Sustainable Initiatives Led by Local Experts

The Center for Social Concern and Action and other DLSU Lasallian Mission offices joined efforts in De La Salle Philippines'  initiative to  help  in the   recovery, reconstruction and  rehabilitation of Marawi City,  a city in the  southern part of the Philippines devastated by the  months of  fire fights  between  a local  armed  group  that  has  engaged in  armed clashes  with  government  troops.  The same  local  group  was  noted  to  have  pledged  allegiance  to the Islamic  State  of  Iraq and  Syria  (ISIS).  The firefights which  broke out  in  Marawi City caused  massive  civilian  displacement  and  rendered  majority,  if  not  all of its population  homeless.

Trained Psychological First Aid personnel  from DLSU  Mission offices joined the local  experts from four other La Salle  schools (De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, DLSU-Manila and Laguna Campuses, DLS-Health Sciences Institute and De La Salle-Dasmarinas) in the implementation  of  the Medical-Psychological First Aid-Relief Mission on September 8, 2017  providing  medical  and  psychological first  aid and relief  services  to a total of 63 home-based evacuee-families from Marawi City.  These households have  temporarily transferred residence with their relatives in Barangay Maharlika, Taguig, Manila.

Also, DLSU-COSCA, in collaboration with the efforts of De La Salle Philippines facilitated a series  of   relief operations for displaced residents  of Marawi  since July 2017 to September 2017.

The  DLSP  team  noted  some  of  the problems  faced  by the  internally displaced persons (IDPs)  of  Marawi city   a) increased  number of  self-settled  sites not  recognized as  evacuation  centers, and b) concerns on basic  services  including access to food, safe water, sanitation, education and health, among others.  The concern  on health was specially observed in the  increasing  cases of stress by  IDPs  while  in  a  state of  displacement, thus  the  initiative  to  undertake  the  September 8 Medical-Psychological First Aid activity.

Sir Leo, Program Manager of  COSCA's  Lasallian Social Development  Program considered the  September  8, 2017 Medical-Psychological First Aid-Relief  activity  as an initial   collaborative  project  of  De La Salle Philippines' main recovery and  rehabilitation  efforts for  Marawi.

        Partner  communities  of  DLSU-COSCA prepare  to  join the  nation in celebrating  Philippine  Environment  Month on June  24, 2017 by  participating  in the   24 Orchestrated Clean-Up.   Leaders from partner communities in  Leveriza, Manila,  Barangays 718, 719 and 720 and other  volunteers  from nearby Barangays were visited  by representatives  from  government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environmental Management Bureau and  DLSU-COSCA  to  encourage participation  on their  regular  clean-up activities and  activities  related  to  their participation  in the  Philippine  Environment  month.

       The regular clean-up is one of the activities outlined in the 2017 Barangay plans crafted by the respective partner communities.  More than the physical tidying, the clean-up activity for Estero Fort San Antonio de Abad and Estero de Maytubig  is  regularly undertaken by partner  communities  to facilitate  other efforts  to  improve water quality of  the estero  and  in the  long run raise the communities’ consciousness  about  caring  for the  environment .  

        Efforts to  rehabilitate  the estero  concretize  the objective of the Lasallian Environmental Sustainability and Governance (L-ENVISAGE), a component of DLSU-COSCA's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Localization Project.  The  component  builds on the localization and implementation of five international  SDGs focusing  on activities such as  a) Awareness and capacity building of  partner communities,  b) Collaboration with private and public sector, c)  Policies and regulations,  and d) Engagement of  the DLSU community.    Simple activities  such as  the tidying exercise  coupled with  capacity  building  and  governance  strengthening all support  the attainment of one of L-ENVISAGE’s milestones which is to restore the ecological services of Estero Fort San Antonio de Abad and Estero de Maytubig  and in the  long run create  an awareness of  protecting the  environment  and  on the intrinsic value of the estero. 

        Ms. Lydia,  a  Councilor  from COSCA’s partner  barangay shares, “ Ang  paglilinis  ng  kapaligiran kasama ng estero namin  ay  palagiang kasama  sa  taunang plano  ng aming barangay.  Bagama’t ginagawa na namin ito, binibigyan din namin ng  pagkakataon  ang pagtutulungan ng gobyerno  at  ng iba pang mga organisasyon  sa gawaing ito” (The clean-up  activity including  the dredging  of  our estero is regularly included in  our  Annual Barangay plan.  While  we already do this  regularly, we provide opportunity  for government and other organizations in this  collaboration).