February
21, 2007
WHAT:
Ugat Lucena 2007 Relief Mission Part 1 of 3
Distribution of 2,800 stubs to the 33 Barangays
in Lucena
WHEN: February 21, 2007, Ash Wednesday
WHO:
Cita Custodio (Ugat Lady President) & her van and pamangkin
driver Clifford, Maritza Alzona, Malou (balikbayan
from LA),
Ramil Estrope, Belen Mendoza (wife of Ugat
Gentleman
President Bob de Leon Mendoza)
TIME: 10am TO 7pm
Cita and Clifford picked
us up from our homes. We then changed into our new red Ugat T-Shirts. And the day begins….
We first went to Claro
M. Recto. The journey began walking thru ‘eskinitas’ and distributed 50 stubs to every barangay which later on
during the day became 100 to 200 stubs. I heard a loud scream of joy “Lolabeeeeee!” Ha-ha-ha! What a welcome!
I’ll have that anytime. The scream was from Bob’s batchmate whom I met the previous weekend at Gracelands where
they had a mini-reunion. She got my name from the name tag, thus “Lolabee”. It was hot, but what the heck. They
have been living in this condition for so many years. Why should it bother us when we have been living in air conditioned
homes and cars for as long as we live? While we were in the van, we were talking about future investments.
And here we are in the
midst of people worrying about the meals they have to have for the day. The jubilation we witnessed for a bag of 3 kilos of
rice, 6 packs of instant noodles, 4 tins of sardines and 2 corned beef which they will receive this Saturday when they present
the stubs we are giving them was indescribable. They came out from their humble abodes as if they won lotto.
Places we’ve been:
Dalahican, Talao-talao, Pantoc, Flores Subd, Zaballero Subd, Cotta, Tabi ng Riles sa Cotta, Hollywood, Ilalim ng Tulay sa Iyam, Landingan, Ibabang Dupay, etc.
Anecdotes to remember
in a lifetime:
- Ramil, as he goes about distributing the stubs smelt the aroma of fried fish knocked on the door and said, “Tao
po! Makikikain nga po!” No one came out. He then said, “Tao po! Kuryente po!” Lalong walang lumabas! Ha-ha-ha!
- As I walked back to the van, a woman who came out of her house in a rush approached me and said, “Ma’m,
nasa kubeta po ako ng marinig ko kayo. Eto nga po at tinapos ko na para lang
umabot sa ipinamimigay nyo!” You couldn’t deny her that, could you?
- A man extended his hand for a stub. Another commented that he is the husband of the woman who just received a stub.
The man said, “Aba, hindi po. Hiwalay na kami. Di ko
po asawa yan!” Just for a stub, “hiniwalayan” ang asawa. Ha-ha-ha!
- A young man was being denied for a stub because we mean to give the stubs to family people not to children or single
persons. He said, “Matanda na po ako. Peks man. May anak na rin po ako.!” At masisira ang Bureau of Census sa
changes ng kanilang status.
- We told them, we mean to give 1 stub per family. He said, “Tatlo po ang pamilya ko!” Yayayyy!Ha-ha-ha!
- A woman in “tapis” came running towards us as we reversed our van to go to another place. I told Clifford
to stop and give her one “at baka malaglag ang tapis”. He did. In high spirits, she took off the “tapis”
I was worried about.
If we win the election,
we won’t wonder why. Ha-ha-ha! We received the warmest welcome we ever had in our lives that as soon as we reach a place,
‘takbuhan na sila’ to get near to us. In the afternoon, we ended giving the stubs from inside the van. Who says
we needed thousands of pesos worth of promo campaign to make this successful? All we need is one. And that “one”
will go out of her way to tell the others so that others may “live” for another day or a few days from the contents
of the relief bag.
It was tiring. It
was hot. We have to walk through paddles and trode narrow ‘eskinitas’…. the unfamiliar smell. But who cares?
The joy and fulfilment we felt as we chatted with them and they in turn, told their life stories throughout the day was unbelievable.
Anytime, any day, we will do it again!
To the Ugat Team:
Cita, Ramil, Maritza, Malou, Clifford
and myself, who became “the keeper of the chest” and the “kodaker’…
Hats off to you… to us!
A job well done!
And here are a few
photos to share with you .....
