Love, actually

February 14, 2023. Valentine’s Day.

Heart images, roses, love symbols everywhere. You know, everything that shouts out LOVE – of the romantic type, that is.

Where I chose to be and how I spent this day speaks of another type of love. I am referring to ‘agape’ which, in contrast to romantic love, extends to the love between God and men and therefore reflects one’s love of his fellow men. This is manifested in acts of charity, compassion, and unselfish love for others. Agape, without question, is the highest form of love.

I take this to be the most apt term for what the United Catanduanes San Diego (UCSD) and Friends, has adopted as its reason for being. UCSD is a nonprofit charitable group that organizes medical and humanitarian missions to benefit the remote areas of Catanduanes.

For five days starting February 13 this year, this group composed of US-based professionals with roots from Catanduanes, volunteers from the island province and other places, and a host of other kindred souls, gathered and organized themselves into teams to fulfill the mission of sharing the Gift of Love to all 11 municipalities of Catanduanes.

Underserved barangays outside of the población were designated as activity centers taking into account their accessibility to other nearby barrios. In close coordination with mission churches and local parishes, beneficiaries were pre-selected based on their needs, to ensure a faster and more efficient flow of activities.

Day 2, with the Sicmil team

The second day of the mission brought us to Sicmil, a barangay in the municipality of Gigmoto, while another team was posted in Mayngaway in San Andres. Getting to Sicmil from the provincial capital of Virac takes about two hours through winding roads that provide a view of rolling hills, verdant mountains, and beaches. UCSD president Dr. Oscar Enriquez, regards the travel route as something similar to Maui in Hawaii; but he quickly qualifies that the Catanduanes version is even better and more scenic. He fondly refers to the place as “his Maui.”

The UCSD mission stop in Sicmil shows the extent of preparation, attention to details, and coordination among different groups that went into the final implementation of a long and exhaustive process. It mirrors how similar teams assigned to different barangays would go about their activities for an entire day.

Pre-listed beneficiaries are given priority numbers and referred to proper section.

Patients are triaged and checked for vital signs.

Medical consultants evaluate cases and make recommendations;

patients are then sent to pharmacy services for available OTC medicines.

Volunteer dentists perform appropriate dental procedures.

Women/expectant mothers are referred to the OB-GYN section for reproductive concerns.

The Pediatrics section provides consultation and OTC medicines for children.

Optometric Services handle requests for reading glasses.

Gift packs consisting of hygiene kits, rice, slippers, and other essentials await both seniors and children.

Hot soup and sweet treats are provided for all.

OTC medicines are dispensed by licensed practitioners.

Personal Sidelights

My memories of the 2023 UCSD-Sicmil stop will always include meeting Esmeraldo Tawat, a 93-year-old resident of Tinago (some six kilometers away from Sicmil). Tang Esmeng, despite his age, is remarkably sharp; he remembers the month, day, year – and even the time of his birth! He was there to get some help regarding his vision problems. With him are some of his  children and grandchildren – three generations of a family that received gifts of love from UCSD.

Some beneficiaries who got to experience being served by the medical mission for the first time approached me to express their appreciation and thanks for the goods and services they received during the day. Amused by being addressed as ‘doctora,’ (perhaps owing to the white vest I was wearing that had the UCSD logo) I had to explain that I was a mere cog in the wheel and that appreciation should be accorded to those people who dedicated so much time, effort, resources, and love to bring the project to reality.

Lourdes Peňola, a middle-aged mom, promptly replied, “Diit man na tabang o dacula, ga-pasalamat ako sa tabang ninyo sa samuyang mga nanga-ipo.” Her words, spoken in the local dialect, pulled at my heartstrings. She said that help, whether big or small when extended to the needy, is something to be thankful for.

Standing close to her was her sister, another housewife with her youngest child in tow. She had this to say: “Ang pasalamat ko sa Diyos buda sa tabang kang mga tawong pareho ninyo.” (My thanks go to God and to the help of people like you.)

The validation sounded so good and inspiring.

Hope to experience this again in 2026.