Fr. Orville, Fr. Dexter, Fr. Frolan and Fr. Dave

Family, friends and followers of the late Fr. Carlos Abesamis, SJ once again  gathered on January 25  to commemorate his birthday (January 11) and death anniversary (January 31) at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches where his remains are kept. A simple celebration of mass and agape and an outpouring of good messages about Fr. Abe and how they continued his inspiration filled the event.

Present to enliven the gathering were his siblings Marilen and Willie, niece Pia and other relatives, Frs. Dexter Prudenciano and Orville Cajigan, RCJ of SHEC, Frs. Nonong Pili, Froilan Rivera and Dave Capucao of the St. Joseph Formation House, Rainier Torres of the TLJ Movement and the Socio-Pastoral Institute.

Fr. Abe as we fondly call him was one of the founders of SPI. He also authored the Third Look at Jesus and A Backpack of a Jesus Seeker and other publications.

 

The community based Flood Contingency Plans in San Bartolome were first drafted by its residents last May 2011. As a continuation of the process to review and sharpen the plans, the leaders of Dona Tomasa Riverside, California Riverside Extension and California Riverside again met last Jan. 17-18 at the San Bartolome Barangay Hall.

The participative review was led by Jing Apuhin, Karen Sarmiento and Joseph Garcia. This undertaking was also made possible by the assistance of some members of the Barangay San Bartolome staff who secured and prepared the venue.

The key issue that needed to be addressed in the Flood Contingency Plan was the need to draw up alternative action pathways in case the main ones fail for whatever reason.

When they reviewed their recent humanitarian response to the crisis brought by typhoon Falcon, they also noted elements of the flood contingency plan that needed to be improved such as the stock of community-owned rescue equipment, procedures for accessing and validating crucial information and protocols for better coordination between our community based response teams and the Barangay.

Community leaders and residents of Dona Tomasa and California Riverside Extension gathered on Jan 15, 2012 to watch a video of the recently conducted Relocation Summit at Quezon City Hall. The video featured official testimonies of people who were relocated outside Quezon City to Montalban, Bulacan and Bagong Silang.

In the video, the relocatees complained about the inaccessible locations of the resettlements, inferior housing structures and lack of basic services like water and electricity. They also noted that there were no provisions for their children’s education and their livelihood. Some of the people complained that they have been residents of the relocation sites for as much as 9 years and they still have none or little of the basic services.

These difficulties led some families to sell the houses and lots awarded them so they can move back to the city where they can make some money. Some bread-winners adapted by leaving their families behind and living in the city near their employments. Due to the prohibitive cost of transportation, they only see their families in the relocation sites once a month or so.

What was also apparent in the video was that the communities had to rely on their people’s organizations or neighborhood associations to demand from government agencies and the local government units basic amenities and services that should have been provided them by law.

This net result of this is that it led to a community resolution to strengthen the Neighborhood Associations in San Bartolome so that they can effectively compel the authorities to provide what is rightfully due them.

Fr. Puroy at left and Fr. Nonong at center

Fr. Nonong and Fr. Puroy had an impromptu celebration of  their birthdays at the St. Joseph Formation House last January 09. The night started with a Mass and was followed by dinner complete with an entertaining program led by the St. Joseph seminarians. It was an intimate gathering of friends and well-wishers who brought food, gifts and lots of cheers.

Maligayang pagbati!

SPI’s Executive Director, Jose Clemente wrote an article on our experiences in building disaster resilient communities in Barangay San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City. This is part of  a book that Christian Aid will soon publish to feature the various disaster risk reduction experiences of their local partners in the Philippines.

To read this article, please click the link below.

Disaster Risk Reduction

For two consecutive days, DRR Practitioners from Montalban, Rizal and Brgy San Bartolome, Bagbag, Novaliches, Quezon City embarked on a Lakbay Aral Tour with Buklod Tao in Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal. The logic behind this undertaking is to stimulate learning via direct community to community exchanges.

In this visit, Ka Noli and some of the officers of Buklod Tao first gave an historical account of the development of their people’s organization narrating how through basic organizing they were able to stand up against a giant construction firm whose operation threatened to destroy their environment.

Right after the short presentation, they took the DRR practitioners to see their various projects that spanned the range from early warning systems to fiberglass boat building to tetra pot and bag making to the manufacture of organic soil and  container gardening.

The DRR participants from Montalban and Novaliches and the hosts from Buklod Tao both declared that community to community learning exchanges is long over-due in teaching and inspiring others to build  disaster resilient communities.

 

We would like to congratulate and welcome Ms. Jing Apuhin who is coming  in as the new Coordinator of SPI’s DRR-Ketsana Program. Ms. Apuhin has just returned this year from a long stay in Hong Kong where she worked as an educator. She replaces Ms. Mayee Abear-Marzan who in turn has been re-assigned to lead the preparations for the 10th Anniversary of Stewardship Conference which SPI will organize and host this coming January 2013.

Good luck and all the best to you Jing!

One of the outcomes of the stewardship workshop SPI conducted last September 12-14  involving the community leaders of the DRR Project from Montalban, Rizal and Brgy San Bartolome, Bagbag, Novaliches, Quezon City was to hold a trainors’ training so that they would be able to echo stewardship to their families, friends and neighborhood organizations.

On Nov 10-12, SPI conducted this trainors’ training at the St. Peter’s Parish in Diliman, Quezon City. The workshop was led by Fr. Nonong Pili, Jose Clemente, Sr, Frances Mangabat, Arthur Neame  and Mayee Marzan. In those 3 days, the participants went through and revised the basic stewardship module to account for their DRR as well as personal and communal experiences.

The bulk of the discussion centered in making clear the stewardship core values especially regarding identity or “malalim na pagkilala na tayo ay Kawangis ng Diyos.”  Special emphasis also went to encourage  the use of creative methods of learning-teaching like dramatization, role play, drawing, focus group discussions and so on.

In the training, it became apparent that DRR is key in building a resilient community but to achieve their common vision of a united community where people help each other and care for each other,  it will take a dramatic change in the way they live their lives and this is where the spirituality of stewardship comes in.

Fr. Noel Conopio at St. Thomas More, Denver

SPI’s Executive Director Jose Clemente and Fr. Noel Conopio of San Isidro Labrador Parish have just returned from the Archdiocese of Denver’s Mission Appeal Campaign for 2011. SPI was hosted by 6 parishes from the Archdiocese of Denver where the two speakers talked about SPI’s  mission to help in the renewal of both Church and society by promoting the spirituality of stewardship and the program to build resilient urban poor communities.

The experience was also a wonderful learning opportunity for both Filipino missionaries as they were exposed to the programs, struggles and aspirations of the various parishes in the Archdiocese whose pastoral situations varied immensely from each other. What was most apparent to the two Filipinos, however,  is the changing forces of demographics where Hispanics and Asians are poised to become the majority ethnic groups in the Catholic Church in the next decade.

Fr. Conopio also attended the annual stewardship conference by the International Catholic Stewardship Conference or ICSC.  This year’s conference was held in Orlando, Florida from October 23 to 26. Fr. Conopio welcomed the opportunity to learn from other stewardship practitioners from the USA and other parts of the world and avers that he will apply what he learned from the Conference to his parish.

On October 14, Saida gave a basic orientation to Moro women from our partner urban poor communities who wished to participate in the Grameen style loan program started by a Columban Catholic priest, Fr. Dan. The orientation is towards expanding the participation of Moro women in this program and is a result of the good re-payment rate that other Moro women showed in the past year. This loan is meant to augment the income of poor women by providing them access to additional capital for their small business undertakings.

Before the DRR Core Group Team presented the collated results of the survey back to the residents of Purok Sunshine, they met to discuss the results among themselves first. There were a couple of eye-openers that shook the group. Many were, in fact,  surprised at how fast that community grew as the survey showed that there are now 694 people living there. The survey also revealed that there were 66 Catholic families in the community versus 72 Muslim families which was astonishing as almost everyone assumed that Purok Sunshine was predominantly a Moro community. Also a stunner was that there were only four families there that had a title to the land.

On the day Typhoon Pedring hit Metro Manila, the DRR Core group of Sub-Urban, Bgy. San Jose, Rodriguez activated their members and implemented the flood contingency plan. The Bantay Ilog volunteers kept watch of the small river removing any debris trapped under a concrete bridge connecting Sub-Urban to Temfacil. Garbage and other solid wastes accumulating under the bridge cause flood water to spill over the bridge and into the houses along the river. Likewise, as a response to disaster preparedness, some families started evacuating to higher grounds such as the covered court and later to the chapel. A total of 25 families not only from Sub-Urban but also from Temfacil, Bgy. San Isidro were taken cared of by the DRR Core group. They were fed and watched over, until the last of the families went back home the morning after September 27.

This is one concrete outcome of the Spirituality of Stewardship and Disaster Risk Reduction DRR project of SPI in Rodriguez.

Asked of their motivation for battling the cold wind, rain and sleepless night, Doc Aga says, ” it’s stewardship.”

Hats off to all stewards: (ECHO Youth, DRR Core Team, Jun Hingpit (HOA), Rose Ariola (PPC) and the many more who cared for their community!

Photos courtesy of Mr. Jhun Beltran.

flood level almost destroying her home

September 27, 2011,  just a day after the second year anniversary of Ondoy (international name Ketsana), another typhoon hits Sabah, Bgy. San Jose in Rodriguez. This is one of the areas where SPI is  currently implementing the DRR project. Close monitoring by SPI and the community DRR Core Group with some assistance from the barangay helped evacuate a total of 234 families to the Mormon and Catholic Churches and to the San Jose Elementary School. The lowest part of the area experienced flood level filling the whole first floor of the houses. Of these, the Muslim community was the worst hit. The following day, some evacuees returned to their homes while some stayed with relatives.

what used be the home of a newborn just a few days earlier is now an abandoned garbage-filled structure

As of September 29, no casualties have been reported. An estimated 135 houses have been partially damaged while 93 families lost their homes.

SPI and Christian Aid are now working on relief aid for these survivors. Food, non-food (medicines, cooking utensils, school supplies) and shelter assistance are the expressed needs of the community.

For any form of support, please look for the SPI contact information on the “About” page.

Last September 22 to 22, Mayee Abear, Coordinator of SPI DRR Program attended the Regional Workshop on Good Practices and Policies in Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction for Southeast Asia held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Vincent Eugenio of Unlad Kabayan, also under Christian Aid’s Ketsana Program and Josephine Matreano of Christian Aid also came.

UNDP, Malteser International and Action Aid Myanmar, all implementing DRR projects under the Seventh  DIPECHO Action Plan for Southeast Asia funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) organized this workshop participated by DRRM practitioner from government agencies, non-government and community-based organizations, and civil society. The workshop aimed to exchange and promote  learning and  knowledge and adaptation of good CBDRR practices and policies as well as contribute to the AADMER Work Program. The Agreement on Disaster and Management Emergency Response is a legal agreement between ASEAN Member States that compels them to enhance their capacities for disaster preparedness and response and to address DRR concerns.

The workshop focused on the following themes:

Regional Overview of CBDRR:

• Salient Features of AADMER and Updates on Implementation by Ms. Vicky Diopenes, ASEAN-UNISDR
• DIPECHO Program Updates by Thearat Touch, DIPECHO in Southeast Asia

Good Practices and Innovative Local and National Policies in Building More Resilient Communities through Rights-Based Approaches and Climate Change Adaptation: 

• Modelling DRR that incorporates Climate Change Adaptation and Rights-Based Approaches by Ms. Stella Dulce, ASCEND Project-Care Netherlands and Christian Aid (Philippines)
• Integrated Community-Based DRR-Climate Change Program by Teguh Wibowo, Indonesian Red Cross (Indonesia)

Good Practices and Ground Breaking Policies in Recognizing the Role of Women in CBDRR

• Mainstreaming Gender in CBDRR by Tayzar Moe Myint, UNDP (Myanamar)
• Building Resilience in Easter Indonesia by Ade Reno Sudiarno, Oxfam (Indonesia)

Good Practices and Pioneering Policies in Leading Vulnerability-Inclusive CBDRR

• Child-Focused Disaster Preparedness and Response by Gia Nguyen Van, Save the Children (Vietnam)
• Children with Disabilities in CBDRR by Dr. Alex Robinson, ASB (Indonesia)

Good Practices and Practices in Strengthening Partnerships on Integrating CBDRR into Development Programming and Policy

• Incorporating DRR into Development Programming in Cambodia by Sothea Loek, Action Aid (Cambodia)
• Partnership-led Planning and COmmunity-Owned Good Practices: Developing the National DRRM Framework and Action Plan of the Philippines by Donna Mitzi Lagdameo, OCD (Philippines)

Civil Society Support for AADMER Implementation by Godfred Paul, HelpAge International

The workshop concluded with a statement on the recommendations and possible next steps for AADMER implementation for 2011 to 2015.