Sunday, February 21, 2010

Buto't Balat by Kara David

CHARACTERS:

Angela - 19 years old who lives in bicol and dies because of complications resulted from malnutrition

Hansol family - belongs in poor family with malnourished children

Jeremy - a 14 year old boy who weighs same to a two year old child and dies because of malnutrition

Lourdes Villas - a poor pregnant mother of Julie Ann

Julie Ann - a 3 year old child and also suffers from malnutrition that causes her death


SYNOPSIS

It starts in a case study of a 19 year old female from Bicol whose case is extremely shocking, unusual and hard to believe. She is so malnurished to the extent that its so difficult for her to stand or walk from her bed or move like a normal person. These description is refering to a girl named Angela who suffers from many complications like pneumonia and lung diseases which are also caused by extreme malnutrition. The girl dies just some weeks after she was featured by Kara David in her documentary.

The next case study is about the family of Mr. Ciriaco Hansol, he only earn at about 30 pesos most of the time and very lucky if he gets 70 pesos from carrying pales of fishes in different kinds. Mr. Hansol's earnings would become the budget for the day of his wife and seven children. His children are all malnourished like Jeremy, 14 year old and his eldest child, only weighs same to a two year old child, Joey, 6 years old and has a weight which is normal for a baby at 7 months, Aljun, two years old with weight normal for a two month old baby. All of mr. Hansol's children suffer from extreme malnutrition. Jeremy die just after one month because of difficulty in breathing due to his improper situation.

The third and the last case study is about a three year old child named Julie Ann. She cannot walk, and according to her she never drink milk instead a cup of coffee because of poverty. Julie ann is just one among the eight children of a pregnant mother, Lourdes Villas. Lourdes is so problematic on how to raise her children and she even asks God about the future of her children. According to her, they are lucky if she has 20 pesos to buy a can of sardines. After two months, Julie Ann dies just like what happen to Angela and Jeremy.


COMMENTARIES

This documentary reveals the reality of today's filipino situations. Most of us are unconcious of what other filipinos are experiencing. Although we know already that there are filipinos belonging to poverty state but not as bad as what the documentary Buto't Balat has revealed. In the case of poverty state shown in Buto't Balat, hunger and malnutrition are two joining problems that result to a more complex hardship for survival of poor filipinos. I feel great pity to these filipinos who suffer from poverty but pity has no help to contribute so prompt actions and urgent solutions should be implied. I will be more aware about my surroundings and i will help them in my own little way and hopefully other will help too. Even lives were suddenly decreasing because of hunger and malnutrition. So I'm calling the total attention of government for this, don't wait to lose more lives.
How ironic that the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Let us work together to solve the problem. The rich share their wealth to the poor and the poor help themselves by controling themselves from expanding of family size because later on the children will suffer most and eventually become poor like their parents.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Uuwi na si Udong by kara David

Title: Uuwi na si Udong
Author: Kara David
Characters: Udong

SYNOPSIS

This episode features how a ten
year old boy (Udong), sacrifices
his hours of playful childhood
with 6 months of physical hard
work as a sugarcane cutter.
Udong, like the other hundreds
of migrant workers from an
island of Aklan chose to work in
the sugar plantations also called
“ Sakada” in Batangas in order to
support their families back
home.
At his early age, you will hardly
notice the juvenile spirit in
Udong. He acts and talks like a
young man in his 20 ’s, very
much determined to shed off
sweat and hardships just to feed
his family. Though with his
father, Udong still works just like
others, he forcefully grips and
cuts the sugarcanes without
uncertainty, ignoring the
tormenting pain on his small and
innocent body. He would even
exchange an hour of sleep
during periods of break than
play around with other kids of
his age. The scenario of all day
work has been a daily routine
for Udong and for other workers
as well, enduring all the physical
agony and longing for their
families had become their
driving force to bear hardship.
But contrary to Udong, these
hardships and sufferings are
already unbearable for Toto, a
14 year old boy, who was forced
by his father to replace him to
work and pay for their debt. If
given a chance Toto would
rather work in Aklan with his
family. The tough work in the
sugar plantation was even made
harder by the fact that he is
several miles away from home.
But to stop working is not an
option, and so Toto was left to
endure all the pain for several
months. He only then looks
forward for the end of Sakada to
finally go back home.
Until the six months of laborious
work has finally come to an end,
the two boys along with other
migrant workers eagerly wait to
claim their salary. With several
computations, and deductions,
the two kids ended up with P600
each at hand. Not enough for
Toto to buy a television set, toys
and food for his waiting siblings.
While other workers, turned out
to go home empty handed.
Sadly, the six months of Sakada
didn ’t’ paid off for their
tremendous hard work.
According to the owner of the
plantation, this is because the
workers had their commodities,
vices such as cigarettes and
alcoholic drinks and family debts
that were finally deducted to
their wages. And so, these
workers had to make another
debt just to bring some food and
toys for their families. No
wonder, if there ’s another
Udong or Toto in the next batch
of Sakada. And even if, the
turnout of the wages for some
seemed disappointing, the
workers ignored the thought for
a moment; excitement to go
back to their homeland appeared
to outweigh the reality that their
families will hardly be eating
again.p



COMMENTARIES

Just like other documentaries i have watched, Babalik na si Udong also made me feel pity. It tackles the life of Udong who is a young boy forced to work as a sugarcane cutter that was happen because of the indebtedness of his father from his boss. As a payment for that, udong will work at his innocent body just to help his family. This a kind of child labor that destroy his right to enjoy his childhood by playing with other children and sending him to school to be educated. The documentary reveals the sufferings of a young boy nod made by circumstance but by human. This is a kind of maltreatment and to children. I just hope that this issue will be given actions and the future children will not suffer same to Udong.

BABALIK NA SI MA'AM by Howie Severino

CHARACTERS:

Bagong Bayani - the term called to the filipinos working abroad or Overseas Filipino Workers(OFWs)

Regina de Ocampo - a good teacher with a kind heart.

Mercy Elegado - Domestic Helper in Hongkong for 13 years. A teacher in Isabela.

Sammie Sandal - live in Ilocos Norte and OFW in Hongkong for 5 years.

Delia - wife of Sammie Sandal

Rizalyn Abello - Teacher in Pasig River and a former Domestic Helper.

Hermie Aquino - passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers(LET)

Raul Roco - Secretary of Department of Education.


SYNOPSIS

"Babalik na si Ma'am" is an i Witness documentary by Howie Severino which is one of the best documentaries she has made. As a matter of fact "Babalik na si Ma'am" was a finalist at the 2003 Japan Price Educational Program Contest.
It is about the story of Domestic Helpers(DH) abroad who were actually teachers in the Philippines before but pushed to seek better paying jobs like DH because of the poor income in their profession in the Philippines.
But the government has offered good opportunities for these Overseas Filipino Workers(OFWs) to sent them back in our country with assurance that they will be given jobs according to their professions as teachers with appropriate salaries.
Mercy Elegado was just one of the DH abroad who was given a chance to continue her profession in the Philippines. She was so happy knowing that she will be able to meet and accompany her family again as well as she will be teaching in Isabela. But she also felt sad for leaving the people she had served and considered family too like Alice Cheung that according to her was a nice and kind boss.Upon teaching again the grade one and two pupils of Isabela, Mercy has dignify herself from being Domestic helper and bring back her loved profession and be respective teacher again. According to her she was one calling her boss "ma'am" before but now she is the teacher being called "ma'am" that for her shows so much respect from her students.


COMMENTARIES

The "Babalik na si Ma'am" is a touching and inspirational story that also made me admire of the people who were introduced here like Mercy Elegado, a diligent teacher and domestic helper. But another face of the story is pity and dislike.
I feely pity for the OFWs who tried their luck abroad to find better opportunities and sacrifice to be separated from their love ones specially their families just to give them a better future. Although these opportunities might lessen their pride and social existence. Like the filipino domestic helpers (DH) abroad who were teachers before in the philippines; come to think of it, teaching is a better profession than being domestic helper in terms of respect and pride but apparently domestic helpers abroad have greater income compared to teachers in the philippines.
I don' t blame the OFWs in their decision but how can they sacrifice their family for the purpose of obtaining more money from other country. Why not find some other way around and work locally? They are working in other country and the said country will benefit from their service instead from their own.
In fact an increase in number of OFWs also give rise to the number of broken families in the country because of the lack of interpersonal communication and absence of one parent in the family to show his or her love and comfort. Their are lot of children today who were engaged in different vices because of lack of guidance from both parents. One parent is not enough to fullfill the emotional needs of their children because they need total attention from parents. So if one parent is working abroad, children might find something to make them happy or lessen their loneliness, and they might think they can find it from their friends or from using drugs. So by decreasing the number of OFWs, number of broken families will also decrease and children will not bother to become apart from their parents.
Although the government has made a program for the OFWs, still it is not enough to answer the issues on employment and low salaries which give idea to the filipinos to work abroad. Lot of job opportunities and proper salaries will help solve these issues.
As a future entrepreneur, I am hoping to be a job provider instead of job seeker in the future. I will help filipinos to have good jobs with the purpose of increasing the employment rate and decreasing the number of OFWs.

BASURERO by Jay Taruc

CHARACTERS:

Imelda and Jennifer - they are the batchoy collectors.
Together with their family living in overpass, they collect leftover foods.

Tambakeros- the group of scavengers in pier 18 in Tondo, Manila.

Jessie de Guzman - a handicap tambakero known as "putol"

JR Baloran -a young tambakero who was accidentally killed by a bulldozer while searching for plastics and cans.

Adoracion and fabian Baloran - parents of Jr Baloran. Former tambakeros.

Ronald - a teenager tambakero and a rugby user.

Proceso dela Cruz - a veteran tambakero

Angela villacoria - a former scavenger of Smokey Mountain but now she spends her time in helping her family in planting and recycling plastics to make a souvenir to sell.

Father Benigno Beliran - a missionary who help the Smokey Mountain recover. He initiated different livelihood programs in Smokey Mountain


SYNOPSIS

The "Basurero" is an i Witness documentary telling the story of its case studies.
The first part of the documentary begins in a family living in an overpass in Cubao also known as "barangay overpass". During the day, the family begs from the people passing the overpass, and during night they collect leftover foods that they called "batchoy". They collect batchoy from garbage cans of fastfood restaurants but they also asked permission first before they start collecting batchoy such as leftover vegetables, fish and meat.
One member of the family living in barangay overpass is Jennifer who believes that collecting batchoy to feed their hunger is better than to live in marinduque wherein the only food that she can eat all day are just boiled bananas.
After collecting enough batchoy for the family, they take it to the overpass and recook it so that the germs are somehow killed. And the batchoy they collected become their meal for the night.
The second part of the story focuses on the "tambakeros", the term calles to a group of scavengers that live in the dumpsite of pier 18 in Tondo, Manila.
One of the tambakeros is Jessie de Guzman who is popularly called "putol" by his co-scavengers due to his incomplete number of fingers. Two of his fingers were cut off while he was searching for scrops.
Another tragic experience made by being tambakero is the event that even the life of a young child was taken. Jr Baloran is the name of the child who was accidentally killed by a bulldozer while he was searching fore some plastics and cans. Adoracion and Fabian Baloran are the parents of the innocent child. They decided to stop their activity as tambakeros because it just reminds them of the painful accident happened to their son who was the only boy of the family.
Jay Taruc, the reporter of the documentary also try to be a tambakero for almost two hours but unfortunately being tambakero is a very difficult job so he only earned 7 pesos from collecting plastic and cans and according to the tambakeros by that amout you can buy icewater.
There are also other tambakeros in the dumpsite like Proceso dela Cruz a veteran tambakero, Ronald a teenager that only works to support his vices which is rugby. According to Ronald, most of the kids and teenagers tambakeros aging 10 to 16 years old use the money they earned to buy rugby amounting 5 pesos per plastic. According to him there is a place in the dumpsite where they do their vices, they called the place "sirang bahay" or an abandoned house.
The third case study discusses the new face of Smokey Mountain which is formerly a big dumpsite and eventually rehabitalized. There are now building established in the place to serve as a shelter for the former scavengers of the Smokey Mountain. They planted vegetables and recycled the garbage into fertilizers to earn money rather than being scavengers again. The children are now spending their time through studying and developing their talents like dancing. Angela Villacoria who was a former scavenger is now a helper of her family in planting and making new products like souvenir from recycled plastics. These total changes in Smokey Mountain were brought about through the help of a person of a kind heart and artistic mind named Fr. Benigno Beliran. He is a missionary who headed the different livelihood programs in the Smokey Mountain.

BASURERO - commentaries

The documentary "basurero" discusses the major economic and social issues arising among filipinos in lowerclass. And also poverty, as what has been shown in the documentary, is the root of other economic and social issues such as hunger, lack of education, diseases, pollution, malnutrition, drug addiction, child labor and other economic and social issues relating to poverty. The tambakeros or scavengers and the batchoy collectors are just some faces of poverty. They are just some of the people who can truly describe what is poverty. While watching these people, I feel great pity towards them for the tragic situation they suffer because of poverty. So lucky I was for not experiencing their experiences and live life like the way they do. They are finding their own way to survive from the hardships of circumstances by searching food and money from garbage and wastes. These actions are almost not humanly doings yet they can't find other way but these. The very difficult fact to accept is that even the innocent children whose capabilities are weak are forced to work just to sustain their hunger. At their very young age, they are the most victimized by poverty.
Instead of enjoying their rights to be educated and play with other children, here they are, working forcely, expose to pollution, prone to different diseases, and become addict of drugs. Despite all of these I still admire them for being strong and so hopeful even in hopeless situations.
Poverty always exists and always been a problem since we dont execute solutions to solve it or just to lessen the number of people who suffer from it. Since then it's a problem of yesterday, today, and tomorrow and we cannot escape the fact that even the next of our next generation would still experience the same way like today's people experience. But in order to help the less fortunate people escape from poverty, the government must take the lead in providing solutions. But in the case of our situation, the government is also part of the problem. Instead of being the vital agent to lead the steps in terminating poverty in our country, the government just enjoy the wealth of the economy without the will to help the poor filipinos. If we are just united and willing to help our fellow filipinos, with the grace of God, we can survive from poverty. Let us be part of the solution rather than be part of the problem.
The documentary is just a tool to remind us, open up our minds and awaken our social conciousness to the problems our country is facing right now. The purpose of this documentary is to show the problems and encourage people to care and be aware on the social and economic problems. I sallute the i witness team for delivering us an inspirational documentary that made us realize the social and economic problems which need social and economic solutions.