#tomasinonstp

We had our second fieldwork during January 3 and 10 in Sitio Mabilog Bamban, Tarlac. We went there to visit indigenous people located in that place and we did a lot of activities like feeding program, construction of KASIGHAWAN, painting of the daycare center and the discussion about herbal medicine. But our group, Group 1, was assigned to take charge of the feeding program of the children. This experience is really a unique one and it will be one of my unforgettable experiences in my NSTP – CWTS life.

According to AIHW, a disability is defined as one or more of 17 limitations or impairments which have lasted for about a period of six months or more that restricts a person’s everyday activities. The impairments included are: loss of sight, loss of hearing, speech difficulties, chronic or recurrent pain or discomfort causing restriction, shortness of breath causing restriction, loss of consciousness, difficulty in learning or understanding, incomplete use of arms and fingers, incomplete use of feet and legs, nervous of emotional condition causing restriction, restriction of doing physical work, disfigurement or deformity, mental condition that requires help, brain damage causing restriction, receiving treatment or medication for any long term condition and still restricted and any other long term condition resulting in a restriction.

People with disabilities don’t only have a hard time doing day to day activities but they also endure the insults they hear every day. Instead of calling someone with autism “Autistic person”, the right and proper way to call them would be “child with austism”. That is what person first language is all about. In addressing a person with disability, one should say the person’s name or a pronoun first, some appropriate verb and the name of the disability. Using this system reminds us that they are still people. We should not just dwell on the disability of the person. We are all equal and we have the same rights and worth. They are exceptional because of what they HAVE not what they ARE and person first language helps us understand that.

The Philippines has 942, 098 persons with disabilities in which 473 332 were women and 469 766 were men according to the 2000 Census of Population and Housing results. It is approximately 1.23% of the total population of the Philippines.

Due to the restriction of activities, the PWD’s makes a lot of effort to live their everyday lives. As I can see here in the Philippines, it is not much of a PWD friendly environment. One example is for those who are physically impaired and needs a wheelchair to move. Some of the sidewalks are not cemented properly, some footbridges don’t have ramps and even some have ramps but it is too steep. Another problem would be the insults. There is always a day that people tends to laugh at them because of what they are or they’re easily judged because of the impairments they have. They also have difficulty in finding jobs. The disability limits their activity and therefore narrows down the jobs that are available for them.

I am amazed that there are a lot of laws concerning Filipinos with disabilities. The 5 rules that I see that needs improvement are mostly under the RA 7277 or “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REHABILITATION, SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-RELIANCE OF DISABLED PERSON AND THEIR INTEGRATION

INTO THE MAINSTREAM OF SOCIETY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”.

  Sec. 5, Equal Opportunity for Employment

No disabled persons shall be denied access to opportunities for suitable employment. A qualified disabled employee shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a qualified able-bodied person. Five percent (5%) of all casual, emergency and contractual positions in the Department of Social Welfare and Development; Health; Education, Culture and Sports; and other government agencies, offices or corporations engaged in social development shall be reserved for disabled persons.

Employers don’t usually take PWD in their companies. They underestimate the abilities of these people just because of the impairments. This should stop because the PWD can also do what other people can do.

  Sec. 14, Special Education

The State shall establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of special education for the visually impaired, hearing impaired, mentally retarded persons and other type of exceptional children in all regions of the country. Towards this end, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports shall establish special education classes in public schools in cities, or municipalities. It shall also establish, where viable, Braille and Record Libraries in provinces, cities or municipalities. The National Government shall allocate funds necessary for the effective implementation of the special education program nationwide. Local government units may likewise appropriate counterpart funds to supplement national funds.

  One of the never ending problems here in the Philippines is poverty. It provides double burden for those who have a PWD in the family. As I can see, schools for PWD are mostly private that requires really high tuition fees. The government should start working on that because it is really unfair for the poor and at the same time, disabled.

  Sec. 25, Barrier-Free Environment

The State shall ensure the attainment of a barrier-free environment that will enable disabled persons to have access in public and private buildings and establishments and such other places mentioned in Batas Pambansa Bilang 344, otherwise known as the Accessibility Law. The national and local government shall allocate funds for the provision of architectural or structural features for disabled persons in government buildings and facilities.

  As I said a while ago that Philippines is a not so PWD friendly. The sidewalks are not fixed and some manholes are not covered. Some footbridges don’t have ramps and if some do, the ramps are too steep for the PWD. I also noticed that in some LRT 2 station, the elevators are not working and they have to use the escalators which may also be dangerous to them.

  Sec. 27,  Access to Public Transport Facilities

The Department of Social Welfare and Development shall develop a program to assist marginalized disabled persons gain access in the use of public transport facilities. Such assistance may be in the form of subsidized transportation fare. The said department shall also allocate such funds as may be necessary for the effective implementation of the public transport program for the disabled persons. The Accessibility Law,  as amended, shall be made supplementary to this Act.

  It is hard for the physically impaired to ride a jeepney or take a bus because of their condition. The train would also be hard to them because of the congestion of people.  

  Batas Pambansa Blg. 344 – An Act to Enhance the Mobility of Disabled Persons by Requiring Certain Buildings, Institutions, Establishments and Public Utilities to install Facilities and Other Devices

I can see that some establishments do not follow this act. It must be implemented already because it will be a great help for the PWDs who have difficulty in moving from one place to another.

For us to know what really the situation of child labor here in the Philippines, one documentary film to watch is iWitness’ Batang Kalabaw. It is about the kids in an area in Agusan Del Sur who works as porters of woods from the mountain. It involves walking in a muddy trail for about 3 to 4 hours, get soaked wet because of the rain and after they got the wood, they have to do the walk all over again. Not to mention the wood weighs about 15 – 20kg with the length of 8 feet per child. They needed to take good care of the product because once it’s been soaked in water or mud, the wood will be rejected and the kid carrying it would not be payed.  The salary the kids could receive from this job would be P6 – P12.   

 I have felt two things after watching this video. One is amazed. It was kind of amazing that those kids can endure a total of 6 – 8 hours of walking in a muddy trail. I can see in the video that the wood their carrying is like almost twice their size and it seems like they have super powers carrying that heavy woods down the mountain. In the case of Cherilyn, being the oldest among her siblings and having no parents, I commend her strength to carry on everyday just to feed her siblings.

Two is sadness. Honestly when the kids started carrying the wood and balance it while walking on mud, I was cursing under my breath. I can’t see myself carrying that stuff because I  can’t, I can’t last walking for 3 hours in that situation, and I probably already backed out because overall it is really hard. They shouldn’t be doing that. Their fathers or uncles should do that and they should enjoy their Saturdays at home playing or resting. But I can see that they have no choice at all, they needed money. But it is unfair to them that with all that hard work, they only receive P6 – P12. The life of Cherilyn was emphasized in this video. She has to give up everything like childhood and education. I just got really sad that at a young age she’s already a parent to her siblings and the survival of her family rests upon her hands.     

According to the Convention of the Rights of Children, I can see that there are two rights violated. First would be about the child labor and it is according to Article 32.1 which states that “States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”. Their job is no doubt dangerous and some of the kids may have done this because another of their right is violated according to Article 27.2 which is “The parent(s) or others responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities and financial capacities, the conditions of living necessary for the child's development.”

Denise M. Bello                                                                 September 21, 2012

                  The Disaster Risk Reduction Management Seminar wan indeed of a big help to us because through it we were educated about the different concepts that make up the disaster risk reduction, such as the relationship of the hazard and vulnerability to the capacity of the community to resolve the problem. It was explained by our NSTP professors during the DRRM seminar that once the hazard and the vulnerability is minimal while the capacity is in its maximum level, then there is an absolute possibility that the hazard present in the community will be eradicated. We were also informed about the paradigm shift regarding the disaster risk reduction. It was stated that the people are now involved in the prevention of disasters in the community, and because of that it should not only be the LGUs that should act upon the disasters but the community should also take part not only in the revival or recovery of the affected populace but in the prevention itself.

              I think that people should be aware that there are different types of disasters; there are naturally induced disasters and man-induced disasters. And because of that we should take these tings seriously and take part in preventing it from happening. We could attend seminars that will add up to our knowledge regarding the prevention of these disasters, or we could also start taking action in it by properly disposing our garbage to the appropriate bin. We could do a lot in our own little way, so I think we should start reducing the cause of these common problems that we encounter.

              The three sections in the RA 10121 that affected me the most are Section 14: Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction Education into the School Curricula and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Program and Mandatory Training for the Public Sector Employeesbecause by this we, students, will be educated about the proper ways of reducing the disaster risks in our own community, and we will be taught about the appropriate measures that we should take when these disasters set upon; Section 16: Declaration of State of Calamity because by this people will be warned in advance about the condition of their own communities and they can plan immediately about the actions that they should perform; and Section 19: Prohibited Acts because by this the relief goods intended for a particular community will be disseminated properly.

              During the DRRM seminar we also did a PCVA exercise and we assessed our own communities. We did our PCVA by first identifying the vulnerabilities and capacities of our community and then we started coming up with appropriate actions that should be done to lessen the problems that we identified. In my community, Quezon City, I identified flood, earthquake, pollution, landslide, and typhoon as the hazards. Improper waste management, no trees, and unpreparedness as the vulnerabilities; and man power, use of social media, sufficient funds, and strong structures as the capacities. The appropriate actions that I think should be done are proper waste management, attending seminar regarding DRR, and active involvement.

I had several thoughts before about the upcoming field work which was to be held in Antipolo. I was genuinely ecstatic and at the same time worried. I was ecstatic since it was my first time to go out of town to something very special like this and I had no plans of having this opportunity go to waste. Although I was a bit worried since I’ve given some thought about how I am not as prepared as I should be since a lot of questions wandered in my mind. Questions about how will I ever inspire another human being? Do I have enough will to thrust them intellectually?

Then the day came and everything was swell. My expectations were useless since worrying about the things that shouldn’t be dwelt upon is truly idiotic. I found myself doing the very best to recall and teach the child I was assigned to lecture. I’ve realized that I didn’t have to worry at all for what I was doing was surprisingly filled with joy and fulfillment.

  The specific skills I used during the explanation of the basic lessons in English and Mathematics were the teaching strategy that is learning is a creative and collaborative process and learning is the discovery of the personal meaning and relevance of ideas. I’ve used these tactics for the child to be able to relate more and easily absorb the topic. For children often find it a lot easier to absorb when knowledge is delivered in a concise, specific and associative pattern.

  The person I met that truly made a huge impact on me was Mrs. Coroga, the mother of Jolina, the child I was teaching. The photo of Jolina is posted again above. For I had the opportunity to speak to her and the intensity of her appreciation was incomparable. She was able to share how she had six children, three of which was present during the field work. She expressed how grateful they truly are upon the dedication of the Thomasians that have been serving to cater the intellectual and health-related needs of the children. I discovered that if only people were kinder, sensitive to the needs of others and more appreciative to the things around us then we could surely lend a hand to those in need.

  The whole experience has changed my worldview in numerous ways. I’ve seen how a lot of people nowadays prefer to take a journey in an instant and not just the driving routes, but also in activities, and even in noodles itself. For every generation is being raised in an environment built on stubborn walls and shallow roads. It seems that everyone is slowly forgetting that everything should be done with precision and accuracy. Which mainly explains the typical behavior of students on how engaging themselves to an out-of-town trip can be a drag and how they only participate for the sake of requirements. They choose to be stubborn and see the temporary effects it can cause such as being unable to go to social events or resting rather than the permanent effects which will contribute to either the child they are about to teach or the tree they’re about to plant.

  The thing that I hope met the qualifications of being effective was through simply educating the child and making her realize that everything can be learned once you only focus to the topics and believe in oneself. I think this can contribute to the community since the child will be able to use this knowledge to participate and share what she has and will discover to the people of the community.

  I can educate others and raise awareness about this national concern on education and nutrition by simply sharing to my friends and people I’ve been acquainted to. I can also let more people to be aware on the facts and figures by blogging, vlogging and  linking it to several social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogspot, and many more. All it takes is how big and driven is the will of an individual.

  The most difficult part of the discussion was introducing the unknown concepts to the learner. For there are some parts that she struggled to comprehend. Some were already familiar to her sight while the others were just written in plain Greek to her sight. So I had to incorporate themes that I knew were basic and easy to comprehend in order to link all of those together to explain the aim of the big picture. The most rewarding part is when she would be able to confidently deliver her answers to my questions, her smile that had the energy of a thousand suns which she often flashed whenever she’ll get a correct answer and her eyes filled with wonder, excitement and will to learn more is truthfully admirable.

  I believe that I was able to exercise my values through being polite to the elders, catering the needs of others, teaching the children the concepts they need to learn in both of values and essential knowledge they need to acquire.

  If I could do the project again, the thing that I would do differently is to be able to prolong my stay and teach as many children as I could and invite all of my friends and relatives to join me.

I’d also provide the specific equipment needed during the whole stay and at least provide a reasonable amount of reading material to be given to all of the children so they’d at least have something to dwell into after the discussion.

Here’s a group photo after all the activities to close my long entry.

UST NSTP - Ma. Francesca Rivera, ENG Student

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