Tag: #synergeia

One Fine Day for Murcia

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

Murcia sounds like Spanish.  Indeed. Murcia is a city in southeastern Spain.

But there is another Murcia, a place brewing with new ideas and warmer smiles of close to 90,000 people, in Negros Occidental. 

People gathered for Murcia one fine day. And it was for this important Education Summit which could break or make the future of children in this awesome town in the Visayas. 

How can a small municipality like Murcia become so serious about education that it has to make a summit matter for its local governance?

Murcia’s leadership has a vision for a more sustainable knowledge-based future for its citizenry. Mayor Gerry M Rojas saw that only when the quality of its education improves and the standards for such quality are raised will they be able to confront his vision with success.

The Summit was a key response to this vision. Murcia’s community understood the Mayor’s call for dialogue and conversation about what needs to be resolved and the concrete actions to take.

Through the support of Synergeia led by former Governor Rafael ‘Lito’ Coscolluela and joined by former Mayor Alfonso Gamboa, former Vice Mayor Jay Jalandoni, Councilor Fini Jalandoni, and Program Officer Edwin Nacionales, the Summit was held on 21 March 2024 in Bacolod City. 

Over 250 participants came to the Summit. There were the local barangay officials of Murcia,  the Department of Education officers, health and nutrition staff, child development workers, daycare teachers under the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and members of the Parents-Teachers-Association.

All agreed with Mayor Roxas’ conclusion that based on data from the DepEd, Murcia’s student performance in different levels of reading- Hiligaynon, Filipino, and English/ showed inferior results. The most worrisome results came from secondary-level English, which showed a dismal 11% readiness by the students. Moreover, the poor nutritional status in daycare was also concerning.

Given this situation, it was established that there has to be a better strategy and approach that can hopefully bridge the gaps and achieve more positive outcomes. 

Inspired by the dreams of parents for their children to finish their education, the Summit 

generated helpful insights and possibilities which Murcia should start doing and build a stronger foundation for its education vision. 

It cemented a Covenant of Support amongst the stakeholders of MURCIA to cover for the following concrete actions to be taken by those involved:

  1. The elected officials, composed of Sangguniang Bayan Members, Barangay Captains, and Sangguniang Kabataan committed to passing ordinances to support students’ welfare, such as scholarships for poor but deserving students, barangay nutrition, and assistance for qualified residents to avail of the Tesda scholarship. They also planned to establish Barangay Reading Centers or libraries which will help develop the reading culture in the barangays and also serve as venues for tutorial classes.
  2. The parents’ group puts a premium on teaching the correct values to their children at home. As their children’s first teachers, they committed to providing adequate time and effort to teach good study habits by checking their lessons and homework. They agreed to instill discipline by regulating the use of gadgets that affect the study habits of most children. A mother was so emphatic about the problem of early pregnancy that she proposed that parents should regulate the use of cell phones, TV shows, and other forms of social media that contribute to early pregnancies. Parents, especially mothers, should raise awareness about the negative consequences of early marriage, including the increased risk of early pregnancies.
  3. The teachers’ group appealed for continuous support from the parents and the barangays to ensure children learn better and finish schooling.  They shared everyone’s dream of making children learn better with good habits and sound moral values.
  4. The DSWD group assured everyone that they would teach the preschoolers with a “heart.” To be more effective, they appealed to the Mayor to have spacious and child-friendly Daycare Centers.

No doubt, It was absolutely one fine day for Murcia. 

Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin, Nanay at Tatay

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

Maganda ang panahon. Nakaratıng ang team ng Synergeia sa Valenzuela City ng mas maaga sa inaasahan.

Doon ay makikiugnay kamı sa mga Nanay at Tatay, sa isang Parenting Camp workshop, na nagnanais na matuto sa karanasan ng kapwa nilang magulang tungkol sa pagpapalaki ng anak.

Bahagi ito ng malaking programa ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Valenzuela, na pinamumunuan ni Mayor Wes Gatchalian, para sa paghahanda sa mga magulang sa mga bagay at hamon ng pagiging mabuti’t responsableng Nanay at Tatay.

Sa damı ng dumalo, isa lang ang napatunayan ng mga magulang ng Valenzuela. Ito ay iyong pagtanggap nila na mahirap ang maging magulang sa panahong kasalukuyan at handa silang iangat ang kanilang kakayahan na magampanan ang kanılang mga tungkulin at obligasyon sa mga anak.

Sari-sari ang kuwento tungkol sa mga relasyon nila sa kanılang mga anak na nasa elementarya at yung iba’y nasa high school na. Iba-iba raw ang paguugali. Iba-iba rin ang gusto. Kaya ang kuwento nila ay may bitbit na kasiyahan. At may kalakip din na luha’t kalungkutan.

Sa pangkalahatan, ang mga Nanay at Tatay  sa workshop ay nagkaisa na sa mithiiin nila na magkaroon ng tahimik, maşaya, walang poot o galit at puno ng malasakit sa loob ng tahanan, dapat sundin nila ang mga “best practices” na naibahagi ng marami at ang napatunayang mga magandang epekto nito sa pamilya at sa pagiging mabuting magulang, tulad ng:

1. SAKSI – Saksi ka dapat sa paglaki ng iyong anak. Habang lumalaki ang anak, magbabago talaga ang kanyang paguugali lalo na’t kung mapapabarkada Ito sa hindi tamang grupo. Mahalaga ang iyong presensya sa lahat ng nagaganap sa pagtanda ng anak.

2.  TIWALA – Positibo ang epekto ng pakikipagusap sa anak at pakikinig sa kanılang mga naiisip, nararamdaman o kahıt anong bagay. Lalo na sa pagtindi ng kalaban natin sa teknolohiya, cell phone o internet na isang balakid sa pakikipagusap ng maayos. Sa magandang komunikasyon, may mabubuong tiwala sa İsa’t isa kaya kung may problema o kailangan ang anak, ang magulang ang uunahing puntahan.

3. VALUES- Mahalaga na malinaw ang values na gustong ipatupad sa isang pamilya katulad ng respeto, disiplina, integridad, honesty, pagmamahal,  takot sa Diyos at iba pa. Kung naiintindihan ito ng anak, maiiwasan ang awayan sa kung ano ang tama o mali at magagampanan ng anak ang inaasahan sa kanya.

4. EMPATHY – Ang pagbibigay ng totoong malasakit sa anak ay nasusukat sa kung paano ilalagay ng magulang ang sarılı sa kalagayan ng anak at intindihin ang nararanasan ng anak sa perspektibo nito. Kalimitan kaşı pinipilit ng magulang kung ano lang ang sa tingin nito ay tama at nalilimutan ang punto de vista ng anak. Kaya kung walang empathy, lalayo na lang ang anak sa magulang at pupunta na lang sa mga taong mas makakaintindi sa kanila.

5. ROLE MODEL- Kung ano ang tinuturo sa anak, yan ang dapat na pinapakita ng magulang. Ika nga, “practice what you preach”. Walang pinakamainam na role models kundi ang mga magulang na tinitingala ng anak sa araw-araw.

Natapos ang workshop na may paalala sa lahat ng Nanay at Tatay.

Una, there is joy in parenting. Mahirap na maşaya ika nga. Kailangan lang ng pagtiyatiyaga, pagpupursige at maraming dasal.

At pangalawa, there is hope for a better future for families. Walang imposible. Lahat may paraan. Pagtibayin ang tiwala sa sarling kakayahan bilang magulang. Walang  sukuan. Kasi minsan lang kitang iibigin, Nanay at Tatay! At ang minsan na yan ay magpakailanman.

Part 3: Braverhearts and Green Warriors of Maluso, Slay!

Posted on by Florendo Guevara

A four-part series on Synergeia’s Solid Waste Management Project with the Coca-Cola Foundation-

The Maluso Experience: Of Bravehearts and Green Warriors

To walk the talk is never easy.

But first is to understand the real problem and why it is happening.

Maluso admits that many of their practices on waste disposal negate their vision of clean, green and environmentally sustainable communities.

Local officials and community workers who participated in the seminar on solid waste management conducted by Synergeia with the Coca-Cola Foundation observed that:

1. Maluso lacks garbage receptacles or dump sites.

2. Adults and children don’t have good habits on waste disposal.

3. There is no established system of waste disposal.

4. Households in coastal areas dump their garbage in the open sea.

5. Some households throw their garbage under the trees.

6. Food wastes  are  thrown anywhere  or used  to feed pets and animals; and

7. Recycling of plastic bottles is small-scale and unsustainable.

 In many ways, the behavior of people, which results in these observations and causes major waste management issues for Maluso, needs some drastic change or improvement.

Mayor  Hanie  Bud stressed the importance of social preparation as a critical starting point. It means that communities have to be empowered with the knowledge and capacity to have the proper mindset and behavior on solid waste disposal, reduction, reuse, and recycling. A massive information and awareness campaign targeted towards communities will be useful to produce this outcome.

He also cited how he already started a  “no single-use plastic”  policy in the municipal office where he encouraged the employees and workers to bring water  tumblers and refill drinking water using the dispensers installed in the municipal building.   

Indeed, walking the talk can only succeed when communities band together to slay their roles in their solid waste management goals and be the Braverhearts and Green Warriors that they truly are.

The barangays in Maluso will walk the talk by doing what it need to do.

It will start the experiment of reducing and recycling plastic waste through, among others, the conduct of a community information drive, the provision of sacks to every household to be used in collecting plastic waste, and the establishment of baseline data on the collected plastics as the basis for formulating better strategies and approaches.

Synergeia offered its support by providing materials on the “Effects  of  Climate Change” for the barangay information drive, helping experts in the design of a capacity building workshop, connecting Maluso with

Coke’s waste aggregators or recyclers for the processing of plastics and introducing the idea of available but expensive technology for converting/processing plastics into fuel.

To Maluso, its time has come.

Read next: The Finale: The Future of Maluso Unraveled