By LIWAY C. MANANTAN YPARRAGUIRRE

IT was an unforgettable and worthwhile trip. And what a great feeling seeing the happy faces of those very appreciative people of Sitio Bomboaya at Barangay San Bonifacio, in San Manuel, Pangasinan.

They expressed their profuse thanks to their visitors as for the first time, they were visited by a civic group, and more, given an early Christmas party.

The Kiwanis Club of Dagupeña, Metro Dagupan joined the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO)-Urdaneta City headed by Wendy Co in its Pamaskong Handog/Gift-giving activity at the place on December 19..

CENRO distributed gift packs to the 130-plus households there, our club handed gifts to about 200 children while Mayor Salvador Perez brought oranges and snack foods. The children were also treated with parlor games with the winners and non-winners both receiving prizes.

Lunch was a feast with the pig donated by businessman Rosendo So cooked into different viands feeding everybody including the guests.
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Vicente Pablo, Lower Bomboaya Planters Irrigators Association president said they felt very special as it was indeed first time such occasion was accorded them.

Mayor Perez promised to come back at their place before Christmas to distribute a Noche Buena pack containing cooked spaghetti, ham, queso de bola and juices, much to the delight of everybody.
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The fund spent by KC Dagupeña was the proceeds from the club’s Kakasa Ka Ba? All-Women Funshoot project held recently.

Again, KC Dagupeña extends our deepest thanks to Usec. Bebot Villar Jr., retired Gen. Arturo Lomibao, Gen. Leopoldo N. Bataoil, Engr. Fidel Ginez, Engr. Rosendo So, and Dagupan City Councilor Farah Marie Decano (our co-organizer).

And to everybody who made the funshoot project successful.

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Sitio Bomboaya is a remote area. The almost five-kilometer uphill road is rugged and dusty.

Basic services such as power, water, health and education have been very inadequate.

Families get their subsistence from tilling a land they do not own. Others could hardly afford to support their families, some just wait for harvest season to be hired as workers,” Co said describing the situation of the people here.

To alleviate their lives, the DENR organized the Lower Bomboaya Planters, Irrigators Associaton. Last 2005, they were awarded a tenure instrument to a 50-hectare of open forestlands under the Community-Based Forest Management Program.

]The piece of agreement signed for a period of 25 years, said Co, gave them the right to develop the land without any funding coming from the government.

“As of now, the members have started some improvements by planting cash crops and trees,” she disclosed.

Co is all praises to the people for their industriousness and for cultivating their land and protecting their mountains from possible intruders.
Inspired by how they responded to the CENRO’s effort looking for a micro-financing intended for a livelihood project for the household members.
“This gift-giving activity shows them that there are kind hearted people who are eager to give them assistance in whatever form,” she remarked.