Davide court

The Davide here is Virginia P. Davide, wife of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., and she held court at yesterday’s press conference launching the four-day 9th International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference at the Manila Hotel. Not that she ever wanted to be in the limelight. But as conference chair as well as chair of the Philippine Association for Volunteer Effort (PAVE), she was the "prime among equals".

Her equals at the conference were Dr. Amelia Dayrit-Go, conference co-chair and president of PAVE; Liz Burns, IAVE president; Tae-hyung Lim of Korea, and Joselito de Vera of the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA).

The conference brings together hundreds of persons engaged in volunteer work in Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, and the Philippines. Their discussions will center on the theme, Volunteerism: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges, including success stories in volunteer work.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was scheduled to deliver the keynote address yesterday afternoon. Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon, who is called "Mr. Volunteerism", was the special guest at the press con.

Volunteerism asks people to donate time, resources, and ideas to help communities and people in times of calamities and for special needs. "It is an old concept originating from the Bayanihan spirit," said Mrs. Davide. She had been doing volunteer work even as a child growing up in Surigao City. She sang with the choir, and many times, the sacristan came to her house early to ask her to sing in church because the choir members were going to be away. She also sewed vestments for the priest and the altar.

After 15 years, Mrs. Davide retired two years ago as president of PAVE, but like a true-blue volunteer, her involvement with civic and judicial organizations has not ceased. Along with other volunteers she had been active in the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, helping spread information on voters‚ rights and responsibilities, and not so literate people to write names of candidates on their ballots.

Present at the press con was Cora Alma de Leon, who, during her term as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, organized the volunteer program called "Spirit of a Hundred Hours." She said, "This encouraged government employees to give two hours of their time every week to community projects."

Volunteer work comes in many forms. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the Philippines, the Young Men Christian Association, and Young Women’s Christian Association and many organizations have volunteers working for free to help promote activities for the youth, the elderly, jail inmates, women engaged in prostitution, street children, drug users, orphans, among others. Mrs. David mentioned a Jesuit group, the Ugnayan sa Pahinungod, and groups from De la Salle University and Assumption Convent reaching out to beneficiaries. The volunteer, she said, are not paid, but "commit themselves" to helping those who need help.

Secretary Gordon spoke highly of the thousands of people who demonstrated the Filipinos‚ "culture of volunteerism" in Olongapo City, Baguio City and Ormoc, helping move families who lost their homes during the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and fatal earthquakes and floods to higher and safer places, and collecting and distributing food and amenities. He praised the Chinese community in Binondo for helping transform the Old Intramuros ("dark and squalid") into something dazzling and tourist-drawing, and Kapampangans who cleaned up the Paskuhan Village in San Fernando, Pampanga and make it a popular stop for travellers. He said volunteerism is something that one gives from one’s self; "You can’t do one-time volunteerism, it is a lifetime commitment."

While volunteers are not paid, organizations which they are affiliated with receive donations to keep their programs going. Corporations are a big help as they pour money into programs involving the participation of their employees in their communities and other areas. Among these corporations is Intel, which, in 2000, fielded more than 30,000 participants worldwide to projects; altogether these participants gave 500,000 hours of community service.

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