Ang bida ay barangay

It is amazing how Filipinos would make our nation proud around the world — the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Charice. Now, Thia Megia, Clint Gamboa and Monique de los Santos are journeying their way to stardom in the US reality talent show American Idol Season 10. And just this week Lady Gaga tweeted “Can’t stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future,” and attached was a video of 10-year-old Filipino-Canadian Maria Aragon playing the piano and singing her version of the music icon’s latest hit Born this Way.

Although there are some of our countrymen who met misfortune in the foreign land, there are still good reasons why we should be proud of being Filipinos.

Like the pride that Filipinos in the limelight made us feel, there are also some who can make us feel proud in our very own homeland, in our very own barangay. There are communities that set good examples to other neighborhoods. There are the cleanest places in town where the locality is doing significant projects like segregating garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable. They keep materials that could still be recycled and come up with something very useful like juice tetra-pack to a handbag, and from bits and pieces of cloth to rags or pot holders. There are some who come up with a clean-up drive every weekend to drive away mosquitoes from existing in their place especially those that cause dengue.

Lulu Palileo, Kimpura Greenbelt 5 branch manager; Bea Teh Tan, Credit Payment Products Director and Joy Ng, Kimpura business development manager

Every Friday, I have a segment in my newest family Umagang Kay Ganda (UKG) titled Barangay Bida. It will feature communities that set a good example to other neighborhoods in the country. We will show why a certain barangay is considered a bida — be it in relation to the environment or the way people run things in their community. We will get barangays that have made a mark or achieved something to inspire other barangays. We will ask them how they are able to come up with bright ideas and how they were able to realize their projects.

The first communities that Barangay Bida visited and featured were Barangays Sta. Elena in Marikina and Holy Spirit in Quezon City. Sta. Elena was awarded for five consecutive years as having the cleanest market in the Philippines. It also claims to start the shoe-making industry in the locality which has become a main source of income of its people.

Barangay Holy Spirit was recognized as one of the cleanest barangays in Metro Manila awarded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

These barangays do not only serve as role models. They also show how cooperative and responsible people are in their community. Their places would be featured not only because of one person’s effort but because of the good relationship of everyone in the neighborhood. These barangays are an inspiration to everyone and I hope Barangay Bida will be able to show the viewers the most deserving barangays and motivate other communities to do the same. If everyone helps each other to achieve one goal, there is no other way to go but to achieve it. Imagine if every barangay is commendable, then anywhere in the Philippines would be something to be proud of. We will not only be proud of being Filipinos, but also because we come from barangays that do something to make the place we live in a better place.