• A.V. DEL CARMEN
The KASAMA-KA Federation, or the Katilingban sang Magagmay nga Mangingisda, Kababainhan kag Iban nga Sektor sang Cauayan, is celebrating its 25th anniversary on Monday, Nov. 27.
The Federation was organized in 1998 – with Roy Santiago as pioneering chairman – through the efforts of the BALAYAN Social Development Center of the University of St. La Salle. It is the longest-running civic engagement and community extension partnership of the university.
The anniversary program will be held at the Barangay Guiljungan Covered Court at 9 a. m. and will be highlighted by an afternoon raffle draw and the lighting of candles as a symbol of the officers and members’ renewal of commitment.
Benedick Balderrama, national coordinator of the Ateneo de Manila-based Philippines Support Service Agency, will lead speakers in the Silver Anniversary program.
Messages will also be given by Cauayan Mayor John Rey Tabujara and BALAYAN’s Teresita Barcoma and Ann Gladys Ponteras, current and past directors, respectively, and Dexter Ian Tabujara, federation consultant.
Gregorio Oliverio and Marissa Cabutan, federation chair and vice chair, will give the words of welcome and closing remarks, respectively.
Tabujara said BALAYAN volunteers, both past and present, USLS officials and administrators, led by Dr. Jose Teody Cabantug, director of the university’s Human Resource Development Services and former corporate solutions manager for East Africa in the United Nations, and Dr. Roseller Bejermino, dean of Student Affairs of the Basic Education Unit, as well as faculty and staff will attend the commemorative rites.
Also expected are multisectoral representatives from all over Negros, especially those with engagements with KASAMA-KA.
Ponteras recalled that the federation was preceded by the Inter-Barangay Coordinating Council composed of fisherfolk organizations in the Talangnan-Isio, Tuyom and Masaling areas.
Ponteras is currently a senior administrative assistant for student activities under the Office for Student Affairs.
While the council was loosely-formed, it still met the BALAYAN requirement for its engagement, Ponteras said, adding that the group eventually expanded to become the KASAMA-KA.
Overall, she further said, the goal was to empower them to become self-reliant. Thus, BALAYAN conducted various forms of training for organizational and member development as it also mobilized efforts to secure livelihood and other program fund support for the federation.
What led USLS to extend its community engagement in Cauayan?
Findings of studies conducted by the USLS Institute of Social Research and Development, then under Dr. Violeta Gonzaga, showed that fisherfolk in Negros were the poorest and most neglected sector and the best way to address the gap was to empower their community.
Cauayan was chosen, as the site of the empowerment program, said Tabujara, a native of the southern town, as it has the longest coastline in the province – about 55 kms. from the northernmost Barangay Mambugsay to Elihan in the south.
The openness of the fisherfolk to the USLS community engagement, was also important, Tabujara said.
Thus, the fisherfolk empowerment program took off, under the guidance of then BALAYAN Director Cesar Villanueva. Among the initial supporters was the Canada-based Camosun College.
While recounting fond memories of the beginnings of the federation, Oliverio reiterated that KASAMA-KA was founded to consolidate efforts to strengthen livelihood capabilities of fisherfolk, women and their families and, eventually, of other marginalized sectors.
Part of the sustained efforts to attain empowerment goal, the federation leader said, are the leadership, skills and other development training programs conducted regularly to upgrade members’ knowledge, along with their awareness of their rights and responsibilities to the community and the environment.
Oliviero considers the accreditation granted by the local government unit in 2001 as vital to organizational operations and activities.
He added that the accreditation is a recognition of the federation’s role as a community development advocate.
Our programs and activities are grounded in what BALAYAN has been espousing – the Ridge-to-Reef Approach, Oliverio said, as he reiterated “the commitment to help conserve, protect and rehabilitate the ecosystem, from the mountains down to the hills, plains and the depths of the sea.”
Activities include the periodic coastal clean-ups conducted in various barangays.
Oliverio said KASAMA-KA is looking forward to the inclusion next year of sectoral groups in Isio, the biggest barangay in Cauayan, and Linaon.
We are also moving toward the creation of the Disaster Reduction Management Committee among our member-organizations and sustaining our barangay support programs on environmental conservation, coastal cleanup as well as mangrove and tree-planting activities, he said.
Activities lined up for 2024, he disclosed, are the strengthening of the fish-lumpia livelihood project and also the training on project proposal making.
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Among those who recounted the growth of the organization was Rene Geroche, chairman of PAMATU, or Paghiliusa sang Magagmay nga Mangingisda sang Tuyom, and member, Josephine Garriega.
We will always remember the challenges we encountered and what we learned from them as well as the successes we gained, Geroche said as he recounted the funding and other forms of support his group received from BALAYAN.
Garriega expressed thanks for the reconstruction materials and food packs that USLS gave after Typhoon Odette destroyed homes in December 2021. “We will always remember your help,” Garriega said.
And as a testimonial to the trailblazing role KASAMA-KA had taken, Walter Ayon, president of the Sustainable Livelihood Program Sang Magagmay Nga Mananagat Sang Bacolod, said “We are looking forward to collaborate with you and learn more from your experiences” as he expressed the “hope for more fruitful years ahead for the federation.”
On his part as BALAYAN’s consultant for KASAMA-KA, Tabujara said, “It is a great breakthrough that you have reached this far in building empowered and sustainable communities. Our engagement with you have changed over time from direct engagement, and preparation for phase out and, up to now, as consultant. Regardless of the engagement, we in USLS BALAYAN always support the programs, projects and activities to the sectors it commits to serve.”
In keeping with the charism of St. John Baptist de La Salle, he further said, “we remain steadfast to support the lost, the least and the last.”
As KASAMA-KA faces the challenges ahead in the next 25 years, Oliverio appealed to partner organizations for continued support and encouragement.
The federation leader also called on members to be always hopeful, looking at the silver lining in their daily lives and “to keep the spark afire in our tasks so that we can reach more milestones that we want to attain.” – AVDC
