A FOOD BANK IN THE PHILIPPINES

Everyone is invited to join “Sama-Kabuhayan”, a Yahoo discussion group about livelihood and social responsibility initiatives. I am the moderator of this group. To join, send an email to sama-ka-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Internet users from here and abroad could now listen to DZXL radio programs on real-time by logging on to www.rmn.com.ph. Please check the website for program schedules. "Gulong ng Kabuhayan " is the only daily prime time radio program in the Philippines that is focused on livelihood and social responsibility initiatives. The show provides free assistance for small business owners and job applicants. The discussion is 100% developmental and is 100% non-political.
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Just in case you miss an issue of this column in your local newspaper, you can visit the web log version at http://Ka_Iking.blogspot.com/. National Government Agencies (NGAs), Local Government Units (LGUs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), People’s Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) and Social Responsibility Programs (SRPs) are invited to use "Gulong” and “Ka_Iking_Libre” as media channels to publicize their livelihood and social responsibility initiatives.
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There is no denying the fact that there are already many organizations that are trying to help with livelihood in many ways. Despite the abundance of “activities” however, all those trying to help seem to be going their own separate ways, with none of them able to achieve complete and integrated results. It may sound ambitious, but that is precisely what is needed now, to integrate actions so that actual poverty reduction could happen, and not just partial poverty alleviation.
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Based on my own experience in the livelihood movement, many aspiring entrepreneurs who are trying to put up small businesses actually fail because they are forced to “eat” their own capital as they try to survive not just the business world, but also the challenges of life as a whole. Just being realistic about it, the temptation is really very strong for them to resist. It is for this reason why a more comprehensive approach to livelihood should also include a food supply program, so that the temptation could be avoided.
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Every now and then, we hear about soup kitchens and feeding programs in this country, but more often than not, these are just occasional and hardly ever sustained. As a result of my inquiries with my foreign contacts, I found out that a “food pantry” is place where the hungry could eat for free, while a “food bank” is a place or organization that supports and supplies the pantries. This may not be an earthshaking discovery, but now I know the reason why the food pantries have not been sustained, and that is because there is no “food bank” that is “feeding” them.
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As the saying goes, “it is better to teach a man how to fish, instead of giving him fish”. While this saying might still be true, there is a need to look at the practical side of it, that it is difficult for a man to fish, if he has a hungry stomach. I think that having a “food bank” is an idea whose time has come in the Philippines. I have started working towards this direction, and I am now looking for a site that could be used for this project, preferably a free location in a mall that has lots of vacant places. Let’s go for it!
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SAMA-KABUHAYAN (SAMA-KA) met its first “Angel” this week in the person of Mr. Cesar Campos, who revealed his charitable side only by accident, as we were discussing a business proposition. It turns out that Cesar is the Vice-Chairman of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID). He is also Chairman of the Makati City Rotary Club’s “Teaching the Deaf to Speak” committee. Just my luck, it turned out that the other officers of PID (Chairman of the Board Cynthia Mamon, immediate Past Chairman Dr. Ofelia Carague and Treasurer Carol Esguerra-Smith) are also my friends. Cesar recalled that he picked up the advocacy when he was still an officer of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).
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If my memory serves me right, I assigned a foreign consultant to work with PID when I was still the Program Director of the Transfer of Knowledge Thru Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), a joint project of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). At that time, the prime mover at PID was Ms. Julie Esguerra, but Cesar said she is now in the States, married to an American, but still active in getting resources from over for the PID. Just in case you don’t know Carol, she was a top IT executive here before she got married and moved to the States. When she was here, we worked together as volunteer consultants for the COMELEC’s automation project (still a dream up to now).
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Cesar was reading a copy of KNB-007 when I came into his office. With that in hand, he confirmed that People with Disabilities (PWDs) are really discriminated against in the Philippines. Citing some figures, he said that there are about four million PWDs in the country, with varying forms of disabilities. That’s about 5% of our population, and that’s really a lot. As I see it now, if the discrimination against PWDs in the workplace could not be stopped, the better alternative perhaps is to help them put up their own livelihood, with assistance in training, financing, marketing among others.
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CHED CAN NOT BE REACHED: My letter to Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Dr. Carlito S. Puno (DPA) requesting assistance for Mr. Louie Crisostomo, a job applicant who is a polio victim from Tarlac did not reach him, because his published email address is over the quota. Take note that the email address is not even his; probably it belongs to his secretary or some minor subordinate. Is the public really defenseless about this kind of negligence? Before the internet came along, it was easy for government officials to throw away letters from the public, not unless these are sent as registered mail. It seems that nowadays, all it takes for a government official to avoid more work is to publish a “dead” email address, and that is enough to “protect” them from the “demands” of the public. If Puno does not read his email, I hope he reads newspapers, so that this “demand” for public service will reach his attention.
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TWO DEAF EARS: My letters to Secretary of Health Dr. Fransisco Doque and Secretary of Social Work and Development Esperanza Cabral did not bounce, but nonetheless I did not hear from any of them after more than one week of waiting. I wrote Doque and Cabral requesting assistance for Mr. Diosdado Taguran, a security guard from Cotabato who needs help with medication for his tuberculosis illness. If members of the mass media are snubbed this way by members of the Cabinet, how much more for the ordinary people who are directly asking for their assistance? Could these two officials offer the alibi that they do not open their email themselves? I do not think that is an acceptable reason, considering that they should have staffers who should do it for them.
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SOCIALIZED HOUSING: Marc Dizon wrote to say that the “completely knocked down" type of low-cost housing design as I proposed is a viable idea. He has a company that is currently also in the same line of thinking and he would like to volunteer his services. His company is involved in pre-fabricated steel and has made several socialized housing projects already.
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FOOD BANK: Antonina “Tonette” Binsol of Tokyo wrote to ask if I have already started the Food Bank Project. The answer is no, but I have already pinpointed a location in a Makati mall that would be ideal for the purpose. Meanwhile, I already have commitments from a Canadian source that would bring in the goods as soon as we are ready to receive them. I am also talking to some Bureau of Customs officials who have agreed in principle to assist the project, as part of their corporate responsibility program. Tonette might also be interested to know that I am also in touch with Food Bank Japan, and I am hoping to get some assistance from them too. Those who are interested in this project might want to help out by looking for an alternative location, in the event that we could not get free space from the said mall. She also asked whether I have a “channel” in Tokyo. The answer I also no, but I am hoping to get the support of my former boss, Ambassador Domingo Siazon who is posted there now. I would of course welcome any other assistance that she could bring in.
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SHIPPING PROBLEMS: Irma Omila Butao of California wrote “Your food
bank suggestion is very nice. I have an offer for the needy of Butuan
City. Do you know of a way I could donate clothes and shoes and books to our needy Butuanons? I have a garage full and I could get more but I have no money or means to send it over there. Could you research for me a government agency which could perhaps facilitate transporting such materials to the needy there? The last time I went home after 33 years of absence, I saw shoeless and half naked dirty kids trying to block our entrance to our ride. Through the food bank we could also distribute clothes, shoes, toys, books, basket balls, blankets and some kitchen utensils. It is so easy for me to call our charity truck over here in California, to pick up these goods and write it off for tax deduction but I want a child or a hardworking mom to have it instead”. I thank God for people like Irma and Tonette. Coming from two parts of the world, they have a common goal, and that is to help the poor people in their homeland. I will see what I can do about the shipping problems, and I would also welcome any assistance for this.