TO MOVE IS TO LIVE

By Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM

“Mapagpalang araw po, siya po yong nabiyayaan ng bike dito po sa Phase 2, Purok 12. Asawa po siya ng isang PWD na bedridden. Isa po siyang guard kaya nagpapasalamat po siya sa ating mga donors. Napakalaking tulong po ito sa kanyang pagpasok sa trabaho. Maraming salamat daw po sa napakalaking tulong dahil nung mga panahon na walang masakyan naglalakad daw po siya para lang makapasok. Isang oras kalahati daw po galing Urban – Payatas to SM Fairview. Ngayon po sa NIA Road na po siya na-assign. Kaya ginhawa na po dahil sa bike ngayon po 45 minutes na lang.”

(A blessed day. He was the lucky guy who received a bike from Phase 2, Purok 12. His wife is a person with disability and is bedridden. He would like to thank the donors. He is a security guard, and his bike is a big help for him to go to work. When no public transport was available, he need to walk to his job - an hour and a half to SM Fairview. Now, he is moved to NIA Road; it will only take 45 minutes with the bike.)

These are words of thanks sent by a BEC leader on her member's joy to get a bike for work. He doesn’t have to walk anymore. He is working as security guard. Another one works as scavenger in the dumpsite in San Mateo. It was an hour walk each day to work, another hour coming back. Another man is a security guard in Quezon City. Another a construction worker, baker, delivery boy, janitor, etc. There were 100 of them who received a bike that Sunday.

COVID-19 debilitates people. Harsh government policies expressed in the now famous words reinforce immobility: “stay at home”, “quarantine”, “lockdown”, “work from home”. For people in Payatas, 90% of whom do not have private transport, these words mean hunger and death. Even when work is relatively permitted, non-availability of public transport like jeepneys or buses amounts to the same – no work, thus, hunger for their families.

Someone said: “To me, if life boils down to one thing, it is movement. To live is to keep moving” (Jerry Seinfeld).

So, a bike, something as simple as a used bike, allows one to move, to work, thus, for his family, to live. During the lockdown, this church was filled with sacks of rice. Today, it is filled with bikes. The church is not just for “holy” things; it is for anything that promotes life. Anything the fosters life is in fact holy. 

While the men received the bikes, their wives, the mothers, were there watching in joy. The women BEC leaders were the ones who looked for these men who need these bikes the most. These mothers know that these bikes mean life.

Ina ng Lupang Pangako Parish is grateful for Gretchen Ho for her “Donate a Bike, Save a Job” project. I talked to her before the program, and she said that it is her way of giving back to Payatas. "Batang Payatas po ako," she declares. When she was still studying at the  Ateneo de Manila, her weekends were spent in immersion program in Payatas. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/.../donate-a-bike-save-a-job...

The main donor was Karen Davila; it was her birthday that day and she wanted to celebrate it by joining Gretchen in her advocacy. The Lord, Gretchen told me, inspires her to share more. She wanted to only share 50 bikes at first. But now she has already shared almost a thousand, and more donors are coming in. She feels for people who lost their jobs. It takes one to know one.

Salamat Gretchen and Karen for your generosity! Thanks Elmer Chavez for facilitating this activity.

Padayon.



Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, C.M.
St. Vincent School of Theology
Adamson University
danielfranklinpilario@yahoo.com
11.20.2020