TERMINAL REPORT
TEAM BUILDING WITH GAD SESSION
PUERTO GALERA, ORIENTAL MINDORO
JULY 1-3, 2019

The Team Building for regular employees is necessary to strengthen camaraderie among the staff in a setting outside the workplace.  It is the responsibility of management to find ways to relieve stress caused by hard work to achieve agency targets.  Team Building gives personnel a break from their official duties while bonding with people they work with, in a new and pleasant environment free from pressure and responsibilities. 

This activity is in line with the GAD Plan and Budget of IA.  The site was chosen becausePuerto Galais an ideal tourism destination for nature and culture, being inUNESCO’S World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), and home to a living community of Mangyan Indigenous Peoples (IPs).  

A total of forty-three employees joined the trip.  After a two-hour bus ride from Manila to Batangas Port, we rode the ferry for a 50-min. ride to Puerto Galera.  After checking in and having lunch at the hotel, we visited theIraya Mangyan Village built and maintained by the Ayala Foundation.  Bgy. KagawadLenitogave a briefing before the tour and introduced the newly-trainedMangyan guides.  We were fortunate to be the first group to be handled by the amateur tour guides.

Below are some of the facts shared by KagawadLenito:

  1. It was in 1989 when Jaime and Bea Zobel de Ayalastarted to help the IrayaMangyan tribe;
  2. Ayala Foundation and the Sisters of Charity of St. Anne introduced the Sustainable Livelihood Program for village’s primary source of income.
  3. There are 75 houses for 280 families where 3 to 5 families live in one house with two bedrooms; comfort rooms are located outside their nipa houses.
  4. In the past, the parents chose the spouses of their children.  Fixed marriage  is no longer practiced; there is freedom to choose partners in life.
  5. Rituals are still practiced but the Mangyans follow the country’s laws and are allowed to practice the religion they prefer.
  6.  The head of the tribe lives high in the mountains..

After the briefing, the group was divided into four batches, accompanied by oneguide each.  

The houses are made of bamboo,sawali and cogon grass which is their traditional dwelling.Children go to school in classrooms in the village.A smallmuseum shows the traditional dress, and means of punishment for violations committed.

Alivingstone (buhaynabato) stands in the middle of the village.  This stone is held sacred because the village residents witnessed how it grew through the decades.  

The women areengagedmainly in nito weaving.  Some withtheir small children watching or sleeping, the women sit on a wide wooden platform with a roof but no walls, creating various items with their own unique designs.  A long stall provides space for the women to display and sell their nitoproducts,from small items like headbands to huge baskets.  In another room, some of the women sew various items like wallets, pouches and shoulder bags which are also for sale.

After an enriching experience with the Iraya Mangyans, we visited the Tamaraw Fallsfor photo oppand AplayangMunti for early dinner.  The rains failed to dampen the spirits of the group, who had fun taking pictures while getting wet from the rain.  

The morning of the second day was spent island-hopping to explore the site’smarine resources.  A hearty lunch was served on an island, after which souvenir-shopping was done at White Beach. 

Team Building activitieswere held at the hotel poolside with the group divided into three (3) teams. Three games prepared by theGFPS TWGwere meant to develop teamwork and sportsmanship, strategy and coordination, and a review of sex and gender principles.Each member of the winning group received a cash prize of fifty pesos.  

In the evening,the group attended a GAD session withGFPS Exec. Committee Chairperson Sandra Martinez presenting the Safe Cities Campaign of UN Women, as well as theSafe Streets and Public Spaces Act which became law in May 2019.  Actions in violation of the law were enumerated and defined, together with corresponding penalties.  Ms. Martinez encouraged the staff to report offensive behavior of co-workers to the GFPS, as well as to the Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) which she also heads.

Learnings:

  1. The Iraya Mangyan Village is an ideal example of cultural preservation,  making it a tourism asset.
  2. IrayaMangyan women earn income while taking care of the family.
  3. Puerto Galera’s marine resources established the site as a popular tour destination.
  4. Men usually get away with actions or words offensive towomen because theseare considered normal and not taken seriously.Now there is a law which penalizes such behavior, so women can report offendersand be free of fear and anxiety. 
  5. Individual strengths contribute to a team’s victory. Cooperation is necessary to win.  
  6. Sportsmanship is evident when one knows when or when not to protest a loss.