Subanen tribesmen share 4Ps experience with WB reps

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Indigenous People (IP) belonging to the Subanen tribe in Tudela, Misamis Occidental, recently shared the positive changes in their lives brought about by Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program 4Ps to World Bank representatives who came for a visit here.

Rogelio Montac, village chief of Barangay Namut, Tudela, said 4Ps encouraged the Lumad parents to send their children to school where as they used to be hesitant to do so because they could not buy them school supplies and uniforms.

Micheil Suminday, Grade 6 adviser and Pantawid focal person of Tonggo Elementary School, disclosed that out of 290 children enrolled in the tribal school run by the Department of Education, 158 are 4Ps beneficiaries. Tongo Elementary School is a learning institution dedicated to preserving the living tradition of the Subanen tribe in Namut village.

Suminday said the Lumad students live in the hinterland barangay located at the ridge of Mt. Malindang.

“Pantawid has addressed the needs of the children,” Suminday said.

Oliver Badel Inodeo, Pantawid Pamilya information officer, said the village is home to 310 Subanen households.

Montac disclosed to Inodeo that Subanen tribe members were now also regularly submitting themselves for check-up at the health center.

“Before, Montac said, residents will not visit the health center because they were shy for consultation. Now, residents frequent the health center because they now have the confidence to face other people,” narrated Inodeo.

A midwife and barangay health workers man the center daily while a physician visits the center for consultation once a week, Inodeo said.

During emergencies, residents need not wait for an ambulance to arrive because a motorcycle-for-hire, which is more locally known as “habal-habal,” is always ready to transport patients directly to Tudela District Hospital, some 20 kilometers from the village, he added.

Leizl Bahan, Principal of Tonggo Elementary School, told Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) staff that she noticed that 4Ps beneficiaries in her school were active in almost all the activities of the school.

Bahan said parent-beneficiaries were always in the forefront of assisting teachers during activities like Brigada Eskwela, clean-up drive, beautification, feeding, among others.