Session Rd, 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Malcolm Square cowboy, Plaza, Baguio. 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Malcolm Square, 20 January 2012@KatPalasi
In early January 2012, as I carefully scrolled down and sifted through the chaos of my Facebook network, I took note of someone’s post about SM Baguio (a mall chain in the Philippines) and its plan to cut down pinetrees in order to put up a parking lot. Then as more information came in, I befriended Dr Michael Bengwayan on Facebook, so that I could keep track of the issue. He started the petition protesting the cutting down of the trees. Thus began my involvement with this protest action. On the evening of their first scheduled rally , I took a midnight bus to Baguio from Manila. I brought my cameras, digital recorder and tripod. I came as a multimedia storyteller but mostly I came because I was affected by what was happening. It was time to take a stand for the city where I was born and raised.
As soon as I arrived in Baguio, I took a cab and brought my things to my sister’s house. After coffee and some chitchat, we went to town. I wanted to be early to see what Baguio’s reaction would be to this protest. I had a quick lunch with my sisters at Volante and then with my digital gear, I strolled down to the People’s Park which used to be called Malcolm Square. It was a beautiful bright day. The skies were awesomely blue. Baguio’s oldtimers were at the Plaza wearing their cowboy hats and boots while some wore jackets. Many just wore clean shirts and sturdy shoes. That’s Baguio fashion as I remember it. Shoes always had to be sturdy and dependable because one might have to walk some distance when in Baguio. I listened in to their conversation and watched the old guy massaging a client as some others waited their turn. I asked one of them what he thought of SM cutting down pinetrees. He said,” as a humble Igorot, I wish they will not cut the trees but what can we do if they own the lot and if they have a permit and they have been allowed”. Then he added that people need the trees to absorb the dirty air, the pollution. I walked on to check the stage to ask the guys there if they knew where the protest march was going to start. Oh my. Turns out, I knew both of the musicians there. One was my friend Marie’s son Ethan Andrew and the other was Karlo. Yeah. Local musicians/artists. One other guy told me to walk up to the post office area because that’s where they will begin the march. 
Baguio artists representing the current state of the Cordilleras, 20 January 2012.@KatPalasi
Dr. Michael Bengwayan, Exec. Dir. of Pine Tree, leads the march which began at NBI building and then down Session Road. 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Session Road, 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Students, NGO workers, concerned citizens, kids, political parties, the religious, artists, Igorots, guests from Manila and elsewhere, people who love Baguio-they all came. It is amazing what one can do when people are stirred by common concerns and issues.
Malcolm Square, 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Session Road,20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
Malcolm Square, 20 January 2012 @KatPalasi
The march was pretty successful. It gathered everyone at the Malcolm Square/People’s park and speeches were said. People like Dr Bengwayan, businessman and local resident Chris Arvisu, ex-Mayor Yaranon, student leaders, and people’s orgs representatives spoke about fighting the big giant SM and goign back to the roots and heritage of the Cordilleras. It was a merging of people from all sorts of political, religious persuasions. That isn’t bad at all. Later that day, as the rally wound down, I asked Dr. Bengwayan if he was surprised about the response to his Facebook call. He laughed and said yes. He thought that maybe about ten of his relatives would show up at the rally. We all laughed but I think he too knew that social media would be a good tool for the issue at hand. And it has been. I hope it will continue to bring about change for Baguio. Former Baguio residents and those who occassionaly come to visit their relatives in the Philippines are also responding from here and abroad. I could tell from people’s family names if they were from the highlands or were long time residenst of Baguio. It doesnt matter now if they are not original settlers of Baguio. It matters that they care about the future of the city.
My sister and I were reminiscing about Baguio and about growing up there when it was still a quiet town in the 60s and the 70s. She thinks that Baguio could be called a “transient” city. It is where people come and live for a while and then they leave. And that could be true. But then Baguio always leaves a good memory for all,doesnt it? But I got struck by what she said via sms later when I was on my way back to Manila. She said that if I make a blog post about the protest action, I should use the title “End of Innocence”. It made me smile wryly. Many of us locals who grew up in Baguio have watched on the sidelights while changes came to Baguio that erased our childhood memories forever. Session Rd is now so crowded almost like Quiapo, Dainty is gone, the Cathedral grounds host some commercial stores, Maharlika is dirty and suspicious characters hang out there,etc. There are many other things that make Baguio unattractive, a stranger to us who remember it at a different time and era. But now is the time to take down the blinders and take a stand for Baguio. Well, we probably wont be able to make Dainty come back or make Session Road look like it used to and where we all called out with familiarity to each other as we went up and down that stretch. But maybe we can bring it back to being clean, walkable again, less polluted, thriving with local businesses. Maybe we can make Burnham Park as attractive to city visitors once again and to keep away the “mandurukot” and the hold up gangs. For sure, we can do so much for the city if we care enough.
I’m keeping track of this Protest movement and see what I can do to help. Its exciting, full of hope, challenging too.
KCP
Halsema view, Benguet. Photo @Kat Palasi 2010
Halsema, Mt. Trail, Philippines. Photo @Kat Palasi 2010
Mankayan, Benguet Photo @ Kat Palasi 2010
I have lived and worked in Manila for almost 20 years now but I was born and raised in Baguio in Northern Luzon which is about 7 hours away from Manila. My memories are of my father driving us to Atok Central in Benguet so we could attend the wake of my great grandmother Piyana Suaking. But few years before that, it was the wake of her husband, my great grandfather, Piopiaon Palasi. They lived and raised their nine children in Atok. Some of their children had been allowed to go to school while all the women were simply made to stay at home since they would get married anyway. That was the old man Piopioan’s belief anyway. These are snippets from stories I would hear from conversations of relatives who would come and visit us in Baguio. I was allowed to stay up and hear the stories but if it was past midnight, I would be herded to my bed. Those were great times.
These men are playing the solibao, a tubular instrument played by both the Ibaloys and the Kankanaeys of Benguet, Philippines. Ibaloys use two solibaos while Kankanaeys use one in their traditional dances and special occasions. In this instance, my cousin Regina was home from Canada and took this time to give new clothes and fix the burial cave of our ancestors. I was not able to photograph the ceremonies done at the cave because they went there in the early morning hours. They didnt think it was important to document that particular instance.
We walk into the Likhaan Center for Women’s health one afternoon to see Lina Bacalando counselling Melody about what contraceptive method to use. Melody is a resident of Building 9, in Bgy 105, Tondo, Manila. She is 25 years old and has 4 children. Melody seems convinced to use an injectable which, Lina explains , will keep her from getting pregnant for the next three months. It is a typical day for Lina, an NGO worker in the slums of Tondo.
Lina is a community health worker from Likhaan, a non-government organization focused on women’s health. The Likhaan clinic in Tondo has been around for more than two years now and is enjoying a grant from Hewlett Packard so they were able to put up a small center in Bgy 105, Vitas, Tondo. It serves about 1,500 women daily.
“ The women are often misinformed about contraception and family planning and that’s why counselling is also one of our services. The center gives out various contraceptives such as condoms, pills, injectables, arrange for tubal ligation at our partner hospitals, and IUD. All these are free.” Lina speaks in a clear and confident manner in Filipino. She has been an advocate of family planning for close to 16 years as an original board member of Likhaan. She is also a favorite speaker on many occasions about reproductive health and women’s issues. The president of a network of 20 women’s groups from Malabon, Tondo, Pasig, and Quezon City, Lina is a passionate advocate of family planning and a supporter of the current controversial Reproductive Health Bill (RH) in the Philippines. The bill is currently undergoing interpelletion at the Philippine Senate. The fight for its passage in the mostly Catholic Philippines has been a long 10 years.
“When we first started our center here in Tondo, women got to hear about us from their neighbors, friends and families. It spread quickly and we now have an average of 50 women daily. There are many cases where the women are as young as 14, 15, 16 years old and pregnant for the first time. Teenage pregnancy is a common thing here. Some go to the nearby hospitals of Fabella, Gat San Andres or Ospital ng Maynila to give birth. But it also takes money for one to hire a “kuliglig” (a local motor transport ) which can cost 300 pesos to bring you to the hospital. Home births are usually not encouraged but what can you do if the young mother is alone, the husband is at the dumpsite working and there is no money for fare? In cases like these, a “hilot”, a traditional woman in the barangay (village) is called to assist in the birth. Many of these “hilots” are not trained at all to assist in birthing. Asking them to come also costs money. “
Lina went on to talk about the economics of earning an income in the Tambakan charcoal pits and the garbage dumpsite in Vitas.
“The people here mainly earn from either making charcoal at the “Ulingan”(charcoal site) or rummaging through the garbage at the barge. Bgy 105 has 20,000 residents. In Sitio Damayan alone, there are 3000 families earning 100-150 pesos daily from sifting through the garbage. It is not enough for a basic living. Many of the children do not finish school and go on to work at the garbage dump. This is where the young girls meet their boyfriends whom they live with as partners. Living-in is common. Getting married is expensive but some couples take advantage of mass weddings that politicians organize once a year. They also get invited to mass baptismal ceremonies of various religious groups in the area that are free. “
What myths or misconceptions do women in the Tondo area have about contraception, we ask Lina.
“ There are many beliefs that the women hear from their neighbors, their families or their friends. For example, one of our clients stopped taking pills because it was causing varicose veins in her legs. She did not ask for medical advice but just assumed the varicose veins were caused by the pills she was taking so she stopped taking them. Others start to be scared when their menses don’t come after they start using injectables. Their neighbors and friends say they should always have their monthly periods even after using injectables. They say that the blood that’s inside them is “dirty blood” and will make them sick and will cause tumors to grow. Then of course, if they are Catholic, they will hear at mass that all kinds of family planning methods cause cancer. It is really sad that their ignorance about their reproductive health is compounded by what they hear from people like priests, who are supposed to know better.”
We visit Vilma, a client of Lina in Sitio Damayan the next day. She is 37 years old and is on her 11th pregnancy. But she has twins already so she will actually have her 12th child. Her husband is 33 years old and works at the garbage dumpsite. Vilma still goes to sift through garbage even if she is on her 9th month. Their house is small with one side wide open. It rained while we were there and we wondered how the family manages during the monsoon months. We also learn that after her 9th child, Vilma had an IUD insertion . Not long after, she complained of not being able to breathe properly and of having asthma attacks. She then asked to have her IUD taken out. But even after Lina explained that her asthma attacks were not due to the IUD insertion, Vilma still believed it was the cause of her shortness of breathe. Lina says that conditions at the garbage dump and the nearby charcoal pits was causing her asthma attacks. Vilma without her IUD insertion then got pregnant with her 10th baby.
At the Likhaan clinic’s visit to nearby Baseco barangay the next day, we meet 14 year old Mary Joy, who is pregnant for the second time. Her boyfriend is 17 years old. Mary Joy stopped going to school when she found out she was pregnant. Her mother, a vendor of cooked food, was anguished when she learned of her daughter’s second pregnancy. “I already felt sad when she got pregnant for the first time at 13. But her second pregnancy really made me angry”, she says. “I had always imagined that she would be our only hope in improving our lives, if she finishes school. Now, I think she may be like me because I was also pregnant at 17”. Lina asks more questions from Mary Joy and tells her about what services she can avail of at Likhaan, after she gives birth at the hospital.
Lina seems tireless. The 170 patients they saw that morning did not seem to faze her.It was just another working day for her. Asked if urban poor women really like having many children, Lina replies, “politicians and rich people are wrong when they say that urban poor women just keep having babies. These women want to have less children.They want to give the best for their children too—just like any mother. But they have nowhere to go for proper information and for free services. When I first saw babies drinking what I thought was iced tea because of its brown color, I wanted to cry. It was actually brown sugar mixed with water. These women can not afford formula milk. They could not also breastfeed because they themselves had not eaten that day. It is sad but we continue on. There is much to be done still.” With community health workers like Lina who persist and are passionate about their work, there is hope for the women of Vitas and Baseco. We just need to keep telling their stories so that more people will know, be aware and understand. Hopefully too, more influential people will see why we need to pass the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill). It will bring back more women’s clinics in Manila and in the country to provide the same services that Likhaan does for the majority of urban poor communities.
Lina Bacalando, NGO Community Health Worker on Women’s Issues, Tondo, Manila
Marianne, 19 years old, 1st pregnancy, Vitas, Tondo Manila.
Ulingan, Vitas, Tondo, Manila
Joshua, 8 years old, Ulingan, Vitas, Tondo, Manila
Dusk near the gutter section, Ulingan, Vitas, Tondo, Manila
Women clients of the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, Vitas, Tondo, Manila
Vilma, 37 years old, 11th pregnancy. but 12th baby because she has twins.
YOUTUBE Assignment for ACFJ.
Title: Lina, Gentle Warrior of the Slums
I recently went home to Baguio for a series of meetings on a Benguet project. But it was also a chance to meet my sisters and my only brother and their kids. While there, my sister Tina and I were talking about a relative, Lola Marcela-who had just died at 94. We had never really gone out of our way to meet her. She was a streetsweeper that Mama recalls meeting a long time ago. She was also one of the sisters of our grandmother Miriam Miguel.
On a Multimedia Journey:
I’m pretty excited about what MULTIMEDIA will do for my work and all the other stories I have come across that were never told quite well with just my pictures. And what about the stories about being Ibaloy, about having grown up in the once-quiet town of Baguio, and what about the stories of my ancestors? I also have stories of the women sexworkers I met while shooting stories of a bar down in Olongapo City. Ah, so much to do. But first, to learn the basics.
Now, its time to buckle down to work. Much luck to all of us.
DJ Clark, Multimedia journalist and guru for our class at the Ateneo Center for Journalsim (ACFJ) in Quezon City sits with classmates Ferdz Cabrera, Jun Pasaylo, Anemi Wick, Ravi Bajpai at Cantina, Katipunan, Quezon City. June 18,2011.
The next two photos are of my Multimedia Journalism classmates saying goodbye and posing for pictures as we all go back to the reality of work and our lives. Various countries were represented- India, Nepal,Bangladesh, Philippines. Great week we all had. Enriching and hopefully will show in all the work we will do from today onwards.
