by Edicio dela Torre

Seen from the upper deck of the Starlite Ro-Ro, the port of Calapan City is a slender strip of concrete against a lush green landscape. This is heightened by the two small equally green islands framing our boat’s approach.

I travelled with my sister and mother to Mindoro today, so I can spend some time with them in our ancestral town of Naujan, before I go to Calapan City tomorrow early morning. The rector of Saint Augustine Seminary has invited me to address a forum of the SAS Alumni-in-Public-Service, to share my ideas on development for our home island of Mindoro.

It’s a challenging task, and I look forward to having an interesting exchange of ideas with these ex-seminarians who have chosen public service as their vocation. I plan to tell them that I envy them, since they are more directly involved in governance and development in Mindoro. But I also do not envy them, since they have to respond to the increasing expectations of citizens for development in an island province whose resources are being depleted.

Much of our forests have been cut, legally or illegally. The main rivers are heavily silted, and a day of heavy rains in the mountains brings flood waters to the plains, particularly in Naujan. Mindoro is also a major target for large-scale mining, whose promoters persist despite the widespread opposition of church, local governments, Mangyan communities and civic organizations.

But it is not just our natural resources that are depleted. If I take my hometown Naujan as example, practically anyone who decides to continue studying after finishing high school leaves their home town to pursue a college degree, and eventually practice their professional career outside Mindoro. Often also outside the Philippines.

That is why I envy, and also do not envy, these ex-seminarians who have chosen to stay in Mindoro and serve as public servants, with its accompanying cost of playing the game of politics that has gotten dirtier over the years.

It is good that the diocese has offered this forum as a way for them to exchange their views, and offer one another mutual support. I hope I can help in some way to strengthen their resolve and stimulate their imagination.

I also hope that this can be the start of a continuing engagement with them. Girlie and I have decided on the theme of migration and local development as one of our focus. She takes the lead in our partnership when it comes to her home city of Lucena. I will propose that we have a similar engagement in Mindoro, if the ex-seminarians take it up.

Many years back in the early 1990s, when I got back from an informal exile in Europe, the mayor of Naujan, Nelson Melgar, challenged me to get more involved in my home town. “You have been helping communities in other places of the Philippines, and even in other countries, “ he said. “You should do something here.”

Nelson and I were high school classmates in Naujan Academy, and friendly rivals for first honors, but only until 2nd year. I left after the school year to enter the seminary, and he also transferred to another school.

My initial activity was to mobilize the staff of the Education for Life Foundation to train the agricultural technicians who had been devolved to the municipality. Nelson wanted them to shift from pushing farm inputs to adopting a community organizing approach that helps the farmers identify their needs, and then respond to them. Later, ELF held a number of our Grassroots Leadership Formation Course for community leaders in Naujan.

One day, Nelson asked me for help to raise resources from our town mates who are abroad. “You have more experience in fund raising,” he said. My counter proposal was for both of us to write a joint letter first. The first letter asked our town mates if they are still interested in Naujan, if they still have relatives here, if they intend to eventually retire here. Then our second letter explained to them what the LGU was trying to do, and what ELF and other NGOs were doing in partnership with the LGU and local communities.

Only after that did we present our proposal to those who showed interest. I pledged to raise from funding agencies 1000 dollars ( the exchange rate then was 30:1 ) per barangay, which the LGU would match with 40,000 pesos. We asked our town mates to raise a counterpart 1000 dollars, for a total of 100,000 pesos per barangay. They will also help identify the barangay to which the funds will be allocated. We would work with the barangay leaders to identify which priority development project they would fund.

The response was encouraging. When Nelson attended some gatherings of people from Naujan abroad, groups of them pooled together contributions and he brought back 6000 dollars, enough for our proposed partnership arrangement in 6 barangays.

Currently, one of the development buzzwords is “diaspora philanthropy.” Overseas Filipinos do want to help not just their families, but also their local communities. But if their contributions are to make an impact, the local communities and governments should identify priority development projects.

Actually, the energies that were mobilized for that partnership proposal did not stay limited to seeking funds from abroad. From there, we sought out those from Naujan who live and work in other places in Mindoro, as near as Calapan City, or in MetroManila. And our meetings with them was not immediately about funds and philanthropy. It was about reviving their interest in what’s happening in their home town, in extending their service area for their professional services to Naujan, and in investing in possible businesses there.

One of our tag lines was “You can take a Naujeño out of Naujan, but you cannot take Naujan out of a Naujeño.” Tomorrow, I will ask the ex-seminarians in public service to think of applying that to Mindorenos.

*This article first published on Between Honesty & Hope.