{"id":18176,"date":"2026-05-02T15:36:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=18176"},"modified":"2026-05-02T16:27:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:27:06","slug":"who-needs-saving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/who-needs-saving\/","title":{"rendered":"Who needs saving?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social media has become a hub for armchair activists, spreading misinformation and muddled ideas of revolution, including the dangerous notion that poor people need \u2018saving\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a new researcher at IBON, I learned on Day One to go beyond existing literature, government statistics, and online data\u2014to step out of the comforts of the office and be grounded in real-life conditions\u2014as secondary data can just as easily mislead as inform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We met Kuya Rey during the International Solidarity Mission in Negros. Once a farmer, he was driven off his land and ended up working as a farmhand in a palm oil plantation in Candoni. The job was precarious, but it was what was available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, an accident at work cost him a finger. For that, management gave him only Php5,000. He had to stop working for a few days to recover, but those days went unpaid under a strict “no work, no pay” policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Philippine Statistics Authority, Kuya Rey is counted as fully employed. In reality, his so-called employment exists without security, protection, or dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities may describe what happened in Sitio San Isidro as a “voluntary demolition”, pointing to homeowners who already accepted financial assistance. On paper, it looks orderly\u2014consent given, compensation paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that version falls apart the moment we talked to the residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each structure cleared was not just a single household. Behind one owner\u2019s consent were five to seven renting families living under the same roof\u2014families who had no say in the decision, no compensation, and nowhere to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Health (DOH) may report that the doctor-to-patient ratio in the Cordillera Administrative Region meets the standard. On paper, it suggests that there are enough doctors to serve the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the picture shifts when you speak with health workers in Baguio City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They point out that not all doctors can treat all conditions, with each having a specialization and a limited scope of practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the issue of the terrain. In Baguio City, hospitals and communities are separated by steep, winding roads. For many residents, especially those in more remote areas, reaching a doctor is far from straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may also be said that barangay health centers are in place across Iloilo City\u2014proof on paper that basic healthcare has reached the community level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the picture changes when you visit the communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the facilities operate without electricity or running water. There is also a limited number of deployed health workers\u2014too few to meet the needs of the communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are details you won\u2019t find in reports and statistics\u2014you only see them when you visit the community, so touch grass, be with the people.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of researchers in the communities should not even be debatable anymore; it should be a logical necessity, recognized as an integral part of understanding reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And out there, I have come to grasp that it is the people whom you thought needed you and your glorious awareness-raising who will save you from your own arrogance and ignorance.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we recognize this as essential to understanding, we begin to see that what people need are researchers and activists who will tell their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are details you won\u2019t find in reports and statistics\u2014you only see them when you visit the community, so touch grass, be with the people.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":18201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,2049],"tags":[2412,4299,4099,4298,2343,1962,4300,4098,2973,4296,3020,165,2437,4297],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18198,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18176\/revisions\/18198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}