MY COMMUNITY, MY RESPONSIBILITY

PART I: WHAT IS A COMMUNITY?

I. CONTEXT

Human beings are by nature social. We strongly manifest our personhood or being by how we
relate with others in our respective communities. The youth for instance, is one big sector
belonging to certain communities. They have the time, ingenuity and enthusiasm to render service
contributory to the general welfare and the betterment of life for the members of various
communities confronting several social realities. They have been greatly recognized by the
government for their role in nation building. They are the most valuable resource of the nation who
can be motivated, trained, organized and involved in military, literacy, civic welfare programs for
the service of the nation. They can channel their energies for the development of these
communities and act on their social responsibility.

General Objectives

At the end of this module, the student should be able to:

a. Define what community is;
b. Identify social issues and concerns related to gender, environment, peace, human rights health
and sanitation, education, national security and governance;
c. Apply social analysis tools in analyzing situations affecting the marginalized sectors such as
the women, children, youth and urban poor;
d. Make choices on issues related to gender, environment, peace, human rights health and
sanitation, education, national security and governance;

Specific Objectives
a. Identify the Filipino community values;
b. Share significant experiences/learning/insights during the social exposure;
c. Share relevant observations on the economic, political, cultural and environmental situations of
the communities;
d. Organize a team adopting Filipino community values;
e. Become an active member of a team

Flow

Week Day/Time Activity

1 PART I: WHAT IS COMMUNITY?
Preliminaries
Presentation of Context, Objectives, Flow
Activity 1: Building a House
a. Sharing
b. Reporting
Input 1: Community
a. Social Functions
b. Barriers/Characteristics
c. Community Values
d. Community Work
Activity 2: Team Formation
a. Workshop: Commonalities
b. Team Organization
c. Reflection / Action
d. Evaluation

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 Week 2 PART II: SOCIAL INTEGRATION
Preliminaries
Input 2: Social Integration
a. The Need for Social Integration
b. Do’s and Dont’s of Social Integration
Input 3: Social Analysis
a. What is Social Analysis
b. Difficulties/Approaches/Tools of Social
Analysis
Input 4: Guide Questions for Social
Integration
Activity 3: Pre-Integration Simulation
a. Guidelines
b. Workshop
c. Reflection/Action
d. Evaluation

Week 3 Part III: SOCIAL INTEGRATION PROPER

a. Preliminaries
b. Departure
c. Placement
Activity 4: Social Integration
a. Interaction
d. Regrouping
Week 4 Part IV: KWENTONG ERYA
a. Preliminaries
Activity 5: Local Situationer
a. Workshop:
b. Group Sharing
c. Synthesis
d. Reflection / Action
e. Evaluation

II. EXPERIENCE

Input 1

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY

A community is an aggregation of families and individuals settled in fairly compact and contiguous
geographical area with significant elements of common life, as shown by manners, customs, tradition,
and mode of speech (Ross, 1987). It also refers to people and the pattern of social relationships
among them, which may be characterized by:
• A common system of values
• Normatively defined relations
• Interdependence
• Recognition of belonging
• System of stratification
• Locality

It is also a combination of social units and systems that perform the following major SOCIAL
FUNCTIONS:
• Economic (production, distribution, consumption). “The study of how people and society end up
choosing, with or without the use of money, to employ scarce productive resources that could
have alternative uses – to produce various commodities and distribute them for consumption, now
or in the future, among various persons and groups in society” (Samuelson, 1980).
• Socialization. The processes whereby we learn to behave according to the norms of our culture.
• Social Control. The set of rules and understanding that control the behavior of individuals and
groups in a culture (Kornblum, 1997).There are certain basic norms that contribute to social
control. “All social groups have such ‘commandments’ as ‘Honor thy father and mother,’ ‘Thou
shalt not kill,‘ ‘Thou shalt not steal’ (Park & Burgess, 1921).
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• Social Participation. Participation involves exchange, which creates mutual obligation among
individuals. Participation can engender or strengthen a sense of responsibility towards others, the
community, or a particular institution. Leaders of communities and institutions can therefore
expect members to participate in and contribute to group projects. Social participation can also
sensitize group members to the fact that they are subject to the same economic, political, cultural
or social conditions. Participation can therefore promote and strengthen identification with the
group or institution since it is viewed as being advantageous.
• Moral Support. A way of giving support to a person or cause, or to one side in a conflict, without
making any contribution beyond the emotional or psychological value of the encouragement
(Wikipedia).

LONGING FOR A COMMUNITY

Deep in our hearts we all long to be with others, to live in love with others, to share, to cooperate. No
man is an island, we need one another, and we have been made for one another.

One can only become her/his real self is supported and taught and loved and corrected by others.
That is the way God plans our life. Adam, the representative of us all was lonely although he had so
many animals around him. God created a companion for him, somebody like himself.

This is the only image of how man has been made to live with others, to share his life with other
people.

BARRIERS TO A GOOD COMMUNITY

• Difficult relationships at home, with relatives, with neighbors
• Selfishness and individualism
• Jealousy, gossip, slander
• Lack of involvement
• Lack of concern, cooperation
• Grudges and hatred
• Pride, lack of respect
• Miscommunication, communication gaps

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FILIPINO COMMUNITY

The Filipino community is

• predominantly rural • multilingual • particularistic • developing

• transitional • segmented • pluralistic

Aims, Goals, and Aspirations

• value of social acceptance (pakikisama, amor propio, hiya)
• value of economic security and social mobility.

Beliefs and convictions

• personalistic and supernaturalistic (bahala na, suerte, gaba-panalanging).

Predominant Value Orientations

• personalism, non-rationalism, particularism.

Norm and principles

• structural (in-group centeredness, family and kin, age-grading and generation system, status and
power, local language and religion,)
• ranking (in-group vs. out group, super-ordinate-subordinate, relationship authority)
• operational (equivalence and solidarity), reciprocity (utang na loob), compassion (awa), patience,
endurance and resignation).

COMMUNITY VALUES

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a. Pakikitungo - diminishing oneself in deference to other people, gain the other person’s trust at the
first encounter
b. Pakikisalamuha - relating with others in a more confident and intuitive way while gradually
acclimatizing oneself to the emerging ways of their group
c. Pakikibagay - adopting to a particular lifestyle, being sensitive to the ways of others and to move
with much consideration for them
d. Pakikilahok - contributing as much as they can into the group’s efforts, becoming more conscious
of what they share in the community
e. Pakikisama becoming conscious of being a part of a community
f. Pakikipagplayang-loob - deep understanding and acceptance of each other despite personality
differences
g. Pakikisangkot - understanding and appreciating what they each bring to the community especially
the importance of each member’s deeper involvement in the group
h. Pakikiisang-loob - bonding between the members of the group, affirming and enhancing it with the
expression of a shared future.

TYPOLOGY OF FILIPINO VALUE ORIENTATION

1. Ultimate End: individual self, individual family kinship, prosperity and happiness in its holistic
sense, family and individual prestige and fame

2. Character Structure and Life Organization:

a. The financially successful man-image who has achievements without much hardship; who is
Christlike but also mundane enough to enjoy the fruits of his work
b. Virtues: shrewd, acquisitive, calculating, modestly ambitious but not too hardworking,
manipulative of persons and things, cooperative
c. Person: inherent worth and dignity of person; a son of God with an immortal soul and infinite
value.
d. Competition: competition is inevitable in life but must be avoided if possible; if it cannot be
avoided, one must come out a winner by hook or by crook; if working with competitors is
advantageously good, work with them.
e. Cooperation: stress on mutual aid, service with ulterior motives
f. Wealth and Property: frugality and extravagance; my property is mine, your property is ours;
public property is mine; a symbol of respectability, prestige; some things are valuated
quantitatively in monetary units; a comfortable level of living regarded as desirable

3. Social Change, intellectual Inquiry and Creativity: resistance to social change; not so inquisitive
about technology; ultra-conservative in substantial matters; ultra-progressive in accidental things;
psychological blocks to creativity.

PROGRESSION OF FILIPINO VALUES SYSTEM

The Filipino is familistic. He is loyal first and foremost to his family, then to neighbors and members of
the community, barrio-mates, towns mates, region mates, island mates and finally to his nation
mates.

COMMUNITY WORK

Student community work consists of direct assistance to community or sectoral people’s

organizations (base groups) acting on local issues. The most common type of student involvement in
community is parallel – i.e. done by extra – curricular, socially – oriented student groups at the
students’ own time. Other types are intervening, or done during long school breaks (e.g. summer
work camps in rural villages); interwoven, or integrated into curriculum or a specific course (such as
Theology or Development Economics); and subsequent, or done after graduation from college (e.g.
voluntary apprenticeship to a social development agency).

The work maybe general, or directed towards the development of general skills in social change work
– for instance, tutorials, catechism, literacy training or the building of Basic Christian Communities or
related to the student’s own academic program – for instance, paralegal work for law students,
community – based health programs for medical or nursing students, participatory research for social
science students.
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Student community work contributes to the whole effort in building people’s movement for social
transformation. For the students themselves, this involvement provides a venue for developing a
more concrete analysis of social situation rooted in actual experience. Close contact with the poor
translates an abstract social responsibility into a deep personal commitment to others.

The work can also serve as training for the development of skills useful anywhere, but most
especially in professional social change work after graduation. Community work is also an important
factor in the students’ personal growth, nurturing their confidence in themselves and a sense of
meaningful direction and contribution to society. This increased student morale and the rich learning
resources provided by any poor community benefit the school. Student community work probably
provides the best model yet for a genuinely liberating education.

III. REFLECTION

1. What makes a community? What are the qualities of a good community?

2. What is your role/function in your community?
3. What value/s do you need to uphold as a team member? Why?

IV. ACTION
1. How can you reach out to your community?
2. How can you use your skills/talents/abilities to strengthen your team?
3. What is your commitment or pledge to your team?

V. EVALUATION
1. What is a community?
2. What are the different functions of a community?
3. What are the Filipino community values?
4. What are the barriers to a good community?
5. What are the different types of community work?

PART II: ORIENTATION TO SOCIAL INTEGRATION

The class facilitator will make a recap of the previous session then connect it to the next input on
Social Integration, the need for it and its do’s and dont’s.

Input 2

SOCIAL INTEGRATION

Social Integration is a basic community process by which a person becomes one with the community
by immersing herself/himself in the community.
It means:
✓ Being with the people
✓ Building rapport with them and being accepted by them
✓ Seeing things the way they see, coming to respect the people and see the liberating aspects of
their culture that give them strength to struggle
✓ Adopting their lifestyle, being accepted as a member of the community
✓ Knowing their dreams and aspirations
✓ Getting a “feel” of the people and the place where they live, get to know the culture economy,
leaders, history, rhythms and lifestyle of the community
✓ Changing one’s values her/his values and own lifestyle, i.e., become more understanding and
tolerant of the poor, more dedicated and realistic, more humble

Students cast of a lot of themselves and view the world’s realities from the people’s perspective.

WAYS in which integration can be improved:

 living with the community, share the people’s housing, food, entertainment and meetings
 visiting as many people as possible in the community
 establishing closer relationship
 sharing with their problems and needs

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 listening to their stories no matter how irrelevant (small talks) and/or taking part in small talk and
informal group discussions
 seeing God’s activity among the poor.

The student has to perceive:

a. the objective situation of the community or the factual and real events/happenings
b. the subjective situations of the community, specifically how they perceive their condition and their
felt needs

Tools for data gathering

1. Informal interviews
2. Documents
3. Personal observations

THE NEED FOR COMMUNITY INTEGRATION

For the Students

• It provides you contact with the underprivileged.
• It encourages you to take responsible action against apathy (lack of concern or interest, or none at
all; walay paki).
• It moves you to act in response to poverty and injustice.
• It further promotes self-awareness and self-development.
• It helps you to discover your own strengths and abilities and harness (putting into good use) your
creative energy).
• It provides you with meaning an education outside school structures, experiencing poverty in real
life situations.
• It ensures holistic and relevant education, being and learning with the people (putting theory into
practice-praxis).
• It aids you in understanding the people you work with, their needs, problems, and aspirations

For the Community

• Real needs are met, real problems are addressed.
• Projects that are not directly responding to the poor are assessed.
• People become more aware of issues affecting them.
• It helps the people to analyze and understand their own situation.
• It helps raise their consciousness and involvement.
• It morraly supports the people in their initiatives toward community development.
• It makes them realize their importance as people and community members.
• It encourages them to move toward action.

For the School

• It can concretize the efforts of concientization (instilling social awareness and involvement or
pagpakabana) among the students and heighten their sense of social responsibility.
• It can institutionalize social awareness and involvement through curriculum integration.
• It can provide an analysis of the education system and the relevance of an alternative education.
• It can “bring” the school to the community.

For the Society

• It helps in build and support people’s organizations toward social change

DO’S AND DON’TS OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION

1. Submit a parent’s permit for the social exposure. Students with no permit will not be allowed to go.
2. Wear the prescribed uniform, pants, shoes
3. Be simple. Don’t call people’s attention with your outfit; it might put people off from interacting with
you.
4. Observe other NSTP rules on haircut/hairstyle, wearing of ID, wearing of earrings and other
jewelry, bringing/using of gadgets, and smoking.
5. Don’t transfer from one area to another.
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6. You and your buddy will interact with two (2) to three (3) persons only. Do not interact anymore
with community members who have already been interacted with by other students. Look for
other people to converse with.
7. If you are late do not follow anymore the others in your assigned area.
8. Always keep in mind your objective in going to the community which is to understand, to be
aware, to integrate (pakihalubilo).
9. Be courteous, respectful, polite and inclusive. Don’t be noisy.
10. Listen to what the people will share and be sensitive to the way they reveal (open up) themselves
to you, and the way they look at things.
11. Refer to your class facilitator any concern that you will encounter in the area.

Input 3

SOCIAL ANALYSIS

• An interpretation of an observation. Webster definition: “to break up a whole system into parts to
find their nature.”
• Social analysis can be defined as the effort to obtain a more complete picture of a social situation
by exploring its historical and structural relationships.
• Social analysis serves as a tool to help us grasp reality with which we are dealing
• The social system needs to be analyzed in terms of both for a comprehensive analysis:
o Historical/time analysis – study of the changes of a social system through time
o Structural/spatial analysis – provides a cross-section of a systems’ framework in a given moment
of time.

Purpose of social analysis

• A basis or guide for action
• Provides a framework with which to understand new and future data
• For consensus (working together in groups)
• Basis for relationship with other groups
• Basis for vision-setting

Limits of Social Analysis

• Not designed to provide an immediate answer what to do next. SA unfolds the context within
which a program for social change can be outlined, but does not provide a blueprint for action
• Social Analysis is not only an academic exercise for intellectuals. The tools for analysis are used
by many people in a variety of ways.
• Social Analysis is not value-free, not neutral in approach or a purely scientific and objective view
of reality. The manner of approach, questioning, openness to analysis, reveals our values and
biases. We do not enter an analysis without prior commitment.

The difficulties of Social Analysis

• Society is growing more and more complex. This complexity makes us feel almost powerless,
even fatalistic. To attempt to analyze this complexity makes us feel even more confused.
• Social Analysis is difficult because our society is constantly changing.
• To enter into Social Analysis is controversial. The existence of controversy will make the task
even more difficult. We always choose an analysis that is implicitly linked to some idealogical
traditions.

Approach to Social Analysis

• Historical – discerning the distinct structural context of distinct periods and the different tasks of
strategy in each period
• Structural – emphasizing the importance of understanding how society is generated and
structured, and how social institutions inter-relate in social space
• Value-laden – oriented toward social justice, particularly for the poor
• Non-dogmatic – drawing upon a variety of prospective and schools of analysis
• Action-oriented – promoting responses by individuals and groups to the pressing social problems
of today.

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 Tools for Social Analysis
1. Webchart - is used to trace the causes and effects of problems. An issue is presented to be
like an inverted pyramid in structure with pillars supporting it. Once, pinpointed, courses of
action on how to win over the different persons, pillars supporting an issue, can be planned.
The pillars must be removed or weakened sufficiently so as to topple down the pyramid-issue.

2. Newspaper Analysis - newspaper accounts are used to dissect issues into their economic,
political and cultural bases

3. Conjunctural Analysis - is an attempt to examine a society’s situation using an important

moment in its recent history as a reference point or discussion. The participants are led to
identify the factors which led to that chosen moment. They are guided to isolate the important
events, surface relevant issues, pinpoint significant actors or forces which contributed to the
occurrence of that moment

4. EPCE Analysis - to dissect society into four major fields: Economic-Political-Cultural-

Environmental systems and to pinpoint causes, effects and interrelationships of factors that
constitute society. The EPCE matrix will be adopted by XUNSTP in gathering data during the
social integration.

Input 4

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION

While interacting with the people the students will ask the following questions and may refer to the
Economic, Political, Cultural, Environmental matrix

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Below are guide questions for the Social Exposure Activity. Be familiar with these questions and ask
these questions politely with your respondent. As much as possible, create a conversational atmosphere with your respondent and
avoid looking at these guide questions every now and then. Write the respondent’s answers on the space provided or you may use the
back page for any written documentation purposes.

GUIDE QUESTIONS

Ngalan: Edad: Seks:

Edukasyon nga nakab-ot: Pinuy-anan:

1. Pila ka pamilya ang nagpuyo sa inyong balay? (1.1) Pila ka babaye? (1.2) Pila ka lalake?
2. Pila kabu-ok ang adunay trabaho sa inyong balay?
3. Unsa ang ilang panginabuhian/trabaho?
4. Pila ang hiniusa nga kinitaan sulod sa sa usa ka bulan?
5. Unsa ang kasagaran nga balatian o sakit nga nasinati sa mga lumulopyo sa inyong lugar? Ug aha
man mo kasagaran gapatambal?
6. Unsa ang nabati nga problema sa inyong barangay?
7. Unsa nga problema ang angayang hatagan ug pagtagad?
8. Unsa ang mga programa o proyekto sa inyong barangay?
9. Mga kalihukan o aktibidades sa inyong barangay nga imong naapilan?
10. Kumusta man ang pangagamhanan sa inyong barangay?
11. General Observations on the physical environment, behavior of people, material culture (man-
made: house, buildings, shops, industries), facilities/amenities and events
Name of student : NSTP Section/Team: Date Submitted:

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EPCE (ECONOMIC/POLITICAL/CULTURAL/ENVIRONMENTAL) Matrix

Economic Political Cultural Environmental

Data referring to the Data referring to Data referring to the Data referring to
factors of production decision-making way people relate to environmental
(i.e., land, labor, and processes, patterns of the social environment protection and
capital) and the organizations and - educational system degradation
production, distribution, power groupings - media - resource
and consumption of - policies and aims of - language management
goods and services government - recreation - proper allocation
- employment - political affairs - values and access to public
- wages - organization - attitudes lands, forests,
- prices - relationships with - behavioral pattern minerals, water,
- trade: import & foreign countries - beliefs - clean air
export - pressure/power - effects of climate
- industrial & groupings change
agricultural situation - global warming