Macatcatud: In Focus

by Margie Umbay-Ochoa

Entrance to the barangay

Barangay Macat-catud of Magsingal, Ilocos Sur is a small village situated about 6 kilometers north-east of the town proper and is accessible by all kinds of land transportation, except during rainy season when the bare roads become muddy.  The source of income of the residents therein is agriculture:  rice production from August to November and Virginia tobacco farming from December to May. Those without lands to till are seasonal farm hands and find life hard as they could hardly make both ends meet.

The folks belong to various religious groups,i.e., Roman Catholic, Iglesia ni Cristo, Saksi ni Jehovah, etc. There are two Day Care Centers, one is found in Sitio Lic-caong,  the other one is located at Barangay Macat-catud proper having about 25 pupils each. There is a Primary School (grades l to 4) with about 60 pupils, with 2 rooms - one for grades 1 and 2 and the other for grades 3 and four. A chapel is being constructed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Information Technology IT) has done a lot of social progress to this writer and to its subscribers. The writer registered in a social network through FACEBOOK and this enabled her to reach out to her family, relatives and friends in the different places of the world, i.e., Dubai, UAE, Canada, Spain, Hawaii, Paris, Korea, China, Zyprus, Hongkong, London, Italy, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Korea, etc including Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. We communicate with each other recalling our happy childhood, school days and our old folks. We left our village to look for a better life in other places. This writer and some relatives and friends went to Manila to get a college degree and luckily landed in professional jobs. While, some left their families, although degree holders and went to foreign lands as OFWs which offered higher salaries and thus uplift their life standards, affording them to send their children to Colleges/Universities, building their decent houses in the village and shelling out allowances to their parents and less-fortunate brothers and relatives.

This writer makes it a habit, together with her family, to visit her folks (mother, brother, sister, grandparents and other relatives) and friends every Christmas vacation. She still sees very poor families living in the mountainous portions of the village planting camote, cassava and other root crops to eke out a living. They cannot afford to send their children to college because of sheer poverty. As a last recourse, when their children finish high school, they find ways and means by which they (children) can go abroad and look for greener pasture and majority of them end up as domestic helpers.

When she created the site, more and more members of our village responded until one time one of subscribers posted a picture of Sitio Ron-rono which can only be reached on foot because of high-level water that overflows the road due to heavy and long moonson rains.

This situation became the center of discussions and exchanges of our ideas on how to resolve the issue. But, alas our efforts seemed futile as even the Brgy. officials failed to resolve the same. However, somebody advised that there’s a way which might ultimately lead to solve the matter at hand - to construct another road which is not vulnerable to flooding and situated alongside the present road network which is elevated. Unfortunately, it falls within the private/titled property of a rich family who is now living comfortably in the town proper of Magsingal of which we would like to get his/their attention through this website an extend unselfish charitable hand by way of donating the identified portion of land. Thus, it will pave the way to make the village a better place to live in; school children will no longer experience the hardship of walking a long, rough and flooded way to reach their school; farmers can readily bring their agricultural produce to the market place for their own benefits and likewise to the municipality in terms of administrative fees and taxes which can be collected. This will be a remarkable contribution to the progress and development of the town of Magsingal and the province in general. Likewise, a legacy which the land owner/s will be remembered of forever by the people of Macat-catud.

Despite all odds/difficulties, the subscribers through FACEBOOK accomplished/contributed the following:

1.    Provision of School Supplies/facilities and Feeding Program of the Day Care Centers - Distributed umbrellas, sandals, papers, etc. to about 45 pupils to the Daycare Centers and a good number of grade schoolers.
   
The Donors are: Susana Paguel-Delos Santos, Maxima Aileen Urro-Cena, May-ann Ventura donated 1 set of comp.; Margie Umbay-Ochoa who likewise donated one unit of DVD to provide visual aid in the teaching process and 1 unit of electric stand fan.

2.    Fencing of the Day Care Center located in Centro of Macat-catud

The donors are: Mrs. Gemma Umbay-Molina and her husband, Romel Umbay and his wife Aurea, Julita Utrera-Asi and her husband Peter, Gilbert Viloria and his wife, Jonathan Urro and his wife Jane Tuquib, Wilson Urro and his wife Maureen Urcia, Winnie Urro and her husband, Marcelino Soliven and his wife Romelia, Maribel Tuquib and her family

3.    Provision of a Swing for the Day Care Center of Sitio Liccaong

The donors are: Mr and Mrs. Jonathan Urro, Mr. and Mrs. Marcelino Soliven, Mr. and Mrs. Winnie Urro, Ms. Plum and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Urro.

4.    Replacement of 50 chairs of the primary school.

The donors are Madelyn Paguel-Morales and her husband Jack, Ruby Paguel-Antolin and her husband and the friends of Madelyn Paguel-Morales.

5.    Christmas gift- giving to less- fortunate families and senior citizens(rice and groceries)

The donors are Mrs. Gloria Tuquib-Panuncia and family, Mrs. Juliet Renon-Cacacho and family and the writer Margie Umbay-ochoa.

6.    Giving of Christmas Gifts to all the pupils of the 2 Day Care Centers including the Primary Schoolers from grades 1 to 4 including free food,drinks and snacks during their Christmas party.

The donors are Margie Umbay-Ochoa and family, Susana Paguel-Delos Santos and family and Estella Paguel and family.

Macat-catudmagsingal@yahoo.com provides therapy to homesick subscribers, especially the OFWs. It also serves as a vehicle to strengthen the bond among  families, relatives and friends, particularly those from Macat-catud.

Behind the site is Mr. Jimmy dela Cruz who lives in Macat-catud and this writer (Margie Umbay-Ochoa), a PROFESSIONAL FORESTER working in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Office No. IV-B, MIMAROPA and permanently residing in Samal, Bataan. This writer would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Roseviminda dela Cruz-Umbay for her assistance in the distribution of goods and to her sister Reynalyn Umbay-Ufano, a day care center teacher of Centro for serving as our driver in going to remote areas (Sitios) for the distribution of goods and my family who gave full support to the writer in pursuing her Samaritan work to her fellow “Macatians” and above all to our ALMIGHTY GOD.

CREDIT is hereby given to all the donors without whose unselfish contributions,our philantrophic work would have been unsuccessful, although only a start and limited. To this end, this writer is seeking more donations for additional projects for Macat-catud and its poor but honorable villagers.