Reflection paper on exposure (Mapulang Lupa, Valenzuela City).
Although my classmates and I were thoroughly oriented on the things that I will see and we have to face and deal with, I was still stunned on what I saw. What I was expecting was somehow better that what I really saw since people call it Valenzuela "City" and when we reached the urban poor area, I asked myself "is this real face of Philippines?".
Nanay Mita was our host family, when we reach their house, she just woke up like she never got worried on what will they have on lunch and dinner. Then I got more stunned when I completely observed the surroundings. But Nanay Mita was nice. At first, I thought we have to deal with rude people or people who've been depressed for a couple of months or even years because of job lay off or financial problems.
We were able to gather some personal data, she was open and she was not ashamed of the reality that she deals with day by day. But since she never really finished schooling, plus the attitude of "rudeness" "arrogance" and "carefree" that was caused by the surroundings shows, we only collected some of her opinions towards the political, social, economical, and cultural aspects of the country in order not to insult Nanay Mita.
"Kung may pera lang ako, magpapatayo ako ng sarili kong sari-sari store, at papa-aralin ko ang mga anak ko" those are the wishes of Nanay Mita, a widow who currently has 5 daughters, and formerly working in Bataan and Laguna as a house maid.
I remember during the open forum of the contractualization, my classmate asked the speaker where are those government officials and what do those people do to serve the poor on the picture that are hanged on the walls. She raised her shoulders and answered "wala-.
For me, the main cause of the problem is the government officials. Some do listen to what the poor needs and they had provided them, but most are corrupt, just like what was thought during the class; most government officials own big time companies, or big time bosses are their "kumpare" in addition to the hospitality attitude of the Filipinos, the rich and powerful people gets richer.
