Bangkabuhayan and bayanihan

MANILA, Philippines - On the morning of March 22, more than four months after Super Typhoon Yolanda had struck, close to a hundred people from island barangays milled around the Ajuy Municipal Hall, faces bright with anticipation and hope. They tried to hold their excitement in check as the Kaisa team arrived for the handing over ceremony of 50 fiber-glass pump boats, each complete with a brand new 7.5 hp Kenbo engine, to fisherfolk who had suffered total loss of homes and boats during the terrible disaster.

Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran’s Bangkabuhayan project hopes to restore the means of livelihood for more than 300 badly affected households in Northern Iloilo. Donations for the boats had come from individuals as well as various Tsinoy organizations, including the seven-organization relief committee, the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong, Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order and the Royal Yacht Club of Hong Kong, among others. The Rotary Club of Mandaluyong, in particular, solicited boats from their sister clubs in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The lawn fronting the Ajuy Municipal Hall was lined with colorful bancas, fish net, half a sack of rice and engine propped atop their bows, lending it a festive air.

I spotted Rhylene Toquero from the island barangay of Punta Buri whom I had interviewed a month before when Kaisa and the Amity Foundation of Hong Kong had distributed relief packages. In my earlier interview with her, 42-year-old Rhylene had been in tears as she recalled her family’s terrible ordeal during the storm surge that had swept away her home and her boat.

Today, her back straight and her face lit with a smile, she was busy helping others in lining up for their boats. A recipient herself, she said her 18-foot banca will be shared with her cousins. She explained that, on the average, fisherfolk could earn around P150 a day selling their catch in the local market. Depending on the season, they could earn approximately P1,500 a month. A good day could bring in P400 but during the rainy season, rough seas would dictate lesser catch and fishermen often return home with empty boats. Small catches may just be sufficient for Rhylene’s eight-member family’s own consumption. Since bancas are small, nets are difficult to use and fisherfolk rely heavily on the hook and line for gathering their marine harvest. Fishing times are from 4 a.m. to noon. There is also night fishing when squid, attracted to “white” and to light, are easy to catch.

Most of the beneficiaries interviewed shared that their earnings are just enough to feed the family. Much as they wish that their children could graduate even from high school, it is really difficult.

“From the P300 I earn, P62 pays for the gas for the engine, P200 for food for my family of six, the rest is used for other needs like transportation. The kids all walk to school and never experience having an allowance. We have never experienced going to a doctor. When someone gets really sick, the most we can do is go to the health center, ” Mang Tomas said.

The income that fisherfolk earn will seem like a pittance to many living in urban centers. There is little doubt they count among the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. To augment their income, many of them have little choice but to join the ranks of migrant laborers working domestically or overseas.

For the fisherfolk of Northern Iloilo, the bancas provide a subsistence livelihood but at least they can hold their heads up with pride, knowing they will not be on the dole. Bancas help them redeem their self-respect, a sense of self-reliance and independence. We had noted how fishermen were reluctant to queue up for relief packages. It was obvious they preferred to send their wives, older children and elderly parents to line up for the goods. Scenes of food distribution always saw more women and elderly queuing up. But today, there were more menfolk lining up as recipients. Their faces beaming with gratitude and anticipation, the men gently stroked the sides of the bancas and the brand new engines as they checked out the boats. Project Bangkabuhayan was uplifting spirits.

This was just the beginning. Recipients signed an agreement promising to “pay it back” later so that more people can benefit. Kaisa’s aim is to ensure greater responsibility on the part of the fisherfolk for their own welfare as well as that of their neighbors. This would reinforce the bayanihan spirit in local communities and there would be greater ownership of the project on the part of recipients. Kaisa leaders are conscious that doling out food and materials is only a temporary but necessary measure, but in the long run, relief work is more about rehabilitating and rebuilding communities. We learned later that some of the barangays have organized simple cooperatives to manage the project of paying back in ways and measures affordable to the fisherfolk.

For the long haul, maintenance of the boats is a priority concern and the ownership of fiberglass boats is something quite new for many. At the handover, announcements were made encouraging recipients to report any defect in the boats or engines. Workshops to teach them about repairs and maintenance of fiberglass boats were scheduled in Ajuy.

Extending help to the typhoon victims was a moving experience for most of us, especially seeing the relief and rehab efforts making a difference. Volunteers in the distribution process felt involved in lives of people and a greater identification with the larger community.

One could not help but think of what their future would be. Having met some of the victims, having seen their gratitude and inspired by their resilience, we understood more fully that giving was not simply a one-off thing. We became acutely conscious of the poverty that Typhoon Yolanda had exposed in these villages. The lack of adequate water sources and supplies, the inadequacies of infrastructure, the extreme imbalance in land distribution such that farmers and fisherfolk had to rely on the patronage of landowners in deciding where they could rebuild their homes.

Damaged homes and damaged schools with rusting, unpainted GI sheets, rotting wooden chairs and tables in school rooms, all testified to the appalling conditions that had been allowed to fester in the poorer barangays. Certainly, rehabilitation must involve local participation in reshaping, not just reviving, livelihoods of local communities.

The Bangkabuhayan project seeks to provide 300 boats for 300 fisherfolk families. Aside from the 100 boats distribited in Ajuy, 100 boats will be given to families in the communities in Marabut, Samar; 50 in Balete, Aklan; and 50 in Camotes, Cebu.

The author is a member of Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran and an Amity Foundation research fellow. For details on the Bangkabuhayan project, contact Kaisa at 527-6083 or email [email protected].