UGNAYAN NG PAHINUNGÓD VISAYAS

Ugnayan ng Pahinungód Visayas

The revival of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód Program, as contained in the Executive Order signed by President Danilo L. Concepcion, was a cause of much celebration especially for former Pahinungód officials and volunteers here in UP Visayas. Verily, the euphoria helped us to weather the many challenges of rebuilding a program in a setting far different from when it first flourished from 1994 to 2001.

The public reintroduction of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód kicked off with a public forum dubbed, “Balik Pahinungód“ which was held in the three campuses of Iloilo City, Tacloban, and Miagao. Following guidelines formulated during the first meeting of the Pahinungód Council consisting of Directors from all CUs, we initially focused on three main projects, namely, Teacher Development, Student Tutorial Program, and the Buhay Pahinungód or Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.

From June 2019 to May 2020, we conducted three (3) Teacher Training Programs (TTP) to 136 school heads and teachers from two (2) public high schools in Iloilo (Zarraga National High School, and Cambitu (Oton) National High School), and one in the DepEd division in Antique. The TTP workshops were conducted by UPV professors: Dr. Aurora Fe C. Bautista, Prof. Celia F. Parcon, Prof. Evelyn O. Alobba, Prof. Early Sol A. Gadong, and Prof. Dominique J. Maquiran.

A total of 900 students participated in our Affirmative Action projects on “Aabutin ang Pangarap (An Overview of College Life and UP)” and “A Lifesaver for Every Home (Basic Life Skills Training), School Edition”. These activities were done in partnership with various UPV student organizations, namely, the UPV Fisheries Guild, UPV Mountaineers, Validus Amicitia Brotherhood, DMCG (Disaster Management Community of Reconciliation Group), and DMCG Jr – UI Phinma Chapter. In preparation for the AAP modules, 40 UPV faculty members and experts in the fields of Science, Math, and English also signed up.

Our DRRM-related activities were undertaken in partnership with the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) and DMCG. A total of 325 participants from the various sectors of Iloilo City took part in the forums on “Climate Stories of Iloilo Through Decades”, and “A Lifesaver for Every Home: A Basic Life Skill Training”. We also invited Prof. Genaro Cuaresma from UP Resilience Institute to lecture on a Framework on DRRM for the UP Iloilo Community, which tackled UPV’s vulnerability to disasters, and a vulnerability assessment. This was participated in by representatives from student organizations (UPV Mountaineers, DUCES), Dorm Heads, and Dorm Councils.

Last December, we partnered with the UPV Mountaineers, a graduate Business Management class of UPV, and the Balay Kanlaon Dormitory for three (3) separate gift-giving activities to a total of 300 recipients. It was also followed by relief-packing operations on December 26, 2020 with DSWD-Region VI, and the UPV Relief Operations for northern Panay municipalities affected by Typhoon Ursula. We worked with various UPV Offices (Office of the Chancellor, Office of Alumni Relations, Information and Publication Office), the organization UP Hamili, and GMall Davao which sponsored T-shirt give-aways.

We also held four (4) Balik-Pahinungód activities both in UPV Iloilo and Tacloban which brought together former GPs and present Pahinungód Volunteers. Some 278 attendees showed up from various sectors, including high school and college students, chairs and representatives of various student organizations, dorm heads, UPV faculty members, and alumni. On March 6, 2020, we celebrated the 25th founding anniversary of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód through a forum with the theme “Celebrating UP’s Soul Through Pahinungód”. It served as a reunion of former Pahinungód volunteers as well as an avenue for reintroducing the spirit of volunteerism in UP.

It must be noted that after reconnecting with previous and prospective partners on volunteerism, Ugnayan ng Pahinungód UPV decided that its main focus would be an expanded version of the Gurong Pahinungód Program to be composed of three components, namely:

1. Affirmative Action. A core group has been identified to handle various subject areas for this Program. A workshop was conducted on March 10, 2020 under the guidance of an expert on curriculum development and distance learning, Dr. Aurora Fe Bautista, former Dean of Education, UP Open University.

2. Teacher Development Program. After a series of dialogues and consultations with prospective partners among DepEd public secondary schools, we conducted a seminar on anti-oppressive pedagogy on December 19, 2019 in the Division of Antique where we shall focus our TDP.

3. Gurong Pahinungód. Despite the challenge of a very small pool of new graduates, it is worth noting that there are alumni who had been looking forward to the deployment of the Gurong Pahinungód. However, unlike before when financial support mostly came from the Department of Education, this time we shall explore other fund sources such as the provincial school board and the Office of the province’s Representative in Congress. Given the constraints brought about by COVID-19, the Gurong Pahinungód volunteers shall serve as Trainer of Teachers on the blended learning mode rather than physically deployed in the local public schools.

Needless to say, the revival of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód was warmly welcomed by the various sectors-- especially by former volunteers and the UP constituents. It has generated a palpable goodwill and excitement especially for those who hold cherished memories of their Pahinungód experiences. In the several activities conducted since the Program’s reactivation, several volunteers have offered their services to help jumpstart the once-moribund office; this has proven especially helpful to the two new staff who had no background at all about the Pahinungód program. Even the retired professors who used to be stalwarts of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód have once again volunteered to take part in our activities.

It cannot be denied that during the years when the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód was in its heyday, a good number of reputable institutional partnerships had been established and nurtured in various sectors—community, academe, local and national government agencies. Since the reactivation, judging from the outcome of several meetings and dialogue with former and new prospective partners, the field looks green and bountiful for harvest. We anticipate a new batch of recruits working with former volunteers to breathe new life into the Pahinungód spirit of UP as we reconnect with the target clientele.

We look forward to the offer of logistical support from the Department of Education and the local government units who will be our partners for the education programs under the expanded Gurong Pahinungód. They, too, are excited about the partnership with Pahinungód UPV because they foresee the huge need to equip the teachers with upgraded skills to assume their new role under the new normal. In fact, the Division Superintendent acknowledged that they are counting on our support to help them navigate through the uncertain terrain of teaching their students in the incoming school year. The terms of the support, however, have to be spelled out in the proposed Memorandum of Agreement.

We are happy to mention that the Pahinungód presence is starting to reassert itself. In January 2020, during the founding anniversary of the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) Region 6, the UPV Ugnayan ng Pahinungód was given recognition for its contribution to the relief efforts for the typhoon victims in northern Iloilo. We are grateful to our volunteers who had turned up to assist in these relief operations.

Alongside the warm welcome, the outpouring of support and the bright future that looms ahead for the program, the reactivation expectedly brought its own share of birthing pains. For one, the Program was not immediately allocated its own office and our staff had to make do by temporarily using unoccupied rooms as their workstations. Thankfully, in June 2020, the Chancellor officially assigned us our own office in the Iloilo City campus. Another more serious issue that would be needing resolution concerns the unclear delineation of mandates and tasks between the Pahinungód Program and other offices which also aim to deliver public service; this shared turf may give rise to unintended disharmony, and get in the way of program implementation. Save for this looming conflict which may be resolved with timely and proper coordination, optimism remains high for a rich yield of volunteers and more productive partnerships to help steer the ship of the revitalized Pahinungód Program forward.

UP/OC Visayas Address: 2f, Graduate and Continuing Education Building, University of the Philippines Visayas Campus, General Luna St., Iloilo City

Mobile no.: 0917 726 5113

Email Address: pahinungod.upv@up.edu.ph

Facebook Page: https://web.facebook.com/PahinungodSaVisayas/