PIO ALMODIEL
The young people in that diverse group of community development workers called the Crazy Company, which ran social development programs identified with the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Marcos during the 70s and 80s, would easily consider Pio Almodiel as their role model. The oldest in the group, past 60 at that time, he was a fieldworker par excellence. The label "fieldworker" must have been invented with him in mind.
Although designated as Atty. Binamira's deputy for Project Compassion, he was never seen behind a desk. He was rarely at the office and preferred to be always "out in the field," which could mean with one of the municipal or city teams covered by either Project Compassion or the field-testing of "Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life" approach.
Piux, as he was called, was your idea of a Lolo gone wild with a habit to be always away from home or office. He preferred to be surrounded by people from morning until past midnight or into the early hours of the morning. His inputs during training were always spiced with stories about ordinary people he had known and he would tell barrio people about what they were doing development-wise and cite them for insights about whatever he was trying to impart during training.
He must have been guided by the training designs or modules, but he was an example of a trainer who would rather mind the spirit rather than the letter of the law, so to speak. His style was to tell his audience about specific people he met and what he learned from them. Something like Nikos Kazantzakis' Zorba the Greek twice over complete with narratives and aphorisms. He was trying to show learning from the people's own experiences could be more precious than supposedly superior knowledge that found their way to the training syllabus.
Only Piux could do the kinilaw the way he did. Team members from Luzon learned how to eat kinilaw for breakfast complete with sili and all. He preferred tuba to beer or Tanduay and often he would be in the company of fisherfolks from whom he would collect stories for his training inputs. Like others in the group who endured living from one stressful day to another, Piux was a chain smoker. He claimed it improved his memory.
We remember how he showed this kind of sharp memory in barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City when he was invited as one of those who would crown the Santacruzan queen. He astounded all of us when before he spoke, he greeted each family represented in the gathering by ticking off the name of each household head!
How could he remember each of the 50 or so households present? Well, simple; he had met all of them during orientation of each purok prior to the holding of Family Ilaw Training.
He was driving home a point to us: to be credible as change agents to the people, we must truly know them not in the abstract description usually given by social scientists, but in their actual setting in the barangay or purok where a name is more than a label but a brand to live by or to be cursed with.
Piux Almodiel, take a bow wherever you are. We remember your lesson quite well.
The young people in that diverse group of community development workers called the Crazy Company, which ran social development programs identified with the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Marcos during the 70s and 80s, would easily consider Pio Almodiel as their role model. The oldest in the group, past 60 at that time, he was a fieldworker par excellence. The label "fieldworker" must have been invented with him in mind.
Although designated as Atty. Binamira's deputy for Project Compassion, he was never seen behind a desk. He was rarely at the office and preferred to be always "out in the field," which could mean with one of the municipal or city teams covered by either Project Compassion or the field-testing of "Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life" approach.
Piux, as he was called, was your idea of a Lolo gone wild with a habit to be always away from home or office. He preferred to be surrounded by people from morning until past midnight or into the early hours of the morning. His inputs during training were always spiced with stories about ordinary people he had known and he would tell barrio people about what they were doing development-wise and cite them for insights about whatever he was trying to impart during training.
He must have been guided by the training designs or modules, but he was an example of a trainer who would rather mind the spirit rather than the letter of the law, so to speak. His style was to tell his audience about specific people he met and what he learned from them. Something like Nikos Kazantzakis' Zorba the Greek twice over complete with narratives and aphorisms. He was trying to show learning from the people's own experiences could be more precious than supposedly superior knowledge that found their way to the training syllabus.
Only Piux could do the kinilaw the way he did. Team members from Luzon learned how to eat kinilaw for breakfast complete with sili and all. He preferred tuba to beer or Tanduay and often he would be in the company of fisherfolks from whom he would collect stories for his training inputs. Like others in the group who endured living from one stressful day to another, Piux was a chain smoker. He claimed it improved his memory.
We remember how he showed this kind of sharp memory in barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City when he was invited as one of those who would crown the Santacruzan queen. He astounded all of us when before he spoke, he greeted each family represented in the gathering by ticking off the name of each household head!
How could he remember each of the 50 or so households present? Well, simple; he had met all of them during orientation of each purok prior to the holding of Family Ilaw Training.
He was driving home a point to us: to be credible as change agents to the people, we must truly know them not in the abstract description usually given by social scientists, but in their actual setting in the barangay or purok where a name is more than a label but a brand to live by or to be cursed with.
Piux Almodiel, take a bow wherever you are. We remember your lesson quite well.
I admire what you have done here. I like the part where you say you are doing this to give back but I would assume by all the comments that this is working for you as well. 333 angel number meaning
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