Pasacao - the summer capital of Camarines Sur - claims the almost finished welcome arc we drove by. It is the the most accessible beach to residents of Naga City . The waters are quiet and the greyish sand is grainy -- something definitely better than rocky. When we visited the beach yesterday at noontime the resorts we passed by were filled with inebriated youth celebrating the end of another school year.About a five minute walk away -- there was another type of revelry happening. At the Purificacion Ziga GK site, about two hundred guests were celebrating the birthday of land donor Tita Nelly Ziga and the second turnover of another fifteen houses to the eager families of Pasacao. Tita Nelly heard about GK a while back and was interested in donating this piece of land to build homes for the poor who lived in vulnerable areas. Ateneo de Manila funded the first 10 houses while the next partner who came in was DSWD. All in all, 25 houses are now standing. The site can accommodate a hundred homes. With the continued help of the partners and the LGU who has provided skilled workers to hasten the construction, more of our poor brethren in Pasacao will join this happy community.
The sun was high up and hot that day and Jay and I were invited by Mang Andoy and Aling Myrna to take relief from the heat as the blessing of the other houses were being done. Mang Andoy's family lives at the second house by the entrance of the village. All in all, he has eleven children, four of whom live on their own already -- being either married or working away from home. We tease them about going for their twelfth but they both protested. Mang Andoy is already 57 and Aling Myrna 47 years old. Their youngest was a 4 year old boy.
Their family used to live by the shoreline of Pasacao. I've always had a romantic notion about living by the beach but apparently it has been an unbearable burden for this man of the house.
But a breakwater was built, and to their surprise, when high tide hit, the sea crashed into their home and swept away all the debris of their humble shanty and along with it their few prized possessions. That was the first time they lost their house. They managed to collect some scrap material, asking for plywood and GI sheets from Aling Myrna's brother and rebuilt their home by the shoreline.
A series of disasters hit them soon after. There was Typhoon Milenyo and then right after Typhoon Reming in November - the super typhoons of 2006. Each time thereafter, Mang Andoy's family would rebuild another frail structure to shelter his family -- from scraps of material he would beg from the barangay captain, his neighbors - and still right by the shoreline, forever vulnerable to the wrath of nature.
Wala naman kaming lupa. Yung pinanggalingan namin noon, hindi amin. Nakitira rin kami sa mga magulang niya (gesturing toward Aling Myrna) pero hindi rin permanente yun... kaya dyan kami sa may tabing dagat puedeng magtayo ng aming sariling bahay.
The last straw was when the waves once again swallowed up their home in July 2007 and to make matters worse, they lost the few belongings they had left in a temporary shelter the barangay had provided for displaced families.
Muntik na akong sumuko nun.
He choked back his tears. It was difficult for him to accept the cruelty of fate. It wasn't for lack of trying to be a responsible member of mankind. Mang Andoy said he used to be barumbado, during his youth. He would get into all sorts of trouble. But things had to change when he started a family. He married Aling Myrna when he was 28 and she was 18. Eleven children after, their faces are lined and weathered. Even if nature had miraculously spared their home... even if they had found a place to squat somewhere upland away from danger zones... day to day living was a constant struggle for Mang Andoy.
Magdidilihensya ako sa dagat. He was no fisherman but he would help sell fish that the fishermen brought in from the sea. Labor lang ako. Mga isang daang piso rin ang nakukuha ko. Sometimes, from a day's work, he is able to take with him some fish for his family to eat. From what he earns he buys rice, other goods and enough left over for his children's school expenses.
Minsan walang pangbili ng bigas, pupunta ako sa barangay (to the barangay captain or someone equally dependable) sasabihin ko... wala akong pangbili ng bigas - puede ba akong umutang? Pinapautang naman nila ako. Kung kelangan ng pera para sa school ang anak ko -- humihingi ako ng isda para mabenta ako. Binibigyan naman nila ako.
Not all of their kids are in school. Some have to stop for one year - kung kaya na, eh di pasok uli. Desperate measures would call for Aling Myrna visiting the one daughter who works as a cook/helper in Naga. Mag-advance kami sa sahod niya.
These are all familiar lamentations. I hear it as passed on stories from our household help in Manila when they plead to advance their next salary from my tita... or from the Filipino movies and dramas I see on TV. Yes, we know it as a reality, but it is someone else's reality that we feel we cannot really do anything about.
But as I see Mang Andoy call his children to hurry and join in the family picture we were going to take in front of his new home -- I know that someone else's reality has made a turn for the better because people out there believed there was something that can be done. Maybe that person continues to just watch other people's dramas on the Filipino channel in the safety of their comfortable home in the US... maybe that person has actually been to a GK village one week a month or every week... maybe that person has left everything behind to do this work for the poor... or maybe they just simply signed a check to indulge a persistent fund-raising friend... when I see people like Mang Andoy beaming at the turn of his fate, the whys and the hows seem to fade in the background.
Palapit na ng palapit ang swerte.
Yes Mang Andoy... we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. :)
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