For Love of His Adopted Province

For Love of His Adopted Province

By: Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT WAS supposed to be just a three-month stint in 1989 to help set up a relief and rehabilitation program for the devastated typhoon victims of the Calbayog, Gandara and San Jorge municipalities in Samar.

When it was over, Leo Dionisio Hilado Jr. of Jaro, Iloilo went to Cebu for three years and thought he had seen the last of poverty-stricken Samar. He was wrong.

Instead, Hilado found himself in the middle of an ongoing affair with the Eastern Visayan province that has lasted all of 12 years.

This agriculture graduate from Central Philippines University was just a 28-year-old program officer of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) when he first set foot in Samar.

"I was then based in Luzon and handled projects in Bicol, Central Luzon and Northern Luzon. Then I was asked to go down here because of the need for social action," says Hilado, 43.

Initially, it was just to help feed the flood victims. Later, he was asked to go back because of a series of calamities including the red tide scare that displaced many fisherfolk.

Maqueda Bay

The far-reaching effects of the algae-bred malaise eventually led to the development of a program to save Samar's Maqueda Bay, which supports 14 of the 25 municipalities comprising Samar.

Maqueda Bay was the main coastal resource of the province, but its resources were severely depleted due to indiscriminate and rampant fishing.

In 1979, the fish catch was recorded at 78,203 metric tons, just enough to support a population of 100,704 households. By 1991, it had dwindled to only about 33,600 metric tons.

Other ecological threats included dynamite fishing, illegal trawling, siltation from forest denudation, conversion of mangrove areas to either fishponds or settlement areas and uncontrolled pollution.

When he was asked to head the long-term Samar Resource Management Program, Hilado realized that he would have to get used to living in the province.

"It was a signal for me to stay and seriously think about ways to help," he says of the program aimed at addressing the socio-economic and ecological concerns of some 2,700 fishing and farming households.

Hilado could still remember the first time that he saw the province. "There was so much challenge. I developed a love affair with Samar because I saw these vast tracts of land and thought that there was so much that could be done to help the people. I have been to other places and they were more prosperous. I thought I could help do the same for Samar," Hilado says.

It was not exactly hard to convince him to stay behind because he has always had a soft heart for rural development work although he actually grew up in the city.

The third of six children, Hilado was born to a middle class family. His mother was a schoolteacher while his father was a government employee.

At 18, after he joined the school's Youth Community Service Club and got exposed to rural development work, he knew that he had found his calling.

The turnaround

"That was my turnaround," Hilado recalls. "I got exposed to farmers, and their openness and response to what we did opened up the opportunity for me to really go into community development work," he says.

Hilado has not looked back since. He eventually became the president of his school's Youth Community Service Club, which adopted a community and did volunteer work every week. Its members were also involved in reforestation efforts and solicited funds to help install water pumps in Iloilo's rural areas.

While he feels the same level of enthusiasm in his work, he has since realized that trying to change the way of thinking of Samarenos to convince them that there are better ways of farming and fishing was more difficult than he first thought.

"The people here are basically happy go lucky. They are still hunters and gatherers rather than cultivators. When the going gets tough, they tend to leave for Manila and come back only when the situation improves," he says.

"The abundance of resources has also made them complacent. The sea was teeming with catch and all they had to do was cast a net to have food for the day," he adds.

Through such PBSP initiatives as the upland resource project and the coastal management program, the farmers and fisherfolk learned other ways to improve their income.

Says Hilado: "We realized that we had to invest in technology development and initially, we did just that in our demonstration farms and technology centers."

Patient man

It took some time for their efforts to bear fruit but then Hilado likes to describe himself as a patient man, a virtue that goes well with his job.

"It was a very slow development process but I have seen positive changes and they keep me going," he says.

Hilado got so involved in the programs and in running the PBSP technology center that he has not found the time to get involved in a serious relationship. He spends about 60 percent of his time in Samar and the rest in the Luzon-based technology development program center that provides technical assistance to places where the PBSP operates, among them Bacolod, Tawi-Tawi and La Union.

"My address is the Philippine Airlines," he jokes.

Hilado says he finds fulfillment in seeing other people prosper. "When you see people adopting the programs and slowly improving their lives, it's very fulfilling. It shows that they appreciate what you're trying to do for them. That's more than enough for me to go," he says.

That sense of fulfillment more than makes up for the inevitable frustrations that come his way. "Some agencies create difficulties for you even if you're out there trying to provide a service. Some would even pull you down and block the progress of your work," he says.

But he forges ahead, he says, because there are as many agencies that goad him forward. "We have very good working relationships with some government agencies; it's just that things would be so much easier if we all had a common agenda," he says.

Hilado adds that it is heartwarming to know that he has somehow made a difference in the lives of the Samarenos. "Personally, I want to complete the cycle in Samar. We are ready to open a hatchery and to replicate the technology in other coastal areas," he says.

As for marriage, Hilado says it is not part of his short-term plans. "Maybe in three more years," he laughs.