Teamwork and Cooperation Round Two

The following article, as the title implies, is another effort at teamwork, cooperation and goal setting. It was published in the Catanduanes Tribune about mid-March this year. The goal is to install as many water pumps in as many villages on the island so we can have clean, safe and healthy water for drinking and other uses.

The Honorable Councilor of Virac Giovanni Balmadrid and his group spearheaded the project. The Global Catandunganon looks at this effort as a long range goal that will benefit all. So please read on.

Teamwork and Cooperation Round Two!

We had our first Teamwork and Cooperation fund drive a while back. We helped raise some money to help out with Catanduanes Tribune’s predicament of not having a laptop good enough to allow them to publish the online edition of the paper on time. That effort was a success. We had many donors and again we thank everyone who participated in that fund drive. The Catanduanes Tribune continues to provide top notch public service. It deserves support from every reader who has benefited from it and has free access to it.

That effort was also a big lesson in Teamwork or simply working together to ‘kick butt’ on a common goal that will benefit many. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes Teamwork and Cooperaion Round Two!!

The group we are going to help at this time is led by the Honorable Councilor-elect Giovanni Balmadrid or just Bani to family and friends. Our goal: To further help install as many water pumps for clean drinking water in as many locations as our Teamwork would allow!!

The villages of Hicming, Santa Elena, Rawis and Palnab are the first few villages that have benefited from the early efforts of this great Teamwork. These villages now ‘harvest’ the outcome of a noble and commendable humanitarian Teamwork effort. Thanks to Bani and his hardworking , hard charging and caring group.

The following is the accounting involved per project per site location:

Jetmatic Pump P1750.00 ea

GI Pipe (1 ¼”) ,2 to 2 ½ pcs P850.00 ea

Bag of Portland Cement, 2 per site P170.00 ea

Meals for 2 days for volunteer workers to complete ONE PUMP INSTALLATION P1500.00

The total comes up to roughly P5290.00. As the accounting shows , labor is not included since it is provided free by volunteers. Gravel and sand is not included.

Transparency : All donations, unless donors desire to be anonymous, will be published by the CT as they are received. Donations may be sent to Mr. Fernan Gianan and/or Mr. Giovanni Balmadrid addressed to : Catanduanes Tribune, Rawis, Virac, Catanduanes, Philippines 5001. Tel. # (052) 811-1267 or (052) 811-2640, Fax # (052) 811-1267. An accounting of expenses backed with purchase receipts, as projects are constructed, will be made available to anyone who wants to see them. Once every quarter , from the time that donations are received, a similar accounting of expenses will be published online .

So…I pledge the first $200.00 which will install two pumps in two separate sites! I don’t know about you but….. I will be a happy dude when I see the first pictures of little children, frolicking in abundant water and old folks and all, lining up to get fresh , clean and healthy water from ‘my’ pumps!!! Our pumps!

I have a donor who pledged $500.00!! God Bless him for his generosity! He wants to remain anonymous.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, here is another opportunity for all to be a part of a great Team effort! A challenge turned into an opportunity. An opportunity to shine! An opportunity to show how people with similar objectives can get fired up , team up and achieve something worthwhile for our people . This will also move everyone forward another ‘notch’. This is one small step forward towards a better quality of life for many. Nevertheless, it is one of the many efforts that we will tackle which when put together will put us a few notches higher in our quest for the best quality of life there is to achieve. And that time is going to come.

So , I thank you , you who will throw your weight in and be counted. You do not have to pledge to cover one whole pump site. One could pay for one pipe, one bag of cement, a few pesos to help with the meals. This is a teamwork effort where one small help becomes part of the big objective.

Lastly, I thank the Great Maker for putting us all together. He alone can make the biggest difference. We provide the labor, sweat and tears. Everyone harvests the smiles, gratitude and goodwill.

Joe Joson

GC, California

Additional Weblog

I have created a new weblog at www.catanduaneseconomy.blogspot.com. I will still be making contributions to the GC Weblog of course. Setting up a different weblog for the economy is good. It will be devoted on nothing but this one area of our efforts.

EagleEyes

Why The Economy

Our island and for that matter, the whole nation has thousands of challenges that burden all of us. From a very poor economy to corruption, from lack of medical services to widespread hunger, from natural disasters to man-made disasters... you name it, we have it.

Our national and provincial leaders are unable to lift us out of this quagmire. This quagmire has gotten worse over the years. And this has been going on for a very, very long time. While our Asian neighbors prospered, we in the Philippines lagged behind. As one takes a closer look at our economic, political and social situations, it looks like we have got a longer journey to take to even come close to what you and I will consider as progress if we ever achieve any decent amount of progress.

A lot of our leaders have become indifferent to our needs. The old problems persist. Corruption is at its worst. Mismanagement is king. Thieves in many areas are not brought to accountability. Our national debt is so big we are using more than 70% of our national income to pay for the interest on it. A lot of the government owned, government run and managed institutions are bankrupt and eating up your tax money. So unless we have a huge influx of money coming from somewhere to keep as afloat and eventuallly revive our dead economy , indeed we have got a long wait , ladies and gentlemen. The year 2004 showed a 'growth' of our economy that was pegged at more than 6%. How soon will we 'feel' the benefits of this growth if it is real? Not for a long long while. As mentioned above , what little gains we make will be eaten up by a lot of things. The bankrupt institutions, the outstanding loans that eat up a lot of money, then the politicians who eat up tax money through the pork barrel.... all this will make it very hard for us to recover economically.

All is not lost though. As gloomy as everything seems to be, there is still hope for us. It will take you, me , our neighbors, our sisters and brothers, everyone to start turning the tides, that is, the economic tide of our small island. Why the economy? The answer is simple. With an improved economy, most of our ills in society, most of the corruption, most of the hunger will be turned around slowly. This ladies and gentlemen is a huge challenge but it is not impossible . You and I need to take things into our hands and can no longer afford to be just onlookers.

It takes a small rudder to turn a huge ship around. We will try to utilize this concept to do the 'impossible'. By teaming up, Catandunganons who are sick and tired of looking at poverty, can home in on methods, procedures , tools that will slowly, eventually turn the tide in our favor.

Please go to www.catanduaneseconomy.blogspot.com for more information on this issue.
For first time readers please read from the old articles to the present. We will continue to add articles from this end and from readers' responses and suggestions.