THE BOHOL WE WANT - PART TWO

For The Bohol Tribune

In This Our Journey

NESTOR MANIEBO PESTELOS

First, let me report with a certain degree of sadness that, except for two readers, nobody responded to my request in last week’s column for feedbacks to my views on the topic, The Bohol We Want. It’s either the topic is too esoteric or too plain ordinary to be responded to or that the column was not read at all. It could be that those who have read it feel they are powerless anyway to change things and, hence, why bother at all to give a piece of one’s mind.

Or it could be all of the above, as we used to joke in college when frustrated by multiple-choice questions. To know the readers’ feedbacks, it may be necessary to conduct  an opinion survey but this can may be costly and impractical. It will entail identifying those who have read the column and then classifying them based on the usual demographics to satisfy requirements for a scientific survey.

All we can do at this point is to assume most of those who have read it actually agreed with our views on the Bohol we want. Well the posting of the column on Facebook, earned a respectable 27 likes! I used to get an average of 9 likes on serious post. I could get more than a 100 if I talk about my health or state of   Bohol or the country as a whole.

These FB friends are more concerned about my sugar level rise than the phenomenal increase in illegal drug supply and addiction cases in the province. They care about personal issues than the other things I talk about in the column which are mostly on local issues in relation to current development themes such as the new UN global development agenda, poverty and the magical phrase to get donor funding, Climate Change or Disaster Risk Reduction.

I thank them most sincerely for the concern about my health and the fear that at age 73, I may just conk out and leave the scene. If I become gravely ill and die sooner than what my friends or relatives want, it will not change the development situation in the province.  It will not ensure an age of peace and prosperity for the people of Bohol.

In the province that we want, we hope there is included a fervent desire to engage all classes in regular conversations about their common aspirations for a better way of life and governance in the province.  In the Bohol we want, there must be deliberate efforts on the part of political leaders at all levels to engage in regular and routine conversations about development issues, not only the economic and political elites , but also those referred to as “the people,” the toiling masses, the multitude who share one thing in common aside from their misery, and that is their inability to find motivation and encouragement fo find and use a proper forum for their grievances.

On the serious drug addiction problem, the dominant voice comes from police authorities announcing the number of drug pushers “neutralized” or killed in buy-bust operations. Representatives of women and youth sectors, who are most affected by the drug abuse problems, have responded with deafening silence on the issue probably out of misplaced prudence or fear. Of the forty-eight (48) sermons I listened to intently during the past year, I never heard any mention of the drug abuse problem which affects many families in this predominantly Catholic province. In the various consultations at the barangay level on this issue, I observed only very few dared to speak out.

I doubt it if any social worker, political leader or anybody from the academe and religious sector talked with families who were victims of drug-related crimes to consult them and elicit vital information which could be used to reduce the negative impact to the family and ultimately, the whole community as a whole. Families with drug addiction problems have no way to seek counselling or advice on what to do with their problems since there exists no outreach services mechanism available to them. If there is, they do not know about it.

Our proposal to create an informal network for heads of families grappling with drug abuse problems has so far met with sublime indifference on the part of the families themselves and their local leaders. On this drug addiction problem, everybody it seems prefers uninterrupted evolution rather than management of planned change as strategy to combat a serious social problem. Perhaps the expected quantum rise in drug-related crimes in the years ahead will galvanize action on the part of the people and their local government to address the problem in a concrete and systematic way.

Early this week, we received several blessings which were quite unexpected. Fr. Val Pinlac and Ms. Daidee Padron of the Secretariat of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, called up to say we could resume discussion on how to get funding for our joint advocacy for drug-free Bohol. Prior to the scheduled meeting on Thursday, 07 January 2016, Fr. Pinlac assured funding for training activities related to creating community awareness on the drug addiction issue, as well as livelihood skills training as part of preventive strategy against high drug abuse incidence among the youth. The Diocese will also support our fund campaign in support of the advocacy for drug-free Bohol.

Yesterday, our former colleague from Habitat for Humanity International, Raul Sarceda, requested that we email some documents in support of the fund campaign. He said he would help us raise funds among his friends in Bukidnon, where he is now based upon retiring from Habitat Thailand several years ago.

Last Monday, Shun-ichi Murata of UNDP, wrote to say they would prepare an internship program that will include assigning volunteers to projects in Bohol. Hopefully, this will address our lack of staffing in proposed projects in Baclayon and other municipalities.

A few days ago, we signed a contract with Saxion University in the Netherlands, that will allow our Dutch volunteer, Marit Meijer, to serve under a new internship program so she can implement the project she has designed on the Cultural Mountain Bikes Tour in Baclayon to benefit out-of-school youth in Bohol.

In early December, our co-alumnus at the Quezon Provincial High School in Lucena City and retired staff of Asian Institute of Management and , more recently, ABS-CBN Bayan Academy and ABS-CBN Bayan EDGE (Evolving, Developing and Growing Enterprises), volunteered to help us prepare a proposal for localizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bohol.

These developments, modest as they are because they do not involve huge cash inputs, propel us to continue our development work in Bohol. Despite the consensus of friends and relatives that we deactivate BLDF and fully retire from this often thankless development work  to focus instead on personal health concerns, we feel strong enough to be active in this critical phase of our work in the province we have come to adopt as our own. Hopefully, we can mobilize resources enough to recruit, train and deploy staff to various proposed projects and ensure the survival of our NGO.

We need your prayers to help us in this mission to continue in helping build the Bohol We Want. #Boholwewant

NMP/06 Jan 2016/ 6.59 p.m.