EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Road is one of the highlights that a certain town or community is progressing. This is considered as one of the accelerators in the development of a nation. Transport of goods and services are better off when roads are constructed.

Cabuyao has eighteen (18) barangays. Six (6) barangays are located along the national highway, the other six (6) on the lakeshore of Laguna de Bay, three (3) urban barangays inside the Poblacion which was created under Presidential Decree No. 86 and three (3) on the Western part which is an elevated portion.

Barangay Casile is one of the small barangays in Cabuyao, Laguna located at the western part. It has a population of not more than 1000 people. Its total land area is approximately at 318 hectares. The road is still earth-filled. Their major products are mainly agricultural. To name a few, there are bananas, pineapples, coconuts and corns. The standard price ranges from Php 5.00 to Php 10.00. Of the total road length of Cabuyao, which is 31 kms., only 6% or approximately 1.95 kms comprises the earthly-filled road of Barangay Casile. This has been their problem ever since the barangay was established.

Our group in SS013-A12 went last November 8, 2008 (Thursday) to this barangay to conduct an interview on how the residents are affected by this problem on road infrastructure. From MCL, we took the Silangan-Canlubang route. It took us an hour before we reached our destination.

Most social services of the government were not enjoyed by most of the residents of the barangay. One of which was electricity. When we came to the location, most of our interviewee did not have electricity yet. According to these residents, the local government already told them that electricity will be built by the end of June 2008. But as we had observed, no electric posts or any electrical wires were seen.

Residents of the barangay were also having a hard time going to and from the location because there is only one jeepney that services these people. A regular employee who works at 7 in the morning must have to wake up at 3 just to catch up the 4 o’clock trip of that jeepney. Then, the next trip of that jeepney would be at 1 in the afternoon and the last for the day was at 6 in the evening.

Most students of Casile Elementary School had to walk 500 meters from their houses to the school. In turn, they also had to wake up early in the morning to catch up to their 7AM classes. The mothers of Grades 1 to 4 pupils usually accompany their children in going to their school. In effect, household chores were left undone. Some were transported thru a school service offered by neighbors.

Another “hassle” about the road in this barangay is the steep part. The road is purely soil, and when it rained, cars and other vehicles couldn’t pass thru it. There were already reported minor accidents due to this part of the road.

Their agricultural products, which are pineapples, corn, coconuts, and many others, are relatively cheap compared to public markets in nearby towns. Take pineapple for example. The price of pineapple in Casile is Php 5.00 per piece compared to the Php 15.00 per piece in the wet market. These sellers could’ve sold these products in a much higher price, but because of the burden brought about by the road, they couldn’t.

We interviewed the barangay captain and this was also his dilemma to the local government. They told him that the road will be constructed as soon as possible. According to the municipal government, they had already allotted a budget for the construction. The only question is when because the construction is still for bidding.

Constructing a road requires several components, according to Engr. Hermie M. Del Pilar, a Civil Engineer. First, its foundation must be firm. The soil beneath must be compressed thoroughly and as much as possible, there should be no space to make it strong. Next, the steel bars above the soil must be pure and strong.

In conclusion to this, the residents of Brgy. Casile is very much affected in their everyday activities. Their lives would’ve been better off with the road constructed.

Jose Rizal : On Focus

The film “Jose Rizal” was a movie directed by Marilou Diaz-Abar. Veteran actor Cesar Montano portrayed the life of Jose Rizal. He brought his talent to one of the most divisive movies of all time. This film was produced by GMA Films, and it was their entry to the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was one of the most successful movies of the production because it grossed up to 136.7 million pesos.

In the movie, Dr. Rizal (Montano) was accused of treason and awaited trial and meets his counsel, Luis Taviel de Andrade. The latter constructed the case and the arguments that they will need for their defense. After hearing the life of Rizal, Taviel realized that Rizal was not just innocent, but also an ordinary man who truly loves his country. When the mock trial began, Taviel defended his client, despite him, being a Spanish native himself. In the interim, the Spanish authorities had already planned to give Rizal a guilty output. Then started a revolution led by the katipunan founded by Andres Bonifacio, where bloods were shed.

The movie, generally, is a great one. The fact that it won several awards in the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival including Best Picture, it was truly a must see movie. Only a few directors would gladly, remarkably do these kinds of films nowadays. But it made me realized some things, like Rizal didn’t actually want freedom for our country, but reforms through education. The concept of being one, in my opinion, was just made because of his vendetta when his proposal was turned down by the Spanish officials. Despite of those things, for it wasn’t for Rizal; the Philippines would not achieve its freedom from the cruel Spaniards. We would still be under the imperial power of Spain. It just so happens that in our society today, I believe that things are turning upside down. Our minds are being madly influenced of what we see that is something “in” in the Western. We are foremost failing to remember our culture and our being nationalist. Successful countries do not have these kinds of traits in their people. Successful countries use one word, one language, so that every can understand what one is saying, instead of blabbing things out, but majority could not perceive it. Better yet, let us promote our culture; enrich it, because nobody else in this world would ever do that. It would plunk a big shame on us if somebody would.

NSTP : Better than any other

The First Day : The Next Step
My work as a student was never suspended to the four corners of the classrooms. It is true that the greatest teachers of our lives are our experiences.

It was a fine Saturday morning. I woke up very early because I was very excited about my first day of tutoring the students of Southville I Elementary School. When I reached MCL, our professor in NSTP 013, Prof. Vilma Malabuyoc, told me and my groupmates that we were about to be joined together with the group Carlyn Batara, whose group was about to conduct a tutorial service also, but then at Banlic Elementary School.

When we were about to ride the jeepney, we felt excited and very hopeful that the students will accept us with warm welcome, and they did. We arrived at the school a bit late because of some problems we had encountered on our way to the school. That day was really hot, but we just found ourselves laughing about the hot and humid weather.

As we enter the classroom, me, Maan (Ma. Anna Mae Isidro) and Roj (Rogeross Berana) introduced ourselves. Then we started knowing them by asking some questions about math. We finally then noticed the jolliness of Rodel. As we go on with our discussion, Rodel was the only student who was fond of answering. Even though some of his answers were not right, he still continued to answer. As I observed him, I thought of him as their class valedictorian. And my suspicion was right; he was their class valedictorian.

Going back to what I was saying, we discussed fractions; since that’s the topic they were having a hard time with. We opted to add a little twist in the way we attack with the topic. We chose to play a mind game. The class was divided into three groups, and we let them name it. One was named KSG; the other was MOG (Mathematicians On the Go), and Dot3. We gave them 5 different fraction problems and we let them answer it on the board. At the end of the game, the KSG turned out to be the winner. They were given chocolate and candies as prizes. We then said our goodbyes for the moment and told them that we will return for the next week.


The Second Day : Hurt, yet Hopeful
The next day of our tutorial was a total hopeful day because we weren’t just the ones hoping for another day, but also our “friends”. This time, Roj said his apologies for not coming because he was having a headache. His body’s energy was not enough to cover up the whole day, and he still needs to attend to some family commitments. Though Roj could not make it, Prof. Vilma gave us new companions. Maan and me felt relieved and happy because we have some new faces to show to our newfound friends. J

Since it was another day, another subject was discussed. I personally discussed with them Science, particularly about stars; its evolution and all stuffs related to the heavenly bodies. Gotchie’s group facilitated a game, and they used the format of a game show in Willie Revilliame’s Wowwowee. Pau (Ma. Paulina Suarez) served as the host of the game and the other members as the buzzers. The groups of last week’s game were retained, but their scores were returned to zero for fairness and equality. At the end of the day, MOG won and they received prizes such as notebooks, pencils, crayons and many others. Consolation prizes like chocolates and candies were given to Dot3 and KSG.

As we end our session, our friends were a little bit disappointed when they found out that it was our last day of visiting them. But, they got our cellphone numbers so we can still keep in contact. Our friends, especially the girls, are so eager to know the cellphone number of Roj. And without further notice from Roj, we gave his number. J

I can tell that it was fun serving other people especially kids. I am very, very happy that Prof. Malabuyoc and our administrators allowed us to have a first hand experience of being immersed in such an environment, so warm, so full of hopes and dreams that are yet to come true. As I close another chapter in my life, I will never forget these kids who had been and always will be part of my life. They made me feel accepted and respected. To them, thank you so much. And to God, a million thanks to You for having our paths crossed in a very extraordinary way.

EXCELLENCE and VIRTUE are the values that I will always share with whoever I may be with. I will share it the way MCL did to me to become a more humane member of our society.