Ambulance on foot: Bottom of the
Mountains’ Summit

Geli, Pasion, Ramos, Soliven, Guillermo, Sanchez

ABOUT

Kara David, in her documentary in I-Witness: “Ambulansyang De Paa” brought the Mangyans’ problems down from the mountain, to the top of dinner tables, and even in front of our eyes. It won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 2009, carrying the burden of the people of Bansud, Oriental Mindoro even up on stage. The film showcased how Mangyans experience being at the bottom, even if they live in the mountains.

Kara followed the same path she took on her first documentary, “Gamu-gamo sa Dilim” on the way to the sitio called “Little Baguio”. The shaky truck, the rocky road, and the rivers welcomed her once more. Bansud was still the same scene, but her I-Witness piece “Ambulansyang de Paa” took it from a different angle. It widened its perspective from lack of electricity to lack of health care. It also captured the neighboring sitios of Little Baguio which each has its own account of difficulties. Hence, Ambulansyang de Paa gives us a picture of the three mountains and their own story.

Little Baguio

After "Gamu-gamo sa Dilim" was aired, the Department of Energy gave solar panels. As a result, Kara expected to witness the light and energy in Little Baguio as she visited it once again, but she was shocked to see incomplete and broken solar panels.

The light flickered only for three years and the Local government didn’t bother itself anymore to fix it. Indeed, residents, there were still like fireflies living in the dark.

Sitio Diyandang

After Kara went to Little Baguio, they visited another Sitio called “Diyandang”. There she met Lowen who got diagnosed with Tuberculosis ever since when he was 12 years old, his family tried to seek medical treatment but when they ran out of money, they stopped the medication. Lowen then takes supplements and coffee instead of medicine in the hope to keep him alive.

Moreover, the people in Sitio Diyandang also still believe that Lowen’s illness is a curse due to lack of health education. But, Kara mentioned that Tuberculosis is very easy to cure nowadays and in other countries, TB was already conquered because of the free medication provided by their government. Hence, healthcare is not just too far for the people who live away from the city but also too high to reach for those who are marginalized in our society.

In addition, Kara convinced Lowen’s family to bring him to the hospital and asked how they would transport him. Then, Lowen’s brother-in-law pointed to the Ambulansya de Paa; their hammock and their best option of transportation even at times of emergency. Volunteers carry the patient to the Health center, walking for 4 hours on the rocky trails and rivers even if it’s urgent. Atan Lomio had also mentioned that some people die on their way down. A tragedy that could have been avoided if there was no huge gap between the people and healthcare.

Mountain of
Villa Pag-asa

Lack of medical workers and medicines

The next day, Kara and her team climbed to the Mountain of Villa Pag-asa. As hopeful as their place’s name sounds, their situation rings otherwise. A resident says that people there are not allowed to get sick and if there is an accident, they try to mend it on their own. They only bring people down from the mountain if it is really severe.

Also, because people rarely meet a doctor, they had mistaken Kara as a medical practitioner. One father tried to consult his baby whose skin got burned from the boiling water and said that the antibiotic they bought from the town was already running out. There was no pharmacy, nor health center nor ambulance on their mountain. Hence, if it’s hard for people to get sick; it’s harder for them to get healed.

Furthermore, Kara went to visit another baby who was skinny and small together with their only health worker, Aling Sumay. Kara said that John Loyd is malnourished and has Marasmus; protein-energy malnutrition. He had never tasted his mother's milk because his mother died right after his two months of giving birth and every day, John Loyd only drinks "am" or rice-washed water making him deprived of the nutrients that his growing body needed.

In addition, the Mayor of Bansud said that health is their priority that’s why they built a hospital. Kara then asked him, “How about those people who can't go to the hospital because they are far away?”. Ronaldo Morada answered that two mobile ambulances can reach Calapan City. However, these two mobile ambulances cannot reach Bansud’s remote areas like Villa Pag-asa and Little Baguio. David then asked about the people who cannot be reached by their services. Morada admitted that it was where the problem lies, there needed to be an access road. Kara questioned next if Morada was aware of the people being brought down by the "duyan." Morada answered that he was aware and that they tried to solve it by building more access roads. But then, he also proceeded to admit that, just by their current local budget, it wouldn't be possible to carry out more projects for people that live in their sitios. Their yearly budget for the road access project was only 8-9 million pesos. A budget that will still have to be split up for different sectors including education, health, and agriculture. Indeed, not only is health care physically inaccessible, but it is also financially inaccessible.

"Healthcare is not accessible to the poor."

Moreover, Kara together with the two babies and their guardians went down from the mountain. It is their first time to consult a doctor and as they travel, John Loyd already kept defecating and started to get dehydrated. After walking in the mud for four hours, they arrived at the health center, only to be surprised that there was no doctor. Only the Mayor’s wife was there; also a midwife. She knew John Loyd needed a doctor because it was not only malnutrition. So, using the ambulance, they went to another town. Dra. Visconde knew right away that the baby had many illnesses. The doctor also said that if John Lloyd does not confine himself in the hospital, his tuberculosis would worsen. Yet, John’s father insisted not because they didn’t have the money for the hospital bills. But then, John suddenly pooped and it was still a solid banana. Dra. Visconde explained that the baby's digestion is not proper. She was scared because Mang Eliseo kept insisting that they will come back to the mountain and the baby might get dehydrated on the way and worse, die. But given the baby’s condition, he chose to agree with Kara’s deal that their team will shoulder all the expenses and let baby John stay in the hospital. After 8 hours, the doctor said that the baby was not dehydrated anymore and could fight back the infection. It just depicted more how people in the mountains need a bridge to cross over the gap of healthcare.

Mountain’s Calling

Glorifying Filipino Resiliency < ask for Government’s accountability

Healthcare is a priority yet people from secluded areas remain to have no access to it because of lack of pondo. People are in need of help from the National government.

Indeed, the documentary showed the “Bayanihan” or resilient spirit of Filipinos. We see this community helping each other out for free, just to get to Bansud’s only Health Center. Some could argue that the documentary is romanticizing their struggles, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, Kara David uses a very humane way of documenting these communities. She talks and converses with them in a non-condescending way and she allows the communities to show their positives, while not glorifying their negatives. However, at the end of the documentary, she mentions that as long as some feet and arms will carry these ambulances, there is still hope. This part can come off as romanticizing the “Filipino resilience”, but it can also sum up the poor conditions these communities have been living in. If there were no arms and feet that would power these ambulances, then the people would die. It shows that the basic necessity and right of these people to healthcare is inaccessible. But not only is health care physically inaccessible, but it is also financially beyond reach. We can see in the second part of the documentary, Eliseo Libudan, the father of John Lloyd, stressing his son’s hospital bills. Any parent upon hearing John Lloyd’s conditions would want to take action quickly, but because of the poor situation Libudan’s family is in, and the financially inaccessible health care; Libudan was hesitant to provide the right health services to his son. We cannot blame the man as health care is really expensive for something that should be accessible and is a basic human right.

However, the provision of free access to health services might not be enough to enhance the utilization of health care for indigent families. Efforts must be made to provide health care information and provide community-based care services, through investing in the construction of health centers at the village level; or by organizing regular and frequent visits or caravans to help indigent people overcome the cost and transportation barriers that prevent them from participating in health programs. In addition, urgent and exceptional action is required at national, regional, and local levels to plan and implement health campaigns to raise awareness among indigents of common diseases and the importance of seeking timely healthcare services from appropriate providers. Consequently, additional accompanying measures are needed to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of health care and its services; in a manner that is felt by indigent Filipinos. Finally, logistic and legislative measures must be in place to implement free medicine programs for indigent patients in poor and remote areas to enable these patients to access badly-needed medicines.

And so, if resiliency and Bayanihan are Filipino families not having access to basic human needs and rights, then it is not resiliency anymore; it is a cycle of human violations. Being deprived of our needs and rights is very common in the country. Not only the problem lies in our poor health care services, but it is also deep-rooted in capitalism. We have trillions of budget for infrastructures that displace and kill our indigenous communities, but we cannot spend a few more to make our health care accessible or- dare I say, free?