Curtain Call: Yellow Fellows, All
Published on: 31st May, 2010
By Millie L. Kilayko
We started the website www.negrosfornoy-mar.com as we began to kick-off our campaign for Noy and Mar. The site became available online for the world to see just after we finished up our celebration of Noynoy’s birthday on February 8 and opened up the Heroes’ Headquarters – Negros Occidental’s first Noy-Mar Volunteer Center. Today, after finishing up our celebration of Mar’s May 13 birthday, we prepare this website to say good-bye. Good night, actually, because we will still be online until February next year so you may continue to view our Noy-Mar campaign history, but it will cease to be interactive.
In the past three months of our common cause to bring Noy and Mar to the nation’s two highest posts in our quest for a nation with a new moral order, we have made new friends, reconnected with old ones, and recharged with our everyday friends. I’d like to think (and we will work at making sure it will be so) that disconnections with old friends because we wore different colors these past three months, were all temporary.
I started writing this piece with names of people who have began to bore an imprint in my mind – not because they have worked harder for Noy and Mar than everyone else – but because, simply, their stories just keep coming back into my mind. Then I erased all of them because I decided I should be fair, and that, if I could not write everyone’s names, I shouldn’t even write one name at all. But now I have decided to write them in back again because this is my piece, it is from my heart, and what the heck…I’m entitled to speak from my heart. It’s been a three month-long exercise of “trying to be fair to everyone, trying to give equal credit to all, trying to give balanced mileage to each group” and today, as we have closed the doors of the Heroes Headquarters…I will speak as myself and not as someone who sits from the Volunteers’ Desk.
Don’t get me wrong…I would still like to give credit to thousands and thousands who sweated it out for Noy and Mar in countless ways, and I take my hats off to all of them – those I have seen and those I haven’t. After all, we Negrenses gave Noynoy 644,574 votes and Mar, our Kasimanwa, 706,897 votes. Each person who worked towards getting those votes for them, protected their votes and writing their names is equally important.
But in this final piece, I allow myself the privilege of asking a few people who have become special to me…to take a bow. Here goes…
1. Joy Jarabelo from the Federation of Urban Poor. Joy has been both an inspiring General and a good soldier. To effectively be both requires special leadership skills, humility, dedication and commitment, and Joy truly has shown all of these.
2. Pili Mendezona. No one invited Pili to volunteer. She just came up one day to volunteer herself, has performed tasks from decorating stage, to organizing the Pollwatchers’ training, to organizing the ARBB Bacolod City Command Center, to leading troops whenever and wherever it was called for. She was always there to do what had to be done, and to do these well.
3. Paulo Torreblanca. He is a youth leader and a volunteer center operator from Hinigaran. When we were planning the visit of Kris Aquino, we told organizers of each stop to stand close to Kris if they wanted to be introduced to her. I was beside Paulo when Kris came to them and motioned to him to go near her for photo-op. He refused. He was with his group of volunteers and he did not want to have any special recognition at a time when he could not bring in the rest who, like him, were busy with crowd control.
4. Mayor Bebot Mirasol. No one asked him to do so, he just came up and took the challenge of being the first local government executive of Negros Occ. to stand up for Noy and Mar. But when Noynoy and Mar came on their last visit to Bacolod as candidates, while so many people were fighting for an opportunity to be seen with them, he never sought special treatment. In fact, some of us had to literally push him up the stage as he humbly stood on the Plaza grounds near the backstage.
5. Delia Celeste. From the sweat of her brow, Delia literally combed the mountains of San Carlos to bring the cause of Noy and Mar. She turned her little dress shop into San Carlos’ Volunteer Center and, despite meager resources, was able to efficiently manage volunteer activities and establish a crew to guard the ballots of Noy and Mar even at the most remote locations of San Carlos.
6. Nana Yulo. She is quite a hefty woman, and by her own narration, is a walking time bomb. Moving around is a great effort for her, and stair climbing gives her most excruciating pain. But when all ground floor rooms were full and we needed her for a meeting on the second floor, she climbed our challenging spiral staircase up and down. “All for Noy and Mar,” she panted after her agonizing efforts.
7. Cicero Borromeo. We fondly call him “Borro” and every single day these past three months, he would drive his vehicle with a “trompa” airing out meaningful music, Noy and Mar ads and his nuggets of wisdom. At times we would request him to visit specific locations, at times he would go on his own. With or without our knowledge, Borro would always be there to serve the cause.
8. The Mansilingan Gang. (Alyne Batano, Loreda Segovia, Nerissa Diwaatin, Juliet Caluza, Joyce Viva, John Abner Sumugat, Toni Ben Salazar, Greg Tiangson and Albert de los Santos) This group of friends started off marking their street with Noy and Mar posters as well as yellow and blue flags. Then they began to convince their neighbors to do the same. Within a month, the whole street was convinced – at heart, as well as in a visible display of commitment. They eventually opened a Volunteer Center and also became a team that the Heroes HQ could rely on to accomplish any task given them
9. Alaina Oximer. This young lady has been able to organize her troops, inspire them and drive them to efficiently campaign for Noy and Mar all the way from the shoreline to the mountains, join activities for them no matter how far they were from their hometown of EB Magalona, and guard their ballots to the last drop.
10. The Jacinto Family. From the lolo and lola to the apos, we could count on them! Tito Teng put in his professional crew to set-up the Prayer Room, Tita Nelia made sure all the Prayer Room activities were in place, Trish, Nining and Dang did voters education and harnessed volunteers whenever they were needed (including bringing in a crew of almost 50 pax for our ARBB Command Center), and the grandkids gave us the arms and legs that we needed to complete many tasks. We also enjoyed food provided by this family, and Noynoy rode their SUV during a visit.
11. Meling Rodriguez and her family. You only needed to whisper about a need within an earshot of Meling, and you get it! When someone said it would be good if our HQ façade was yellow, it was Meling who bought the gallons of paint. When we needed a computer, Meling bought a brand new one. When we needed an airconditioner, she bought two! She fed us weekly, and most of all she gave her three generations of family as our volunteers, too.
12. Milette Regalado. Meling’s granddaughter Milette deserves special mention. As the Heroes HQ volunteer Chief of Staff, Milette was thoroughly efficient at her tasks, and left no stone unturned when she had to complete them. Her dedication and commitment is priceless. When I would text her at 2 am she would respond, three hours later at 5 am she would respond as well. She “survived” me even when I would turn mean during periods of stress, she “survived” the hours of backbreaking work. She performed her tasks because of her commitment to the country, and let nothing get in the way of that vision and mission.
13. Tima Lacson. Whenever no one else could feed us, Tima would (aside from her weekly sked). She also did me the favor of doing countless tasks when I couldn’t find anyone else to do them, she was the Ways and Means Committee of one when there was no one else to turn to.
14. Jimmy “Untoy” Mabida. A vendor, Untoy would come often to the Heroes HQ to give anything from P20 – P50, as lay-away payment for anything from a Noynoy cap, to a shirt or a headgear. With quiet dignity, he insisted on paying for these, as part of his commitment to Noy and Mar. He was a true inspiration to many of us.
15. Elena “Gamay” Escano. Gamay was also an inspiration. She bought a yellow t-shirt saying “I will never ask Noynoy for anything because I do not want him to spend money and be indebted to people.” About 15 minutes after she left the HQ, Gamay was back in the same taxi, with the meter still ticking. She returned because she discovered that her companion picked up a baller and did not pay the P5 for it. “I have to return to pay for it,” she said, “because change begins with me. This is what Noy and Mar represent, and that change begins with me. Even with P5, we have to be honest.”
16. Omon Maravilla. He said the same thing: “Change begins with me.” Omon was in charge of the E.B. Magalona ARBB Command Center, and as such, received the cash budget to operate it. However, Omon also tried to seek other resources to help him out – talking to friends who could help donate food for the pollwatchers. He also inspired his crew about the spirit of volunteerism so there were no demands for bigger allowances in spite of longer voting hours. After the polls closed, Omon was back with a detailed accounting report, and turned over unused funds of over P20,000.
17. Marian Hojilla and her Merchandise Team. From a dusty location in Sagay to the marketplace of Binalbagan, the Merchandise Team efficiently sold Yellow Merchandise and donated a hefty amount of profit to the campaign funds. The team also gave their services to many other tasks – preparing pollwatchers kits and reviewing Election Returns.
18. The Farmworkers of Hacienda Bagacay. With motivation from their boss Tita Betty Montinola, these farm workers dropped coins and bills into two receptacles every payday, and turned over to all enough funds to provide for the food and transportation of poll watchers of several precincts. Their cash turnover launched our “Adopt-a-Precinct” drive.
19. Eli Tajanlangit and his Communications Team. When Eli accepted the challenge of handling Media and Communications, it took not only a big load off my shoulders, it brought in a fresh wave of innovation into the Noy and Mar campaign in the province. I’m pretty proud of our interactive website for one, and Eli is the moving force behind it. Without the traditional use of canned ads and other tired strategies, I can say we were able to subliminally deliver the message of Noy and Mar efficiently under Eli’s baton. (What these were, I shouldn’t tell, right?)
20. Bitay Lacson. Many of us volunteers were physically battered, but no one perhaps, was as verbally battered and maligned here in Negros Occidental as Bitay. That’s the price to pay for being in politics, I know, but for someone who has said that he is not interested in a prize in the new administration, he’s paid quite a hefty price!
I really wish to name more than 20, but I should stop somewhere. Perhaps I will gain more enemies than friends for picking out a small set of 20.There really are more than just 20 sets of people that I have personally counted on, and who have inspired me these past three months. We have had donors, prayer warriors, volunteers and staff who have been instrumental to bringing in the votes for Noy and Mar. But as I said, it’s been quite a long three months of giving best effort to balancing credit, so I am taking a little day-off today from the balancing task, to name the ones above.
As we close, I end with those who deserve the best and the biggest credit:
To Noynoy and Mar – the tandem we believe in, the tandem who can best bring a new moral order in the nation’s governance. Without the two of them, the inspiration that they give us, the hope that they represent, and the commitment that we see from them, we wouldn’t have even worked at all.
And most of all, to GOD who deserves all the glory. Every single day in these past three months, I have seen Him at work, as busy as the rest of us, answering every prayer and responding to every need.
Thank you Lord, thank you Noy and Mar. And thank you all.
PS: I just received a text from someone who, after reading this reminded me to acknowledge someone so and so, to recognize all the volunteer center operators, to name major donors etc. etc. I am asked to list a next 20 names etc. Early in this piece I have said that it is impossible to name everyone, and no one’s contribution is less than anybody else’s. This piece is personal to me, these are the people whose stories wake me at night or put me to rest when I get restless. This is not an official thank you statement. Love me or hate me, this is my story. The Heroes HQ doors have closed, and I write this from my home. As I write, I wear a printed blouse of all colors not a yellow shirt thus what I write is… for the nth time… only my story.