The gift of giving: Damayan sails to Barangay Salambao

MANILA, Philippines - It’s a 20-minute boat ride to the nearest port in barangay Paliwas that connects them to the rest of Obando, Bulacan. But the residents of Barangay Salambao don’t mind the distance; life is beautiful in their small island.

Residents say anyone who is hard-working will not go hungry here.

“Life is joyful and peaceful here,” says 60-year-old Lilia Cruz.  “If you are industrious, you will never go hungry. If you don’t have viand, you can do hook-fishing (mamanti) or take a dip in the river to get shrimps or crabs.”

Despite the temptations of modern life in the mainland, Aling Lilia wants all of her five children to live in Salambao. “Life is easy here. We all know each other and almost all of us are relatives and we take care of each other.”

When a parent is sick and cannot sail out to fish, Aling Lilia says everyone in the community moves to feed the family. And if a resident happens to have a good harvest, he shares with his neighbors.  “We are like one big family here, so it is really hard to leave this place.”

Aling Lilia’s daugther Liliane Roque, 34, echoes her mother’s desire to settle in Salambao.

“Here, you will eat on time if you are industrious,” she boasts. “Even the women here can survive if they just are hard-working. Women here do hook-fishing and they can catch shrimps and crabs by hand.”

For Liliane, life is harder in the mainland, especially for someone like her who did not finish college. Without a degree, she believes she would only get menial jobs with a salary that is not even enough to feed her four children.

“We have our own elementary school here and a clinic. Most of us have our own boats so we can easily bring our children to the mainland for high school in Paliwas,” she points out. If there is a problem for Salambao residents, she says, it would be the typhoons that are getting stronger.

“During (typhoon) ‘Pedring,’ many of the houses here were blown away by strong winds, including that of my parents. We were really scared, especially for the lives of our children. We had to evacuate to the primary school here.” Pedring lashed large parts of Luzon in September 2011.

Liliane is the third generation of the Tablan family who started living in Salambao when there were only “three or four houses” on the island.

Her grandmother Purificacion Tablan, now 80 years old, agrees that Salambao is a good place to raise a family.

Aling Purificacion hails from Malabon but she married a caretaker of a fishpond in Salambao. After getting married, her husband was hired to watch over a fishpond in Pampanga and in the Obando town proper. They, however, moved back to the island after these stints.

While Salambao residents are used to having seafood for meals, Aling Purificacion says those in the mainland spend so much for prawns and crabs. But she now worries for the children of Salambao because the river and the sea have become polluted and marine life might soon be all gone.

“As it is now, our harvests are becoming so little compared to what we used to get in the past,” she says.  “It also takes longer now to catch fish when we do hook-fishing.”

Like her granddaughter, Aling Purificacion is also concerned over projections that typhoons will be much stronger in the coming years. She says when the weather is bad, they not only cannot sail out to fish but their houses, which are mostly made of wood, are in danger of being washed away by rampaging floodwaters and strong winds.

According to barangay councilman Ricardo Dolorito, 60, the early settlers in Salambao were fishpond caretakers, including his father.

“Before there were only pilapil (rice paddies) here but on our request, the local government had filled up this place with soil. Houses started to sprout here until this became a community,” she adds.

Barangay captain Zenaida Geronimo says Salambao now measures 237 hectares and is home to 1,658 families. She married a native of the island and has been living here since 1976.

“I really come from Malabon so at first I was hesitant to live here because I was afraid to ride a boat,” but she quickly got used to the only means of transportation in Salambao and has fallen in love with the island.

“It’s really so nice to live here. I can really say that the people here are peace loving,” she says. For her, Salambao residents are dream-constituents of any barangay leader because there is hardly a squabble.

Salambao – meaning fishing net – is surrounded by a river which is connected to the sea. On one side, the nearest barangays are Binuwangan and San Pascual in Obando while on the other side is barangay Tanza, Malabon.

But Aling Zenaida concedes that the worsening typhoons are becoming a serious threat.

To prevent the worst during bad weathers, barangay watchmen make the rounds of the houses to advise residents to evacuate to the school or to nearby Binuwangan across the river.

“We are always preventive. Before things get worse, we ask the people here to move to a safer place. That’s how we survive here,” Aling Zenaida adds.

Mano Po Ninong, Mano Po Ninang

Christmas came early for Salambao residents when they were chosen as this year’s beneficiaries of Operation Damayan’s “Mano Po Ninong, Mano Po Ninang” project.

The socio-humanitarian arm of The STAR Group of Publications, Damayan was formed by the late STAR founding chairman Betty Go-Belmonte but is now being continued by her son, STAR president and CEO Miguel Belmonte.

During the outreach mission, Damayan volunteers distributed gift packs comprised of a basket of grocery items and a tote bag containing toys, towels and toiletries to each of the 150 students of Salambao Primary School. Each of these kids also received P50 from “Santa Claus” played by STAR cashier manager Rose Monsura.

Damayan also donated a bed for the maternity clinic and a computer set for the school.

The kids were treated to a sumptuous lunch of fried chicken, rice and hotdogs.

The volunteers also organized parlor games that were enjoyed by both the children and the elders, one of whom was 29-year-old Gina Galang who participated in the basag palayok game.

Although Gina did not literally hit the pot, she considered herself a winner because she got to play this game for the first time in her life.  “I was so tense during the game but it was fun. I didn’t know it could be fun.”

Thirteen-year-old Fernando Crisostomo, a Grade 4 student, also enjoyed the games.

Asked if he plans to live elsewhere when he grows up, Fernando was quick to shake his head. “I like it here. My friends are here and it is peaceful here. It is scary in the mainland, there are many cars and jeepneys.”

The project started in 1996 with funds coming from the employees of The STAR.

Bingo Go Bigtime

For this year’s activity, Damayan had once again organized the “Bingo Go Bigtime” bonanza among STAR employees. A part of the proceeds were used for the Salambao residents while the rest will be spent to help the victims of typhoon  ‘Pablo’ in Mindanao.

As in the past, the event had become like a family day for many employees, who brought their loved ones to play bingo. Families also enjoyed fish crackers, sandwiches and hotdogs sold by Damayan.

According to Gladys Pintolo, sister of STAR employee Jeremy Pintolo, it has become a yearly habit for her to participate in Damayan’s bingo bonanza.

“I join this event every year because I’m also given a chance to help others. It really gives me a high to help others in whatever way I can,” she explains.

STAR driver Regalado Casul, on the other hand, did not expect to win the P20,000 grand prize. He was so thankful because he really needs the money as his wife will soon give birth.

“I was encouraged to buy bingo tickets because the payment was by salary deduction and they say I would be able to help children. I have no cash to buy tickets. But now, I’m the one who has been blessed because I won. God really answered my prayers,” adds Casul with the smile of a true winner.