Boyet Bantigui, a KALAHI CIDSS volunteer, discusses one of their agenda during the volunteers meeting last April 2014 in Bitano, Legazpi City together with a community facilitator, a DSWD-hired field worker (in blue).

“Nakakatabang ka na, nakakaukod ka pa [you help and you learn].”

For more than a year of being a volunteer, that’s how Salvador “Jun” Taopo described his experience in doing community works under Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI CIDSS), one of the poverty-reduction projects of DSWD.

Jun is only one of the 40 elected community volunteers in Bitano, Legazpi City who helped in the construction of their community development center and organized a group of dressmakers to address the problem of unemployment as the key problem in the village.

His engagement with the project entailed hours spent on trainings, seminars, meetings and monitoring activities. As the head of the other volunteers, he manages and leads in the implementation of their community sub-project.

Volunteers get vast opportunities in the project wherein ordinary citizens directly participate in community development together with their local governments.

However, they are not paid for their works in the village but there are many reasons why ordinary people engage as volunteers in the said project. The urgency to help out and address the priorities of the poor people in their neighborhood becomes the top reason why many join in volunteering work.

Based on the real-life accounts of KALAHI CIDSS volunteers in Bitano, here are the recommended qualities of a great volunteer fulfilling their duties with the government:

Selfless. Lorie Aragon is an altruist. She said that onset of the project, most of their neighbors were antagonistic about it. However, she ignored negative feedbacks and continued with her volunteering because she loves to help her community.

Despite of the wrong impressions of others like they would get nothing from volunteering, Lorie kept her composure.

“Di bale wala kaming sweldo basta makita lang namin ang building. Masaya na kami kasi alam namin na darating ang panahon na ang anak namin, anak nila, ayaw man nila sa KALAHI CIDSS noon, sila ang makikinabang ng proyekto [We do not mind if we’re not paid for so long as we see the building erected. We [volunteers] are happy because we know that the time will come that our children, their children of the people loathing KALAHI CIDSS, are beneficiaries after all],” she answered.

Willing to learn. Regardless of age, gender and status in life, the eagerness to accept new learning along the process of implementation of the project makes a great volunteer. Jun appreciated the time he spent during the trainings and seminars from KALAHI CIDSS.

“Magayon maging volunteer ta nakakaukod. Maski kulang inadalan mo, sa diit na oras ning pagseminar, nadagdagan ang kaaraman mo [It’s great to be a volunteer because you learn a lot. Your knowledge increases even though you were unschooled before],” he said.

According to him, he will share his knowledge to others.

On the other hand, Cleofe Moyo and Lisa Barcelon shared that they became informed of project management that was never thought in school.

Moreover, KALAHI CIDSS trains volunteers on community finance, procurement, and operations and maintenance to ensure that the project is implemented according to the given standards.

Sensitive to the needs of others. Cleofe also said that in order for you to become a volunteer, you should know the needs of the community and promote the common good for everyone despite of personal sacrifices. A volunteer should readily listen to become aware of the issues confronting the people. She accepted feedbacks with an open mind and disregarded biases.

“Naadalan mi kung pano maidentify su mga kaipuhan asin problema sa digdi sa samung barangay para matawan mi ning solusyon [We learned how to identify our needs and provide solutions for problems],” she said.

Cleofe with other volunteers underwent community research in Bitano through Participatory Situation Analysis (PSA). The process of PSA in KALAHI CIDSS extensively analyses and describes the current situation and problems of the community with corresponding interventions.

Optimistic. Volunteers must have positive outlook in life for them to persist and accomplish their tasks. It’s normal to encounter difficult circumstances like disapproval from non-believers of government programs.

Like Lorie, Lisa also thrived despite of some condemning people. She only wanted to bring back the trust of her colleagues to the government through KALAHI CIDSS by encouraging them to participate.

“Maski mapagalon magenganyar ki tawo, nagtubod kami sa kakayanin ming volunteers na mapakiray ang barangay mi [Despite of the difficulty to engage other people, we believed in our capacity as volunteers],” she explained.

Responsible and dependable. As one of the prime-movers of the project in the barangay, Teresita Alcantara accepted the responsibilities of a volunteer with her maximum effort to deliver what is expected of her. She said that she does her duties with a smile despite of the inevitable hardships they encounter.

Before barangay assemblies, she makes sure to notify everyone in the village of the scheduled meeting. Meetings are very important and considered as the highest decision-making body in KALAHI CIDSS so that’s why Teresita is eager to

“Naghikayat ako sa mga tawo samo na mag atendir ki assembly para maaraman ninda kung ano ang mga updates sa KALAHI CIDSS [I appealed that the people should attend the community assembly to keep them informed of the updates from KALAHI CIDSS],” she said.

Goal-oriented. In every endeavor comes with an objective to fulfill. So as the volunteers of KALAHI CIDSS. Through them, the three major aims of the project namely: empowering ordinary citizens, improving local governance and reducing poverty are achieved.

Boyet Bantigui could affirm that they were able to attain these goals through teamwork and vigor. He personally claimed that the result of their project in Bitano was very successful.

“Nagkaburugkos su mga tawong tios para maisulong ang pagkakabpit-bisig laban sa kapobrehan [We became united to advance the cause to reduce poverty],” he said.

Acording to him, the poor hoped and moved together to help each other. He emphasized that even without getting paid, the volunteers gave their full commitment and service to the villagers of Bitano.

With the promise of the project to solve the issue of poverty, Boyet and the other volunteers influenced each other to join the government.

“Uminabot na su pangako na tigtuga ning KALAHI CIDSS. Dahil sa pag-asa, nakatabang kami sa kapwa ming pobre [The promise of KALAHI CIDSS came true. Because of our hope, we were able to help our fellow poor],”he added.

Jun, Cleofe, Lorie, Teresita, Lisa and Boyet are the key people who realized the vision of an improved quality of life in Bitano. The people who possessed the qualities of great volunteers paired with leadership. They are the group of people who have given out unrequited service to their community with the commitment to embody the interest of the majority.

The priceless rewards these volunteers have are the appreciation, recognition of their sacrifices and gratitude from the people they serve.

Boyet said that: “Bako gabos na kaogmahan makukua sa material na bagay. Su makapagserbi ka sa tawo asin nailing sinda na nagpapasalamat sa mga volunteers, dakolaon na po yan na regalo samuya [Happiness is not always gained from material things. I’m satisfied to help the people and even more to hear them thank us].”