranged in diagonal pattern and maybe the only church in the Philippines with a wooden floor, about a foot from the ground. Some of the icons and cherubin were stolen from the church. At the back of the altar, Leo showed us a long wooden cabinet, about 4 feet high, about 20 feet long, about 4 feet deep which was possibly made on site as it will not fit through the doors. The convent across the church is probably the biggest in the Philippines and still in use. It is also undergoing restoration. They have established a museum where they displayed some of the priest’s vestments, balusters, icons, journals, etc.

On our way back to the hotel, with Leo, Verna and Pura staying in Lazi, we should be lighter but maybe because of too much food that we ate, our rented van had a flat tire, luckily in front of a store with some people. Manny and Pablito, each ready with a flashlight like a Boy Scout, helped the driver replaced the flat tire, luckily with a spare. I was watching the driver as he tries to look for the jack and release the spare, as if he is not familiar with the van. Manny concentrated on lighting the work for the driver and I signaled oncoming traffic to slow down and watch out for the driver who sometimes is lying on his belly trying to position the jack under the van. For the rest of the trip, I noticed our driver to be driving slowly than before, maybe because the replacement tire is just as bad as the one that blew away.

We had dinner at Coral Cay Beach Resort, where we occupied a one-bedroom, and one bathroom cottage by the beach. It took almost an hour for us to be served our dinner. Most of the other guests are foreigners who learned about Coral Cay from the internet. The owner is an American who works as a carpenter in Lake Tahoe for 6 months in a year and spend the rest of the year with his Pinay wife who stays in Siquijor managing the resort. The owner approached us after dinner and Manny mentioned about the one hour wait for our dinner. He apologized for the service but he has only one cook that night. That night, we ordered our breakfast to be ready by 7:00 AM. the following morning.

We slept through the night without being bothered by any ‘aswang’ but Hazel mentioned that there was a ‘tuko’ (gecko lizard croaking near our bed that night). At 6:45 AM, we sat on the table and our breakfast was ready by 6:59 AM, ahead of time! We checked out of the resort as we have decided to spend some time in Dumaguete City before going back to Manila on March 12, 2007.

Our driver arrived about 7:30AM with a new spare tire. We went on to Lazi to pick up Leo, Verna and Pura for the remainder of the trip. Siquijor Island is shaped like a butterfly, with a perimeter road around the island and a road that went through Mt. Bandilaan and split the island into east and west side. We covered the schools in the west side yesterday and today, we targeted the schools in the east side. We visited the Minalulan ES and Cantaroc PS in Maria. Also, here in Maria, we visited the Salag-Do-Ong Beach Resort, where the government developed the beach and opened to the public with a P10 entrance fee. We drove on along the coast line to Enrique Villanueva where we saw the oldest house in Siquijor, the Cang-Isok House, more than 100 years old. Leo laments the use of metal roofing to protect the house but it ruined the restoration of the house to its original condition of nipa roof.

We had lunch in a coastal restaurant in Larena before we proceeded to a 2:00 PM meeting with a farmer’s cooperative in Lazi. The farmers are seeking funding for their irrigation system using solar power cells to run a hydraulic pump to bring water to their rice fields. We advised the farmers to provide a proposal so that we can properly evaluate the project.

We left Leo, Verna and Pura in Lazi and drove back to Siquijor for the ferry to Dumaguete City. They were going to sort and label some books received from GASA for distribution to different schools in Siquijor. We arrived in the Port of Siquijor about 4:00 PM for the 5:30 PM scheduled ferry to Dumaguete. Our driver stayed with us until we were ready to board the ferry which came in late, about 6:30 PM. We found out that the driver is a contractual employee of the owner of the van, who happens to be an employee of the DSWD. As soon as the ferry arrived, we boarded and bid beautiful Siquijor good bye.

From our trip around the island, from talking with the teachers and principals of different schools, knowing that the student/classroom ratio average about 30 students per classroom, we will recommend to our donors to designate the classrooms to other areas more in need, like the Bicol region. We also found out that the students are having problem with their everyday meals while in school and parents keeping them from school to work in the rice fields, especially from January to March each year. We suggested to the schools to submit a proposal for a Feeding Project for the students.

Pablito
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Baguio, Benguet

2007-03-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 23, 2007

Thursday, February 22, 2007- From Santo Tomas, La Union, the hospitality of Marietta C. extended to the next FtH Mission in Baguio City by offering the FtH volunteers a place to stay in their new, big townhouse in Brentwood Village. We left Santo Tomas, La Union after partaking a hearty breakfast prepared by the housekeeper of Marietta. With Manny driving his Honda CRV, with Pablito as the navigator, passengers Fely, Tessie and Eve had a good time talking all the way to Baguio City. Armed with a sketch of the direction to the townhouse (some landmarks but no street names), with the name and telephone number of the caretaker, we tried to find our way to the house. After several twist and turns through the winding street of Baguio, after stopping several times asking for directions, after finding ourselves in the same street twice, Manny and I admitted that we are lost and we decided to stop at the Botanical gardens, and requested the caretaker to take a taxi and meet us and show us the way. It turned out that the house is not too far away as the caretaker, Roy, just jogged his way to meet us. Roy is a graduate of fisheries and waiting for a regular job when he decided to take the job as the caretaker to support his sibling’s studies. Roy cooks and keeps the house spotless. After assigning us to our rooms, we decided to explore Baguio. The taxi cost Ph50 for the five of us, from the house to the SM Mall in town, about 15 minutes away.

Friday, February 23, 2007- Gift giving for the 250 children will be at the City Health Office (CHO) at 2:00PM. This is a project of the Association of Philippine Physicians of America (APPA) Auxiliary who is having a medical mission in La Trinidad, Benguet and in coordination with Feed the Hungry and CFO. We decided to leave early and locate the venue and after finding the place and meeting with our contacts, we decided to leave the car there and took a taxi to SM Mall for lunch. We had lunch at a roof top restaurant with a panoramic view of the City. We went back to the City Health Office before 2:00PM and soon after, the APPA Team of Lottie, Annie and other APPA Auxiliary members with Dr Willie arrived to join in the program.

After some introductions by the local health staff, Eve spoke about CFO, Lottie spoke about FtH and Annie introduced the members of the APPA. There were 2 dance numbers by the staff of the CHO, followed by the gift giving to the 250 children from 125 barangays of Baguio. The kids were from different Barangays, some from remote places and were very very happy to receive the gifts from strangers from the US.

After the gift giving, Eve, Manny and Fely went on their own to meet some friends; Pablito and Tessie went back with the APPA team to their medical mission in the Benguet Provincial Hospital in La Trinidad, about 30 minutes away from Baguio. We met with some familiar faces from Washington, DC like Drs. Fangonil (Pres. of APPA), Bacarra, Rivera, Lopez, and Dr. Cueto from NJ. We were then invited to the Closing Program in the Open Gym, Capitol, La Trinidad. A feature of the program is the sacrificing of a pig by killing ‘Babe’ in the middle of the court, after some ritual of thanksgiving prayer. A female foreigner left her front row seat and went to the back of the line to avoid seeing the sacrifice. I followed her to check her condition and she asked me “why do they have to do that?” The husband is Ok since he ate some of the pork, after it was boiled and cut up, and went back for a second serving ( must taste good!). After the “CANAO FESTIVITY”, the doctors went back to their accommodations at the Baguio Country Club and we went back to the Marietta mansion.

Saturday, February 24, 2007- The fourth week in February is the annual Panagbenga Festival in Baguio City. Saturday is the street dancing participated by students in costumes from the different schools and Sunday is when they have the floral parade like the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California. We met with Fely and Manny at the corner of Session Rd and Cathedral St. and staked our place in the street to view the parade. Is this just a coincidence but sitting right besides us in the street is the family of the Dean of Engineering of St Louie University that I met yesterday concerning the engineering scholar of the Philippine Association of Metropolitan Washington Engineers (PAMWE) ! The parade was very colorful and entertaining but after sitting on my butt on the hard asphalt pavement for 2 hours, shoulder to shoulder with the other viewers that are about 10 rows deep, I had to give up and walk around to exercise my stiff legs and look for a better place to view the parade. We ended up having lunch in the balcony of a restaurant with a good view of the parade but just as we are about to eat lunch, the parade ended.

Manny and Fely decided to extend their stay in Baguio; Evelyn is going to see and stay with a friend so, we check Victory Liner for our trip back to Manila. We walked to the ‘old’ station only to be told that there’s a new station “just pass” the SM Mall. I left Tessie at the Mall and walked to the new bus station, about 10 minutes away, on hilly road, in the heat of the sun. We were thinking of seeing the flower parade on Sunday but ALL the bus seats for Sunday were already sold out. I went back to Tess and told her the situation and we decided to leave the same day. We went back to the house, picked up our luggage, bid Roy Thank you and goodbye, and went back to the bus station and took a “De Lux” ticket to Manila, about Ph550 ($11) leaving at 4 PM. “De Lux” is air conditioned express service to Manila, no stopping to pick up other passengers, with TV, rest room equipped, no pillows, no blankets; with a stewardess in short tight dress, who served us one small bottled water and one cookie. We sat right behind the driver but we cannot sleep because the driver is flirting with the stewardess, talking sweet nothings all the way to Manila. The stewardess was also sitting in front, near the door; adjusting/changing the DVD movies during the trip, trying to do the impossible of pulling her miniskirt down to her knees, checked the comfort room (CR) when I asked if it is working, plus other duties, as assigned.

It is amazing that the bus driver was able to drive almost 6 hours straight, just stopping once briefly to check the tires, checking his cell phone a couple of times, and almost talking with the stewardess all the time. We arrived at the Victory Liner Bus Depot in Cubao at past 10:00PM. There are a lot of taxis waiting but they are charging a flat rate of Ph500 for the trip to our place in Paranaque. I hailed a taxi with a meter cruising on the road and the trip only cost us Ph210. We got home safe and sound by 11:00PM.

Pablito
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Capas, Tarlac

2007-03-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Henry B. of Ft Washington, MD. has been a loyal supporter of FtH and has been requesting FtH assistance in Capas for some time. We have this chance right after the Bicol Tour to visit Capas. Leaving CFO in Manila about 8 AM, we traveled to Capas, Tarlac , about 3 hours away from Manila and met Henry and Ernie at the Capas Medical Center where their group is doing medical and dental mission. Their Mission of Mercy have about 80 doctors, dentists and assistants delivering services to the poor people in Capas and other towns of Tarlac. Bing B. later joined us in this trip.

With Jerry of CFO, Bing, Ernie, Tess and Pablito, we went to this remote Barangay on top of a mountain, where the solid waste of Capas were being processed. The mountain was planted with some trees but too young yet to provide some shades. The head of the Local Government Unit (LGU) and 200 recipient children were already waiting in an improvised tent to provide shelter from the heat of the sun (we were told that it was snowing and freezing in Virginia at that time). The kids are really dark colored from too much exposure to the sun, their hair is short and some are curly. At the top of the mountain, you can see the small houses of the residents some distance away and then on to forever, as far as your eyes can see. The Mayor, with about 4 security guys fully armed, started the program with thanking FtH for visiting Capas. Jerry talked about CFO and Tess explained the mission of FtH to the kids and some parents, who are mostly interested in the bags of goodies that they will receive. The kids left smiling after receiving their goody bags. We went back to town and had box lunch courtesy of the Mayor.

After taking a short break, we traveled on north to Luisita in Tarlac City to investigate some possible site for a classroom for pre-schooler, under the initiative of the PRISM. FtH has been collaborating with Dwight Penson of PRISM since 2004 in providing classrooms for pre-schooler for indigent families to give them a head start when they come of age and ready to go to the regular school. FtH have constructed classrooms through PRISM in Padre Burgos and Unisan in Quezon.

We completed the gift giving and site inspection in Tarlac and headed back home to Manila.

Pablito
Saturday, March 03, 2007

Pasacao, Camarines Sur

2007-03-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 5, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoon Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Typhoon Seniang (December 7-12, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the last leg of a 10-town tour of FtH in the Bicol Region.

Monday, February 5, 2007- We left San Jose and headed west past Naga City towards Pasacao, Camarines Sur. It was a holiday and the local government was closed but the son of the Mayor and his special assistant met us at the Municipal Hall. He led us to the pier where a small boat was waiting already, loaded with the relief goods for the residents in a remote barangay. This Barangay Sarimao is isolated from the rest of the town and can only be reached by a foot bridge so it was decided to use a boat to ferry the heavy gifts, a 30 minute boat ride. As you ride the boat, you can admire the beauty of Pasacao, the sandy beaches, the clear water of the sea. I hope it will not be spoiled by any accident on the marine terminal for gasoline tanks that we passed by; it supplies the whole province of Camarines Sur with gasoline and diesel fuel.

We landed on the beach just across the chapel where we had the relief distribution. The water was still knee-deep and Tess had to be carried on the shoulder of a guide; almost broke his shoulder. Teenagers helped in unloading the bags of gifts. The chapel was small but it was able to fit most of the 200 recipients. Most of the houses around the chapel are one story, one room, nipa huts with new roofs already replaced after the typhoons. It was a happy get together by the residents with the gifts from strangers, from fellow Pinoys who cares about them, from half way around the world.

After the gift giving, we boarded the boat again for our trip back to town. The guides used a single bamboo pole to use as the ramp to walk up the boat. While Pablito was half way on the ramp, the pole broke! Either Pablito is too heavy or the pole is old and rotten, too small, only one was used, the boat is too high, excuses, excuses, etc, etc. Aboard the boat, we were served a snack of native delicacies and sodas.

On the way back to town, I asked the guides if they know a Bella B. who works in Washington, DC, who requested the relief assistance for Pasacao. Bella B, nee "Bella Amador, a very pretty mestiza, about 50 years old, whose kid was recently married in Las Vegas" (even foreign news travel fast in a small Bicol town) was immediately identified by one of the guides and offered to accompany us to their house in town. We met the mother of Bella but the father was in church. We said hello and goodbye and hope to see them again in Washington.

We went on to Hotel Villa Caceres in Naga City for the trip back to Manila, the following morning. Thus conclude the FtH Bicol Tour of 10 towns in nine days. Was it easy, NO! Will I do it gain, YES! YES!

NOTES: Last 2003, Carl (on his first FtH mission), Tess and Pablito did a gift giving in Naga City and we were the guests of the Pink Sisters in their monastery. The Pink sisters hardly talk, only prayed ALL the time. Five–star service in their 5-star guest rooms, complete with soap, toothbrush, slippers, towels and a hearty breakfast. We just have to be back before the gate close at 8PM (or we sleep in the street, I think). On that day, our plane was not able to land due to early morning fog and the plane tried to land in Legaspi City but with the same visibility problem. We flew back to Manila and waited for the weather to clear. At noon time, they totally cancelled the plane trip and we were forced to hire a van for the land trip to Naga (FtH Volunteers paid for the van). We arrived in the Naga City about 10PM, too late for the morning breakfast that was prepared for us, but the Pink Sisters were very happy FtH did not abandoned them. Carl have been joining FtH missions in the Philippines every year since then.

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 2,400 recipients having Christmas gifts in January; being able to locate the sites of eight (8) classrooms to be donated through FtH, getting proposals for Feeding Projects and Livelihood Projects, 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,
Thursday, March 01, 2007

San Jose, Camarines Sur

2007-02-28T12:59:00.001-08:00

Sunday, February 4, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoon Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Seniang (December 7-12, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the 9th leg of a 10-town tour of FtH in the Bicol Region.

Sunday, February 4, 2007- We left Baao, Albay around 6:00AM for the 2 hour ride to San Jose, Camarines Sur. In San Jose, we were treated to breakfast by Vic and his wife, Doddie O., who went with us to Virac. Vic is a gentlemen farmer and he showed us his collection of healthy home grown vegetables. His love of animals is shown in the 4 championship game cocks he brought back from Virac, very expensive KFC chicken at P10, 000 each. We met with Ms. Obias, the mother of Vic and Maricoy, a retired IMF employee and former FtH Board member and treasurer. Maricoy’s sister, Dulce, from Great Falls, Virginia very actively solicited donations for the Bicol victims from her friends. Maricoy donated a classroom to Kinalansan High School and the other classroom was donated by Mr. & Ms. Martin Gaw, formerly of Alexandria, VA but are now living in Manila.

We did the relief giving to 200 families in San Jose in the church courtyard. I recognized from an old picture that it was the same site where they did a gift giving in 2003. We did a program inside the church and then distributed the gifts outside. Some of the recipients were from out of town and Vic even provided them with transportation money. Vic also added 10 kilos of rice on each gift bags. The bags were too heavy but the typhoon victims were very happy carrying away the bags.

After the gift giving, we visited the school site for the 2 classrooms to be built at Kinalansan High School. The old building was blown down by the typhoon and the school started clearing the site for the new classrooms. We saw a tent that served as a temporary classroom.

We were treated again by Vic to a sumptuous lunch and after a while; we headed to our last mission in Pasacao, Camarines Sur.

NOTES:

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 2,400 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, Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at CFO.

Polangui, Albay

2007-02-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 3, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoon Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Seniang (December 7-12, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the 8th leg of a 10-town tour of FtH in the Bicol Region. This trip is the most memorable, exciting part of the FtH Bicol Tour.

Saturday, February 3, 2007- We left Malinao, Albay about 4:00PM, almost at the same time that we should already be in Polangui for the gift giving. We took the short cut, the less traveled road to Ligao, to reach Polangui as soon as possible. Between Tabaco and Ligao, the van provided by the mayor overheated due to a break in the water hose. Stranded in the mountain, in the middle of nowhere, later than late for our implementation in Polangui, with no signals to use our cell phones to call for help; Tess and Eve, in desperation, stopped a construction truck, a loaded jeep, and a tricycle driver just to be able to reach Polangui. The first 2 declined the “chance” to help FtH. The tricycle driver was not on duty, was just trying to buy ‘suka’ for the wife and he “agreed” , through the friendly persuasion of Tess and Eve, to take us to the “place” where we can get other transportation. That “place” is the bridge where the other half was washed away by the flooding and traffic were rerouted to another town. We walked down the river bed, crossed the flowing river through a foot bridge made of a single coconut tree, walked up to the top of the road, commandeered another tricycle with the driver’s family on board, until we met Eve’s brother in Ligao, who drove all the way from Baao to pick us up.

The FtH volunteers, somehow, one way or the other, by hook or by divine guidance, reached Polangui around 6:30 PM to the happiness of the 200 recipients in Barangay Magurang, who have been waiting patiently since early afternoon. Across the Barangay Hall, we can see the buildings with no roofs, damaged by the typhoons that are still waiting for repairs. After the gift giving, we were treated to diner by the Local barangay unit or Mr. Jun Carreon (the coordinator) or Ms. Teresita Rayala (I really don’t know who paid for the late diner but it was very good!), a friend of our friend Nins, a retiree of the World Bank, who requested the gift giving in Polangui. We checked with the driver we left behind in the mountain and he was able to make it back to Malinao. We went on to Baao, Albay and checked in Hotel Emelie, a new hotel in Baao. The room was spacious, looks very clean but a roach was the first to greet Tess ‘good evening’ in the bathroom. Then, we have to call for service for clogged shower, no hot water; but so what, we have outlived a worse situation in Iloilo City. It was a long day but it was worth it; and on to dreamland after a whole day work.

NOTES:

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, Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at CFO.

Malinao, Albay

2007-02-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 3, 2007

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

Saturday, February 3, 2007- We left Catanduanes through the Port of San Andres (formerly Calolbon), which is closer to Tabaco than Virac. It is also with the 9:00AM ferry compared to the afternoon schedule of the ferry from Virac. After a hearty breakfast of the Pinoy kind, we bid our host goodbye, concerned that we might be late for the ferry. Vic said that the owner of the ferry is a friend of Mayor Zito and the ferry will not leave without the FtH volunteers on board. True enough, we were booked in the first class section of the ferry, courtesy of Mayor Zito.

The ferry took almost 4 hours to cross the Lagonoy Gulf to Tabaco, Albay. We were greeted at Tabaco by the associates of Fr. Shiapno of Manilao Parish and the Local Government Unit. Vic went on to prepare the FtH visit in San Jose (Camarines Sur) and we proceeded to Manilao, a short trip from Tabaco. We arrived in Malinao around 2:00 PM, with the scheduled gift giving at 10:30 AM. The gift giving was done in a covered court next to the church, with part of the roof blown away by the typhoon. After the usual welcome and thank you and talk about CFO and FtH, some kids performed with singing and dancing; we started with the relief giving to 200 families of the recent typhoons who have been waiting since 10 AM that morning. Affter the gift giving, we had a very late lunch at the church and we talked about possible livelihood and Feeding Projects. The Mayor’s office offered to take the FtH volunteers to the next mission in Polangui, Albay.

NOTES: Through some mutual friends, Fr. Shiapno and the mayor’s sister attended the FtH gift giving in Paranaque last January 20, 2007 and requested FtH to visit Malinao who is in dire need of some assistance. With some donations to FtH for Virac and Polangui, FtH decided to include Malinao in the tour. Fr. Shiapno was very grateful for the FtH assistance on very short notice and you can really “see” his happiness for FtH being there. Although a little on the healthy side, Fr. Shiapno was moving around like a kid with a new toy.

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 25, 2007

Virac, Catanduanes

2007-02-26T22:50:00.001-08:00

Friday, February 2, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoon Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Seniang (December 7-12, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the 6th leg of a 10-town tour of FtH in the Bicol Region.

Friday, February 2, 2007- Carl and Jeanette with the CFO Team No. 1 of Edwin and Ivy left for Manila and were replaced with CFO Team No. 2 of Evelyn and Hazel for the rest of the Bicol Tour. We left Legaspi City at 5AM for the 7AM ferry from Tabaco to Virac. Pablito and Tessie were joined by Vic O. from Annandale, Virginia and San Jose, Camarines Sur at Tabaco, Albay for the ferry to Virac. Vic is a friend of the Mayor of Virac when the Mayor was staying in Washington DC in the 1960s. We were met in Virac by Mayor Zito Alberto but having not seen each other for more than 40 years, Vic and Zito failed to recognize each other at the pier, both bulging on the sides and thinning on the top. Mayor Zito booked us at the Rakdell Hotel near the pier and we were treated to lunch in his Pili farm just outside the town.

After lunch, we started the relief giving for 300 families in 3 barangays affected by the Typhoons. From Manila, we brought a box of 50 flashlights that do not need any batteries, just hand cranked to charge the power. It was donated by Mr. & Mrs. Harry and Rosa Yu of Manila who was our recent visitor in Leesburg, Virginia last October 2006. It will be given to residents of a distant barangay where you need to cross a snaking river 27 times to reach the place. The Hawaii International Relief Organization (HIRO) donated $10,000 towards 2 classrooms in Bicol which we will locate here in Virac, Catanduanes, most often hit by typhoons. We were treated to diner by Mayor Zito and retired early for the early morning trip back to Albay.

Our tour of duty in Virac, Catanduanes was very short and sweet. We were shown some places where the Mayor thinks a tornado went through; coconut trees with no leaves. We were treated royally by Mayor Zito and his wife, with complimentary stay in the hotel, meals and local transportation. It was time for Vic and Zito to reminisce their glory days in Washington DC in 1960s and it was my second trip to Virac after my first stay in 1962.

NOTES: 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 25, 2007

Legaspi City, Albay

2007-02-26T22:48:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 1, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoon Milenyo (Sept 27, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30, 2006), Seniang (December 7-12, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge. This is the 5th leg of a 9-town tour of FtH in the Bicol Region.

Thursday, February 1, 2007- After bidding Mayor Sally Ante-Lee of Sorsogon City good-bye, we proceeded to the next FtH mission in Legaspi City. Mayor Sally provided us with the local transportation to Legaspi City. Unknown to us, with 2 security guards trailing in a motorcycle; Carl, Jeanette, Tess and Pablito with CFO’s Ivy and Edwin, we checked in at the Pepperland Hotel in Legaspi City. We were met at the Hotel by the Mayor’s aide and were escorted to the Municipal Hall to pay courtesy call on Mayor Noel Rosal. FtH has been to Legaspi City giving relief for relocation of the Mayon victims in 2006, headed by Solita.

With the Vice Mayor serving as guide, we had lunch in a local restaurant and proceeded to Barangay 17, Ilawod, where the residents were not yet reached by any relief assistance from the private sector. Carl addressed the 100 families eager to receive the food assistance. FtH was assisted by the local Jaycee Chapter headed by the wife of the Vice Mayor and together with their 3 year old daughter.

After the gift giving, we were given a tour of the devastated area especially the Barangay Padang where it was declared a ‘no man’s land’ and the whole village was evacuated to a relocation center. We saw rocks bigger than a car; houses half buried in lahar, not fit for habitation anymore; coconut trees with no leaves standing up like toothpicks; I noticed a 2 classroom building almost 50% complete but had to be abandoned because it is in the path of the Mayon Volcano eruption. We then went to Pag-Asa National High School, Arimbay Extension, where they need replacement of the damaged classrooms, whose roof was blown about 10 meters away. We were driven to the top of the hill of Taysan where you can see a panoramic view of the path of the devastation along the widened river, unto the sea. We then went to the relocation center, MMDA Village, run by Gawad Kalinga, where several hundred families from Barangay Padang were relocated.

It was free-time after the tour and we had special halo-halo in this very famous restaurant across a shopping mall. This special treat is part of the benefits of a FtH volunteer.

NOTES: 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 25, 2007

Sorsogon City, Sorsogon

2007-02-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

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

Bulan, Sorsogon

2007-02-26T22:37:00.000-08:00

January 29-31, 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 third of a 10 part series of FtH stories.

January 29, 2007 - After completing the FtH Missions in Buhi, Camarines Sur and Pilar, Sorsogon, Team No. 1 of Gloria, Solita, Lottie, Ethel, Bing, Fely, Manny, Carl, Jeanette, Ernie, Tessie and Pablito proceeded to Bulan, Sorsogon where we joined FtH Team No. 2 who were assisting the medical mission. Nine (9) FtH volunteers were assigned to 3 rooms at the 9 Balls Inn and the rest of the volunteers were in the Cosmopolitan Hotel nearby with 4 guests in a room, with private bathrooms but no hot water. Tessie had to bribe the caretaker to boil some hot water for bathing.

After a get together dinner of all FtH volunteers and the rest of the members of the Bulan Medical Mission, we were treated to a recognition party at the town plaza by the Municipal Mayor who has some resemblance with a staff at the Philippine Embassy in WashDC. At the recognition party, by invitation only, but lots of viewers outside the gate, each volunteer was given a plaque of recognition. The recipients were arranged alphabetically and Carl A. was very excited for getting one even though he has not done anything yet. After the presentation, photo op, it was a ballroom dancing until about 10:00PM. We walked to our hotels nearby, tired but happy.

Tuesday, Jan 30, 2007- We did gift giving to 300 families of the fire calamities last year.

It was done at the Police station grounds were there was a better crowd control. Ernie and Carl asked the recipients to form 2 lines and controlled the flow smoothly. Solita, Gretchen, Ethel, Celia, Gloria, Lottie, Tessie, Belen, Mary Anne, Fely D and Fely G, took turns in getting the tickets, and handling the heavy bags of goodies. Bing, Manny and Pablito took pictures.

After lunch, the FtH Team No. 1 of Gloria, Solita, Lottie, Bing, Ethel, Fely D, Manny, Ernie, left for Legaspi City for the 8 AM flight back to Manila the following day. Carl, Jeanette, Tessie and Pablito, stayed with FtH Team No. 2 and started packing for 300 more gifts for the recent Typhoon Reming victims.

After the dancing that night at the concrete floor plaza, Pablito’s only shoes, a year-old Rockport walker made in China, the sole broke away from the rest of the shoes and was flapping noisily as I walked. While waiting for the relief goods from the supplier, I sneaked out and told the tricycle driver to take me to a shoe repair shop. The ‘shoe repair shop’ is in the sidewalk, across the plaza where we danced the night before, manned by 2 brothers, ages 10 and 8, off from school because their teachers are attending the funeral of another teacher. The tricycle driver talking in Bicol, introduced me as a VIP with the Medical Mission and requested to have my shoes done right away and the boy happily obliged. The 10 year old repair man expertly put glue on the sole with his fore fingers and while waiting for the glue to dry up a little bit, he suggested sewing the bottom for added security. The “sewing machine” is an improvised, modified, ice pick with a hook at the tip to hold the string. He casually put a hole on the bottom and side of the shoes; thread the strings, pulled it tight and moved on to the next hole. In 15 minutes, the pair was done, he charged me Ph50 for the repair of a $50 shoes, I gave him Ph100 and you can see the happy, very wide smile on his face. The tricycle driver waited for me all the time, he claimed no business around that time in the PM, the fare was Ph 7.50 one way, I gave him Ph50 and everybody was happy, including my shoes that are not flapping anymore.

We had dinner in Irosin hot spring, about 30 minutes away. The spring is privately owned and there was an entrance fee of Ph20 per person. Dinner was brought in from Bulan. The hot water was tapped from the side of a mountain and it is really hot to the touch. The pool is lukewarm and just right for relaxing from all the excitement of the day.

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.

NOTES: 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. All FtH volunteers paid for their own meals and lodging in this mission.

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 one 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
February 17, 2007

Pilar, Sorsogon

2007-02-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 29, 2007

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

Monday, Jan 29, 2007- After inspecting the damage at Cabatuan Elementary School in Buhi, the FtH volunteers proceeded to Pilar, Sorsogon with the vans provided by Uncle Johnny of Buhi Resort Hotel where FtH volunteers were hosted. We reached Pilar, Sorsogon around 10:00 and met with Dr. Castro, a dentist from NJ who established a medical Hospital in Pilar. Dr Castro gave us a tour of the facility. It is not opened yet but the rooms were almost complete and painted. The building even had a helicopter landing pad in the roof.

We had lunch with 100 indigent children and their parents who will be the recipients of the FtH Feeding Project in Pilar. The children will be provided with meals for 6 months and their progress will be monitored. After the lunch, the children were treated to a gift bag of food, toys and school supplies. The lunch and the gifts were prepared by the local DSWD but was funded by FtH. Very prominent in this trip are the armed military guards in the property. We were advised even before we left the US that Pilar is infested with anti-government elements. However, local officials assured us that since we are helping the poor, even some families of the NPAs, there’s nothing to worry about our safety.

We did a side trip to Donsol, Sorsogon to see the famous Butanding whale sharks but the sea was choppy and no sightings of the whale have been reported. The only big whales we saw are the bodies of Carl and Pablito in front of the vans. We proceeded to Bulan, Sorsogon where we joined FtH Team No. 2 who were assisting the medical mission. Nine (9) FtH volunteers were assigned to 3 rooms at the 9 Balls Inn and the rest of the volunteers were assigned in a separate hotel nearby, jamming 4 guests in a room.

NOTES: This is the second leg of a 10-town tour of FtH. 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
Thursday, February 15, 2007

Buhi, Camarines Sur

2007-02-26T21:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Bicol Regions of Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon were hit with a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Typhoons Milenyo (Sept 25-29, 2006) and Seniang ( November 7-12, 2006), relocation due to Mayon eruption, Typhoon Reming (Nov. 30- Dec 3, 2006), and the Mayon landslide. The needs were great and FTH tried to put together 3 teams and CFO had 2 teams to meet the challenge.

Sunday, Jan 28, 2007- Team No. 1 of Gloria, Solita, Lottie, Ethel, Bing, Fely and Manny from Las Vegas, Carl, Jeanette, Ernie, Tessie and Pablito met at Terminal No. 2 for the 9:30 Am flight to Naga City. The flight was delayed until 12:30 PM waiting for another plane coming from Cagayan De Oro.

Passengers were issued meal allowance and nobody complained.

Team No. 2 of Celia, Malu, Gretchen and Dr Dante left earlier at 7:00 AM to join the Bulan Medical Mission for Legaspi City going directly to Bulan, Sorsogon.

We were met at Buhi Airport around 2 PM by the drivers and vans of Uncle Johnny Ramos of Buhi Resorts. As you enter the airport building with no roof, with high winds and some rain, you can feel the devastation brought by Typhoon Durian, and the local government have not yet fully recovered. Almost two (2) months after the Typhoon Durian on November 30, 2006, the roof the terminal building still need to be repaired.

We had gift giving for about 70 families at Barangay Cabatuan and where we were joined by the Mayor during the distribution. We continued the distribution to about 230 families in the Buhi Municipal Hall. The gifts were bought locally, packed and prepared by the staff of the Mayor and DSWD. At the Municipal Hall, the distribution was done in the second floor meeting room which was crowded by the recipients. Lottie talked about FtH and its missions. Carl and Ernie advised the recipients to form 2 lines to facilitate the distribution. We were treated to a late lunch by the Mayor’s wife after the gift giving.

Monday, Jan 29, 2007- We passed by the ruins of Cabatuan Elementary School before we proceeded to Pilar, Sorsogon with the vans provided by Uncle Johnny of Buhi Resort Hotel where FtH volunteers were hosted.