ACTIVITY 1: Minsan sa Isang Taon

Documentary of Kara David

Name: Khryztel Cate D. Giray Date: Sep 05, 2021

Sec: 12 MAPAGPALA

Direction: Watch the documentary film made by the Ms. Kara David entitled "Minsan sa Isang Taon" and
answer the questions.

Kara David's I-Witness documentary Minsan Sa Isang Taon (Once A Year) subtly projects a life irony.
Tusan Tango, a small abaca farmer in Sitio Bali, Saranggani Province, is the subject of David's
documentary. The documentary depicted the day to day life of an abaca farmer in a remote location. It
highlighted his family's various economic problems and their daily struggles to live an entire year on a
budget of 1,000 pesos or less for a family of more than five. It also explained how the abaca population in
Sitio Bali has declined since the trees were felled by millennials. Abaca cannot survive without trees, and
it requires shade to protect its leaves from the sun because it requires a cold environment to grow
healthily (GMA Public Affairs, 2017).

I felt sorry for the people of Sitio Bali after watching the documentary because they have no stable source
of income and only earn about 1000 pesos per year. Having the so-called "civil society perspective," I
feel compelled to help them because it is my duty as a Filipino youth to serve my country and its people.
I'm also concerned because abaca cannot survive in direct sunlight, so it requires the shade of trees, and
the effects of climate change are worsening, so abaca may cease to exist in the future. On the production
side, abaca farmers require more government assistance. Farmers like Mang Tusan require government
assistance because they require more funds to support their plantation or mountain. More importantly, and
as a conclusion, Mang Tusan and his family should be recognized for their diligence in pursuing their
goals in order to achieve a better future. Also, Mang Tusan's house is far from the selling station, and it
takes hours to get there.

Sitio Bali lacks the stability of the other three food security characteristics over time because they did not
fall into the categories of the three dimensions. They don't have physical access to food because they
mostly eat sweet potatoes. Because the families of Sitio Bali are poor and do not farm, they do not have
economic or physical access to nutritious food. They don't make good use of their food because there isn't
enough of it. As a result, there is no food stability in Sitio Bali because the other three food stability
characteristics are missing.

In its broadest sense "social science" is the study of society and how people behave and influence the
world around us. The video did not address the privileges, gender, or cultural aspects of food security in
Sitio Bali because it focused on the farmers harvesting abaca plants. However, when it comes to
providing food, it should be noted that families do not prioritize or consider the gender of the members of
the household. Families in Sitio Bali do not practice any traditions that could jeopardize an individual's
food security. However, it is noted in the documentary that only the men in the households work
collecting abaca. Women stayed at home and only did housework because harvesting abaca is a difficult
task. It's also featured in a documentary about Jerson Cabesa, the eldest child in Sitio Bali who harvests
abaca to support himself and his siblings' education. As we can see in the documentary, they are all
hardworking people who work extremely hard for the money they earned through blood and sweat. We
can see here the family and kinship, are all examples of institutions perspective. A variety of factors
impede community access to nutritious food. Geographic isolation is a common source of difficulty for
cities. Because of a lack of suitable roads and a long distance to travel, mountain tribes are frequently cut
off from other villages. Sitio Bali is one of the world's most geographically isolated areas, and getting
there from the city takes 8 hours. They also have a limited amount of food, and even if there are abundant
sources and quantities of food available, they cannot afford to buy it. They don't have enough money to
buy nutritious foods, so they eat sweet potatoes and, if they're lucky, canned goods and rice. People in
Sitio Bali also lack long-term employment opportunities because they can only eat sweet potatoes most of
the time. In Sitio Bali, the only job available is abaca harvesting.

Abaca, on the other hand, is sensitive to heat and will not grow if exposed to sunlight and a warm
environment. Because the abaca population in Sitio Bali has decreased, they can only harvest once a year
instead of three times a year. After watching the documentary, I realized that each population in a
community is interconnected. The decrease in the population of trees in Sitio Bali affected the population
of the abaca plant, which cannot thrive in a warm environment and requires tall trees to shade them from
the sunlight. Families in Sitio Bali are also affected by the decline in tree population because the abaca
plant, which is the source of their income, has declined in number. I also realized that there are sad ironies
in life. Sitio Bali was mentioned in the documentary as one of the poorest areas in Mindanao. It is ironic
because the families in Sitio Bali rely on abaca harvesting for a living. However, abaca is sensitive to heat
and will not grow if exposed to sunlight and a warm environment. Because the abaca population in Sitio
Bali has declined, they can only harvest once a year instead of three times a year.

As we all know, a grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a specific district, region, or
community to launch a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use
collective action at the local level to bring about change. One of my responsibilities as a Filipino youth is
to help others in my community who are currently in need. As a form of assistance, I may organize an
information drive to assist them in obtaining financial assistance from institutions and determining a
secondary source of income. I'd also like to persuade them to plant trees in areas where trees have been
felled in order to replenish the abaca population. I could also write a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) urging them to broaden the scope of their agricultural
initiatives to include remote areas of Mindanao, particularly in mountainous areas.