Bacolod Crisis

At Large : Full circle in Bacolod

Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service

MY FIRST trip to Bacolod City took place at the height of the "sugar crisis" in the 1980s when plummeting sugar prices plunged Negros Occidental into tremendous hardship, cutting across all social classes, including the pampered "haciendero" [landowner] class, but most especially the families of sugar workers and itinerant plantation workers known as "sagadas."

The economic and social upheaval led to armed unrest and repression, particularly in the poorest areas of the province. As staffers of the "alternative" newsweekly Veritas, we had been sent there to document not just the symptoms of the crisis, but also the first steps being taken by concerned citizens and church and civic groups to mitigate the worst effects of the crisis, as well as to address the yawning gap between the social classes, a problem that was fueling the violence and restlessness.

Another trip to Bacolod last week brought me full circle from that first trip of decades ago. I had gone there as part of the newly revitalized board of trustees of the Remedios AIDS Foundation, to be oriented on "best practices" of NGO and not-for-profit board governance, meeting with board members and officers of the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation Inc.

The foundation is one of many institutions that were born of the crisis of the 1980s, founded by a group of women who had bonded with each other through decades of friendship or family ties, and decided that they would do their part to mitigate the crisis by providing access to credit to poor families.

Guided by the principles and methodology of the Grameen Bank, which was founded by Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh, the foundation first set up Project "Dungganon," which in Ilonggo means "honorable." Through this project, the foundation reaches out to the "poorest of the poor," providing micro-credit for livelihood projects to women who would not otherwise qualify for loans from traditional sources.

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AS similar projects the world over have proven, the Grameen approach works by organizing community women into "associations" or "branches" who collectively assume responsibility for all their individual loans. Payments for the loans are thus monitored and assured by social pressure, since no new loans for association members will be made available unless there is full compliance with repayment terms.

Women also comprise the vast majority of borrowers because they have proven to be more reliable borrowers than men, paying back their loans promptly and fully, and channeling their profits into growing their business and improving the health and educational status of their children.

Encouraged by the success of "Dungganon," the foundation later established Project "Kasanag" or "Light," which expanded upon the original micro-credit concept to provide larger loans for small- and medium-scale enterprises.

So far, says Dr. Cecilia del Castillo, NWTF executive director, they have reached 55,000 women, not just in Negros Occidental but also in Samar, Cebu and Palawan, and aim to soon reach 100,000 women.

Last year, the foundation chalked up another achievement, a first for an NGO in Western Visayas, by transforming itself into a Micro-Finance Thrift Bank, housed in a 2-year-old four-story building which also serves as a training center with accommodations for small groups.

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"AS I keep telling the staff and the board," recounts Dr. Del Castillo, "if our intention is just to give away money, then we should just fly over the province and drop money into barrios. But that is not why we exist. We are here to build institutions, and more important to us than the economic assistance we provide, is the impact our programs have on our clients' self-esteem and self-worth."

An early study commissioned to look into the impact of their programs has determined that 20 percent of their clients are able to "climb out of poverty level" after five to seven years. "The big bulk of our clients, though remain just below the poverty level," says Dr. Del Castillo, explaining why they have decided to increase the loan ceiling to give women on the verge of making it out of a "hand-to-mouth" existence the needed boost.

"We have the track record and have proven that our clients are bankable," boasts Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) chair Wilhelmina Gonzales. And while she admits that the foundation has had to weather rocky times, even a time when they seemed on the verge of bankruptcy, they recall that they managed to pull through with goodwill they had earned from partners who came up with timely loans to see them through.

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STILL, the biggest rewards, as Dr. Del Castillo recalls, are to be found in the changes they have seen in their women clients.

"One remark that really struck me was what one woman told me: after she had successfully put up her own business, 'my husband is now beginning to listen to me.'" Others testify how their added income has allowed them to send their children to school, while another said the biggest impact of her newfound economic security was that "when I am sick, I can rest."

For sure, as even Dr. Del Castillo and Gonzales admit, the foundation has shortcomings, such as the lack of representation on the board of their clients. Other NGOs in the area have also criticized the NWTF for lack of coordination, especially in areas that are already being served by other organizations.

But overall, it would be difficult to discount the impact of the foundation's work on the lives of their women clients and consequently on their communities. Born out of crisis, the foundation is proving its commitment to development in the fullest sense of this loaded word.

Haydee's Legacy

Kris-Crossing Mindanao : Graeco's justice for Haydee

Antonio Montalvan II
Inquirer News Service

WHAT can one from Mindanao say about the late Haydee Yorac? In the Mindanao elimination rounds of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation national essay writing contest, the winning college piece came from 20-year-old Graeco Paul Antipasado of Malaybalay City, an AB International Studies major at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan. Graeco chose to write about a Filipina whom he described, in his effortless but flowing prose, as an "extraordinary woman."

Graeco's piece is as much a social commentary of our times as it is a fitting and timely paean to Haydee Yorac. In "Doing Justice for Haydee," Graeco writes:

"I have always believed that writing a piece about a person whom one deeply admires carries with it the risk as well as the fear that the finished product may not serve the subject any justice. But looking back at the life and times of this extraordinary woman, there probably isn't a single piece of work that would give her any justice. But then again, to let the story of her career and crusades go untold would ironically be an unacceptable injustice.

"The many battles of Haydee Yorac have been exactly just that, an often lonesome war against government inefficiency, dishonesty and corruption, and she has waged it on many fronts. Feisty, formidable, uncompromising, tough are only some of the words attached to her larger than life persona. But if we use the English dictionary, I could only come up with two words that would serve Atty. Yorac right: public servant.

"Service has been something I've never come to associate with government, self-service perhaps. For me, the ultimate instrument for good had transformed into this monster on the verge to eat our country whole. Up until I knew she existed, the fight against the evils of government has always been for me a battle being waged in vain. But Atty. Yorac, whose dogged resolve coupled with nerves of steel, has demonstrated that she's not only fighting in battle, she's actually winning it. In 2004, the Sandiganbayan gave the PCGG an astounding victory by awarding to the government billions of pesos worth of shares in United Coconut Planters Bank and San Miguel Corporation, bought using the coco levy funds. Previous to that, the PCGG had recovered some $684 million worth of Marcos' Swiss bank deposits...

"It's safe to say once more that Filipinos have finally found a very likely defender in Haydee Yorac. On a more personal level, I've once again come across someone [with] whom I could place all my hopes and optimism, the difference this time, is that I know she won't let me down. I don't even think she is capable. In all her years, Haydee Yorac has always demanded honesty from everybody inasmuch as she demanded it on herself. Whether in public service or in private practice, Atty. Yorac always brought with her, as her Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service citation reads, an 'exceptional integrity and rigor and her unwavering pursuit of the rule of law in the Philippines.'

"Haydee's mother had once said that she 'always taught her children to do the right thing.' There is elegance in simplicity, and by those few words, Mrs. Yorac had, wittingly or unwittingly set the path for Atty. Yorac's implacable crusade against deceit in any form. Whether training our future lawyers at the University of the Philippines or reforming our electoral system as head of the Commission of Elections, or recovering ill-gotten wealth as chair of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance, the woman, who once understatedly called herself 'a good enough lawyer,' has unflinchingly and without fail, always done 'the right thing.'

"I'd give a million dollars in exchange for a memory of a time when I was genuinely proud of my leaders. I've come to a point where the repeated disappointments and disillusionment have become such a way of life that I am, simply put, jaded and numb. Yet Haydee Yorac has always sought to remind me that government is inherently noble and that those who run it recklessly should not be left alone to wreak their havoc but fought with unbridled obsession and steadfast commitment. Even from her sickbed, Atty. Yorac's dedication to the cause of justice never wavered; on the contrary, cancer has only doubled her resolve. When this President appointed questionable individuals to the board of the San Miguel Corporation, the perilously ailing Atty. Yorac was the first who rushed to condemn it.

"Her decision to retire from the public sphere has once again put my confidence in government in serious jeopardy. In fact, the entire nation felt as if (it has) lost a best friend in government. And I cannot say with certainty if there will even be another Haydee Yorac. For now, I can only hold out hope and optimism, because that is what Atty. Yorac has reignited in me. I owe it to her and to every single public servant out there, who in spite of the temptations and lures of dishonesty and personal gain, continue in the noble and daunting task of trying to earn the public trust our government desperately seeks and providing for us Filipinos devoted service we legitimately deserve.

"It would be presumptuous of me to assume that this piece has eloquently given Haydee Yorac her due. I am not even close. But here I am choosing to write this piece anyway. I never meant nor have I ever thought of this work as a masterpiece destined and built for longevity. No. Atty. Yorac would not want me to write about her because of the prize and the promise of prestige that comes with it but because, like her, I see that there is something truly monumental and valuable, needlessly to say an exhilarating sensation in not only expressing my convictions but more importantly in living them out."