BENITO BENITEZ
Ben was among the community development pioneers we worked
with who passed away years ago. He left behind a strong positive impression
among those who worked with him in those days of Project Compassion and Ilaw ng
Buhay in the 70s and 80s. He was everyone’s idea of a trainer in the mold of
the professional PACD-trained worker –
every inch looking like a teacher: well-combed hair; polo shirt which must have been starched and
iron repeatedly; proud bearing , erect,
no paunch and always a ready smile.
If Bitoy Ramos was the superstar trainer in the boondocks of
Quezon Province, his counterpart in the coastal and watershed areas in Bohol
was Ben Benitez of Tagbilaran City. If you want to ensure a standing-room only
crowd in the barangays, then put these two trainers on a road show of Family
Ilaw Training.
If I recall, we did this in the barangays in the
municipalities of Rizal under Ilaw ng Buhay: Teresa, Baras, Pililla, Antipolo, Taguig. It increased their fan base tremendously and
also fast-tracked the organization of neighbourhood associations known as Ilaw
ng Buhay chapters.
Bitoy and Ben had contrasting styles. While Ben was
well-dressed, Bitoy would always come with his standard collarless t-shirt and
faded denim pants. While Bitoy was formal and serious at times, Ben was
typically Bol-anon with his seemingly innocent questions and homespun humor.
Nowhere was this contrast more apparent than in the way they
handled their respective family planning inputs. While the yardstick for a
successful family planning input Bitoy style was for nobody in the audience to
giggle when he put the condom in the wooden phallus, the opposite was used to
gauge a successful Ben Benitez’ performance : the audience must laugh all the
way to their acceptance of the supermarket approach.
His subliminal message was that family planning is no big
deal; as long as the fun and excitement and thrill is there, as intended by the
Creator, go ahead and choose your device if that will ensure your peace of mind
that “you can only bring out to the world, the number of children you can feed,
shelter and educate.”
Assisted by Tagbilaran City Mayor Jose Ma. Rocha, Ben did
one better over Bitoy. The Mayor, who was our Board chair, invited the Bishop
and a number of priests and nuns to observe Ben’s input in one of the Family
Ilaw Training in Mansasa. The Bishop saw the light after Ben’s presentation and
to the delight of the Ilaw ng Buhay team, announced that he was giving
permission to any priest and nun who would like to be Ilaw development trainor
and to present the family planning input using the supermarket approach!
The tension of so many weeks was gone with the Bishop’s
response to the Ben Benitez’ show.
One day, the young trainers asked Ben Benitez about his secret
in drawing the crowd. He herded them in his UNICEF-issued Sakbayan and brought
us to the public market of Tagbilaran City. We walked around the place and
stopped before a crowd all roaring with laughter to a salesman of traditional
medicines.
Near the salesman’s cart of bottled medicines, twigs and
leaves of plants, there was a basket with a big snake. The guy was talking to
the snake, singing, praying, everything to coax the snake out of the basket; he
would spice his act with the snake with stories about his grandmother, mother,
and sometimes children and neighbours. All funny stories, no tearjerker, and
everyone was having great fun.
It was obvious Ben was showing us that for people to listen
to our message, we must first entertain them. Or have a way of telling the
often boring message in an entertaining way!
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