SVTI'S Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR 2017) : GIVING BACK

St. Vincent  Ferrer Chapel- Brgy, Guinbanuahan, Balud, Masbate City-In an immensely, fast-paced kind of world we live in nowadays, we still forget that almost everywhere, poverty, hunger, and sickness are inevitable. Sometimes, we’re so occupied by certain things, maybe a new gadget that has come out of the market that you were itching to buy, or the latest fashion trends you saw at the magazine, or the latest brand of car emerged at the market, or the upcoming big sale and discounts at the Supermarket, maybe you were baffling out  for the upcoming bid presentation to a big-time client, or maybe a project that has gone wrong and seems like problems with it arise day by day, or maybe haunted by the piled up paper works at the office, or maybe simply thinking how are you going to enjoy spending the upcoming holidays with your loved ones. No matter what is clouding our minds, no matter how big we think our problems are, or no matter how simple it is, we must not always forget, that above all, overthinking won’t solve the problem. Sometimes, reaching out to others elucidates the situation.

 Sometimes, it is better not to just always grasp and get a grip hold of the blessings we receive every day. What’s better? Giving. Giving is not always in the sense of material things. It could be in the form of the simple tap on the shoulder, a smile, could be a support, a help, and open ears. Lending a helping hand. Nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction when you know, you had helped.

Maybe it’s not that big. But as the saying goes, “It’s the thought that counts,” maybe, at the very least, we feel very light and at ease when we know we gave, not to those who just simply need it, but for those who deservedly need it. As what the Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus once quoted, “Making money is a happiness; making other people happy is a superhapiness.”

"There is joy in giving!". This is the battle cry of Sytems Variable Technicom Inc, (SVTI) for conducting 

a CSR Program annually.

October 28 (Saturday), our team from SVTI left Alabang, Muntinlupa at exactly 11:00 am and started to take off the 25-hour drive to Balud, Masbate City.  We had our lunch at Tiaong Quezon around 1:00 pm and had our dinner at Bicol City around 9:00 pm. Exactly 1:00 am when we arrived at the Pio Duran Port after we lost track of the road going there. After 2 hours of waiting, we luckily boarded at the first trip of the vessel, MV Sta. Clara, that departed around 5:00 in the morning. After 4 and a half hours at the sea, we finally arrived at Masbate Port. From there, we headed to Masbate Terminal to eat breakfast. Exactly 10:30 Am when we decided to push through the trip- to our main destination, the Balud town  in Masbate City. It was raining very hard when we entered the Balud town proper. Halfway, we saw how secluded the area was. The road wasn’t fully constructed so it was muddy going there. Feels like you are entering a very far-flung area outside the Metro. At exactly 1:00 pm, we arrived at our destination. There, we were warmly accepted and welcomed and had our hearty and feast-like lunch at the house of the Barangay Captain of Guinbanuahan.

Around 3:19 pm, when we arrived at the chapel. St. Vincent Ferrer Chapel is located at the heart of Barangay Guinbanuahan in Balud Town Proper. The place is covered by green and flowering plants that greeted us. Upon entrance, you will see how simple the chapel is. The outer layout of the building isn’t finished yet. The structure from the outside, or should I say the walls are still in hollow blocks and is not smoothened yet. Entering the chapel, we saw kids cleaning mass equipment (goblet etc), some women preferably elders at the church sweeping and scrubbing the floor. The chapel has no ceiling at all. Simple sound system and media equipment are used, as such, the white wall at the right side of the wall serves as their improvised projector screen. The stairs going up to the choir place shouts for renovation as it has no stair holder at all and from the way it looks, it is still unfinished. The choir place from above has walls made out of bamboo. The chapel lacks saints too. The bell is basically a metal that got to be literally hit for it to produce a sound unlike to the common bells that you could see in churches here in Manila. The doors of the chapel are made of tin and are suggestible into a wooden one. The walls are even subject to a renovation or a repaint because it is already freckled[K1] . The chairs inside are even damaged. Some can be seen with termites on. According to the Parish Church, those chairs were there for more or less than ten years ago and the only remedy they do is to repaint it over and over again. During the mass, there were several occurrences of power interruption that resulted in the inconvenience of everybody. We also noticed that there was no confession room in the chapel. Even cubicles are out of sight.

Exactly 3:30 pm, when the mass started. It is very pleasing to see how lively and cooperative the church members and goers were. One thing that also stands out during the whole mass was the happy, joyful and massive choir members of the church who were all youth members at their finest. It is very happy and promising church indeed. 

The next morning,  October 30, our team decided to head back to Manila bearing the insights, adventure, and lessons we learned upon our short stay in Brgy. Guinbanuahan  -Kimberly Dulce

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