Last Saturday was the scheduled run of the COMELEC’s local visits for voters registrations at our village, and so of course having pondered when is the best time to pay a visit to the municipal hall and go through the long process of getting registered, I took this opportunity to finally get it done and with less hassle (example of procrastination paying off).
It was scheduled from 8-am to 5pm, and although I got there right after breakfast there were already a lot of people lined up. Try to picture this: an enclosed covered court (like this: []), one half of which is just for picking up the registration form. The line for this simple process runs along the wall of the half court (the upper half of this [] ), and then doubles back when it reaches the end to form a second row along the wall. Judging by the pace it would have taken me more than 2 hours to get a form, which was kind of ok for me since I got all morning. Then I saw someone I knew, way ahead of the line, and I thought of how long he must have waited (and still had to wait). Still more than a hundred people between us, he almost at his turn to get the form and me getting fired up for some competition, I stood up and approached a friendly COMELEC officer. A little asking, a little explaining, a little ID showing and voila, I got my form and skipped about 2 hours more of waiting in line, ahead of my friend.
I hurried over to the other half of the covered court to widen my lead some more. It was here that people filled up the form that took hours for them to get. I started answering, and embarrassingly I had to pause to think about what to write in “city/municipality”. I figured it out a sec later, but it was 1 more than it should have taken. More on that later.
After accomplishing the form and after the place where they add other information only COMELEC people knew, I headed straight for line for the picture taking. I already know that getting my voter’s ID was next to impossible, so I thought this, the other half of the 6 hours of the whole registration process, was useless. They only had one camera which meant they could only accommodate 1 person at a time. The line stretched for another 1 and a half hour. You know, if they had two cameras it would have gone twice as fast, but apparently they didn’t think of that. I got to the line, 6 persons ahead of my friend who when he saw me asked “how did you get ahead of me?!” All I did was wave and smile, though what I really wanted to do was shout “In your face!!!1!111!1!1!!!!” so the whole court would hear.
If you think about it, this process shouldn't even last half an hour.
Back to municipalities. I never really cared or understood the distinction of cities and municipalities. I only got to appreciate (notice) the supposed relative autonomy of provinces and municipalities during my first practicum/working tour of the Philippines. Maybe because for those living at the national capital like me, local government units lose their distinction since we are right beside the seat of government, or LGUs actions are lost in the noise coming from the congress or I just haven’t had a chance to do business with our municipality which made it invisible to me. I always thought that Cainta, Angono, Antipolo, Binangonan etc. were just names for places. Only when out to the far provinces did I see the importance of municipalities. Being so far away from Manila people turn to their local government units for support and services.
However these LGUs are still dependent on the national government. They wait for information materials to be brought to them before they can distribute them. There are like colonies waiting for word from their masters in Manila. That’s why I say give the LGUs more freedom since they are the ones who know the reality of their respective localities. They should be capable of more independent action and not reliant on the national government which is bogged down by endless political bickering. That’s why I believe that Federalism is the way for the Philippines. Decentralized autonomous states or provinces, able to decide and act on their own, according to their own unique realities. Even with little traveling you will realize how diverse the Philippines really is. Drive two hours away from Manila in any direction and you’ll get to a place where people already speak another dialect. Drive two hours more and the dialect changes yet again. Unity in diversity, like what the EU says (EU subjects kicking in), not forceful integration into one homogenous national identity.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Lucky
Being that I am typing (typed) this alone, in the deathly silence of my second practicum here in the office of the Foundation for Philippine Environment, and doing nothing but breathe and listen to the clock count the seconds till the end of the day 5 and a half hours away, I guess now is the best time to reminisce about my amazing adventure in my first practicum.
What did we do? We created a survey for the UNDP under the Ateneo School of Government to find out people’s perception and awareness level concerning climate change, the output of which will be the Philippines‘ official communication to the UN. Using that we blitzed through north Luzon, tested the survey first in Pampanga before we headed to Cagayan and then worked our way down through Isabela, Ifugao and Benguet. We didn’t stay in one place too long; we came, we interviewed, then we left for the next place, at most staying only 2 nights. A day after this grueling weeklong trip of 6 - 12 hour bus rides every other day some of us left immediately south to do the same thing over again, hitting Visayas at Bohol and Leyte and then Surigao Del Norte in Mindanao, crossing seas when summer storms were hitting the Philippines left and right.
You see I’ve always wanted to travel. My mom is a traveler and I guess I got that itch to see new places from her. However, we don’t. We don’t have the luxury to go to tourist spots on a whim, and we don’t even bother thinking about going abroad for vacations. Where my cousins half my age and close friends are already seasoned international travelers, I’ve yet to even leave Luzon island, not even had the chance to step foot on another island like Corregidor (and don’t give me that ‘but Corregidor is part of Luzon’. I said Luzon island, not the Luzon political boundary). For the longest time my world was just home and school, and the trips to certain of metro manila I had to go to out of necessity were already a treat of a new adventure. Even going to the province only happened every 2 or more years. That’s why when I hit college I started taking every opportunity to go out there, joining ESS and volunteering for orgs like GK and ISO. I wanted to go as far away as I can.
The opportunity arose when sir Leland recommended ISO and CCEFI as a practicum. Both are supposedly 1 month immersions. I’ve already experienced working with ISO, and the CCEFI thing was exciting - be based in Cebu for a month to work in community-based coastal resource management. I wanted to go, but like I said to sir; I want to travel, the question is if I’ll be allowed to. Being an only child requires a lot of negotiating with the parents especially when it comes to traveling and being away from home for long periods of time. Not only are they apprehensive concerning the duration and distance, being fieldwork is tiring and me showing that I’m vulnerable to asthma attacks during my trips already, they are also concerned with the finances. Enrolling in 2 subjects in summer was bad enough ( library fee being so high when we’re not gonna use it because we’ll be working), they cringe at the idea of the living expenses being posted that long that far. I wasn’t too bummed when they advised against taking either practicum; I already thought it was unlikely anyway, but here was another opportunity to leave Luzon island, which is my present goal contentment-for-the-moment-when-achieved, slipping by.
This became a topic between me and my mom one lunch. I told her of my imperative to leave Luzon as soon as possible. She tried to reassure me with the talk of being able to see the world in due time, that I shouldn’t rush it, and be patient and just wait till it comes - which had the opposite effect to what she intended. I became riled up; patience?! I say life is short and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow; I won’t wait for something to come when I can seize its. Now see this kind of straight talk about the fickleness of fate makes my mom terribly uncomfortable, but I’ve this impatience for life since being on the brink when I caught dengue (and several other instances between then and now which only, shall we say, reinforced that notion), and having gone through philo class and Heidegger I can now openly talk about it and just blame it on what I learn in school.
Then an alternative came when sir Leland recommended that I join a project an alumni approached him about. We’ve seen the email calling for volunteers, and I would have joined in a heartbeat if we didn’t have practicum. It never occurred to any of us that it could be a one, until sir Leland recommended it. It promised expense-paid fieldwork, but no exact details, and it was environmental. I took it, or rather sir Leland threw me there and all I had to do was say yes.
I started even before the sem officially ended. After the stress we went through Research Methods class, it was kinda annoying to find ourselves in the same kind of work. We talked about developing research instruments and properly made surveys and methodologies and tabulating and analyzing SPSS results, but since we were also talking about sampling in the provinces we were looking forward to fieldwork. The project had 18 target provinces, and as I was telling this to my parents while pointing out the possibilities over a large Philippine map, my mom was getting excited. And in a sort of half-gloating, half-consoling way, and in an all too Filipino manner of murdering English sayings she said ‘see, when one door closes, a window opens’. And like a good son who corrects his parents out of love while dismissing a wise counsel at the same time I said ‘mom, you mean another door opens’. While this was true I was still hung up on the opportunity to go leave Luzon passing me by. My mom said ‘you’ll get that opportunity again. For now you get to explore Luzon before you explore the rest of the Philippines and then the world. Baby steps.’
Talk about baby steps! In the space of 3 weeks I’ve managed to visit 8 provinces plus 2 more by virtue of being there to get to another province (bus stopovers not counted), 9 of which for the first time. I got to see the Banaue Rice Terraces which was spectacular, and even if I didn’t get to see the Chocolate Hills or a single tarsier in Bohol I don’t really mind because I got my first plane ride (at business class at that) and that alone is enough for me. Now I can say that I’ve finally left Luzon now that I’ve gone to both Visayas and Mindanao in a week. Then it was also my first time to visit provincial capitols, to spend the night in a government office; first time to interview Filipinos speaking another dialect; first time on an inter-island boat, on a RoRo, and in an ambulance (and thank God it wasn’t for real). We spent more than 30 hours stiff and unmoving in buses. We ran through heavy rains in Baguio without umbrellas. I slipped somewhere and got laughed at by a friend. We crashed a political family’s party. We got to cruise on a river and jump in another one that was getting higher by the second because of the rains. It was an extreme road trip/tour of the Philippines where I got to see what our country looks like away from the modernity of Manila, and what an amazing point of view and insights it gives. We got a glimpse of how most Filipinos live. And it was with awesome company, which made it an ultimate barkada outing (UBO). And all this basically for the price of one summer class.
I told someone once that I had a plan to get an all-expense paid trip to Europe by junior year. Well, I didn’t quite make it to Europe. But this was the same person who jokingly said that while she was touring the Europe, I was touring the Philippines. I’m sure it became truer than both of us thought it can be. At least this time, I’m proud of that comparison.
I’ve been lucky. Lucky to have been where I have been. And recalling the shenanigans and the extreme weather, lucky to be home again. I’m not jealous of those who will hit the other 10 provinces and repeat what we did while we spent day in and day out in the same office - well, I might be a little bit. But I’m already content with what I’ve got to experience so far. And if staying in this freezing office whose only sound is the aircon running and fingers typing is the balance for that awesome adventure then, I’ll serve my time here with a smile.
I just have to say, FPE has some excellent coffee.
Being that I am typing (typed) this alone, in the deathly silence of my second practicum here in the office of the Foundation for Philippine Environment, and doing nothing but breathe and listen to the clock count the seconds till the end of the day 5 and a half hours away, I guess now is the best time to reminisce about my amazing adventure in my first practicum.
What did we do? We created a survey for the UNDP under the Ateneo School of Government to find out people’s perception and awareness level concerning climate change, the output of which will be the Philippines‘ official communication to the UN. Using that we blitzed through north Luzon, tested the survey first in Pampanga before we headed to Cagayan and then worked our way down through Isabela, Ifugao and Benguet. We didn’t stay in one place too long; we came, we interviewed, then we left for the next place, at most staying only 2 nights. A day after this grueling weeklong trip of 6 - 12 hour bus rides every other day some of us left immediately south to do the same thing over again, hitting Visayas at Bohol and Leyte and then Surigao Del Norte in Mindanao, crossing seas when summer storms were hitting the Philippines left and right.
You see I’ve always wanted to travel. My mom is a traveler and I guess I got that itch to see new places from her. However, we don’t. We don’t have the luxury to go to tourist spots on a whim, and we don’t even bother thinking about going abroad for vacations. Where my cousins half my age and close friends are already seasoned international travelers, I’ve yet to even leave Luzon island, not even had the chance to step foot on another island like Corregidor (and don’t give me that ‘but Corregidor is part of Luzon’. I said Luzon island, not the Luzon political boundary). For the longest time my world was just home and school, and the trips to certain of metro manila I had to go to out of necessity were already a treat of a new adventure. Even going to the province only happened every 2 or more years. That’s why when I hit college I started taking every opportunity to go out there, joining ESS and volunteering for orgs like GK and ISO. I wanted to go as far away as I can.
The opportunity arose when sir Leland recommended ISO and CCEFI as a practicum. Both are supposedly 1 month immersions. I’ve already experienced working with ISO, and the CCEFI thing was exciting - be based in Cebu for a month to work in community-based coastal resource management. I wanted to go, but like I said to sir; I want to travel, the question is if I’ll be allowed to. Being an only child requires a lot of negotiating with the parents especially when it comes to traveling and being away from home for long periods of time. Not only are they apprehensive concerning the duration and distance, being fieldwork is tiring and me showing that I’m vulnerable to asthma attacks during my trips already, they are also concerned with the finances. Enrolling in 2 subjects in summer was bad enough ( library fee being so high when we’re not gonna use it because we’ll be working), they cringe at the idea of the living expenses being posted that long that far. I wasn’t too bummed when they advised against taking either practicum; I already thought it was unlikely anyway, but here was another opportunity to leave Luzon island, which is my present goal contentment-for-the-moment-when-achieved, slipping by.
This became a topic between me and my mom one lunch. I told her of my imperative to leave Luzon as soon as possible. She tried to reassure me with the talk of being able to see the world in due time, that I shouldn’t rush it, and be patient and just wait till it comes - which had the opposite effect to what she intended. I became riled up; patience?! I say life is short and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow; I won’t wait for something to come when I can seize its. Now see this kind of straight talk about the fickleness of fate makes my mom terribly uncomfortable, but I’ve this impatience for life since being on the brink when I caught dengue (and several other instances between then and now which only, shall we say, reinforced that notion), and having gone through philo class and Heidegger I can now openly talk about it and just blame it on what I learn in school.
Then an alternative came when sir Leland recommended that I join a project an alumni approached him about. We’ve seen the email calling for volunteers, and I would have joined in a heartbeat if we didn’t have practicum. It never occurred to any of us that it could be a one, until sir Leland recommended it. It promised expense-paid fieldwork, but no exact details, and it was environmental. I took it, or rather sir Leland threw me there and all I had to do was say yes.
I started even before the sem officially ended. After the stress we went through Research Methods class, it was kinda annoying to find ourselves in the same kind of work. We talked about developing research instruments and properly made surveys and methodologies and tabulating and analyzing SPSS results, but since we were also talking about sampling in the provinces we were looking forward to fieldwork. The project had 18 target provinces, and as I was telling this to my parents while pointing out the possibilities over a large Philippine map, my mom was getting excited. And in a sort of half-gloating, half-consoling way, and in an all too Filipino manner of murdering English sayings she said ‘see, when one door closes, a window opens’. And like a good son who corrects his parents out of love while dismissing a wise counsel at the same time I said ‘mom, you mean another door opens’. While this was true I was still hung up on the opportunity to go leave Luzon passing me by. My mom said ‘you’ll get that opportunity again. For now you get to explore Luzon before you explore the rest of the Philippines and then the world. Baby steps.’
Talk about baby steps! In the space of 3 weeks I’ve managed to visit 8 provinces plus 2 more by virtue of being there to get to another province (bus stopovers not counted), 9 of which for the first time. I got to see the Banaue Rice Terraces which was spectacular, and even if I didn’t get to see the Chocolate Hills or a single tarsier in Bohol I don’t really mind because I got my first plane ride (at business class at that) and that alone is enough for me. Now I can say that I’ve finally left Luzon now that I’ve gone to both Visayas and Mindanao in a week. Then it was also my first time to visit provincial capitols, to spend the night in a government office; first time to interview Filipinos speaking another dialect; first time on an inter-island boat, on a RoRo, and in an ambulance (and thank God it wasn’t for real). We spent more than 30 hours stiff and unmoving in buses. We ran through heavy rains in Baguio without umbrellas. I slipped somewhere and got laughed at by a friend. We crashed a political family’s party. We got to cruise on a river and jump in another one that was getting higher by the second because of the rains. It was an extreme road trip/tour of the Philippines where I got to see what our country looks like away from the modernity of Manila, and what an amazing point of view and insights it gives. We got a glimpse of how most Filipinos live. And it was with awesome company, which made it an ultimate barkada outing (UBO). And all this basically for the price of one summer class.
I told someone once that I had a plan to get an all-expense paid trip to Europe by junior year. Well, I didn’t quite make it to Europe. But this was the same person who jokingly said that while she was touring the Europe, I was touring the Philippines. I’m sure it became truer than both of us thought it can be. At least this time, I’m proud of that comparison.
I’ve been lucky. Lucky to have been where I have been. And recalling the shenanigans and the extreme weather, lucky to be home again. I’m not jealous of those who will hit the other 10 provinces and repeat what we did while we spent day in and day out in the same office - well, I might be a little bit. But I’m already content with what I’ve got to experience so far. And if staying in this freezing office whose only sound is the aircon running and fingers typing is the balance for that awesome adventure then, I’ll serve my time here with a smile.
I just have to say, FPE has some excellent coffee.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
