BY MANILA BULLETIN
The Filipino bayanihan spirit once again was a spontaneous response to help neighbors and strangers during and after the rains and floods brought by the super typhoon and monsoon rains last Wednesday.
Help came from all sectors. First responders, many of them volunteers, risked their lives to save people caught by the fast-rising floodwaters. Private groups, one of them under the Christ Commission Fellowship gathered members and friends with vehicles that could drive through deep floods and brought relief goods to flooded communities.
Volunteers working with non-government organizations (NGOs) immediately activated response operations, delivering thousands of food packs to flood victims. Many restaurant owners in Marikina, which was severely affected by the floods, distributed food bowls to families displaced by the water from the Marikina River.
At the first hours of the heavy downpour, almost a thousand volunteers trooped to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City to help prepare family food packs (FFPs) for disaster-affected persons.
Photos and videos of strangers helping strangers while the rains pounded the National Capital Region and neighboring provinces dominated social and traditional media, drawing more volunteers out of the comfort and safety of their homes to help government agencies and NGOs bring aid to the victims of the floods.
Always, in the midst of a natural disaster, goodness and kindness immediately flowed to help neighbors and strangers. In our culture, that is known as the bayanihan spirit, the spontaneous gestures to help someone caught in a bad situation. That is a Filipino trait that we are all most proud of, and during the recent onslaught of rains and floods, it was there!
Generally, and in other parts of the world, bayanihan is displayed as volunteerism, where most people engage in organized work to help communities. Others volunteer their time and skills without joining a group, like tutoring students lagging behind in class, or teaching craft-making to informal settlers.
Volunteerism has also been recognized to help development work. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program, founded in 1970, is an organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
We have the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA), an attached agency under the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to “promote and coordinate volunteer programs and services in the country to maximize the benefits that may be derived from volunteer assistance.”
“The most difficult times bring out the best in us. It is the bayanihan spirit that binds us and defines our distinct character as Filipinos,” said Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, commending disaster responders and the media who pushed through with their duties even as floodwaters rose. The senator has experience working with disaster risk reduction and management as former chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Not many know that volunteer work has health benefits. Research studies conducted at the University of British Columbia Vancouver found a connection between volunteering and more positive emotions, less loneliness and more social support. And it’s not just older adults who benefit, “there are indications that volunteering helps high school students too.”
Another study said that “compared with people who never volunteered - the odds of being ‘very happy’ rose by seven percent among those who volunteer monthly, and by 12 percent among those who volunteer every two to four weeks,” a UNV post said.
With the bayanihan spirit running thick in the blood of the Filipino, that must be one of the reasons why we are seen as a happy people.
Keep on with the good work, volunteers!
