Metamorphosis_Kalahi-CIDSS Compendium 2015

Who would have thought that a 60-year-old lady would go far from simply
tending sayotes to addressing the United Nations in the Big Apple?
On September 30, 2015, Elsie Lomong-oy, of the Applai-Kankana-ey tribe from Besao,
Mountain Province just did that.
Garbed in the colors of her native attire, Manang Elsie, as she is fondly called, related
her experiences as a community volunteer and how capacitating the people through
volunteerism lifted her town to become one of Cordilleras fast developing municipalities.
She stuttered over her first words as she shook off some nervous feelings, but eventually
spoke smoothly towards the end. “I was trembling a bit because the entire experience was a
first time for me,” she recalled.
Manang Elsie told the crowd how Besao managed to put up 49 infrastructure projects
in a span of four years, five times more than the expected government projects. She said
development is not just the business of officials, it is everyone’s lookout.
“These were constructed by our own hands, from the sweat and aspirations of poor people
like me who never had the voice and choice before,” her speech said. At the end of her
talk, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation, something that affirmed what she has been
doing the entire time.
Rest-less
From Sayote
It was, literally and figuratively, a long but fruitful journey for Manang Elsie. Having spent
most of her life in the landlocked town of Besao the elderly lady contented herself to her
daily routine and whatever comes around to fill her time.
She wakes up to her usual weekday routine which starts with fixing breakfast, feeding the
pigs, cleaning the pen, sweeping the yard, washing the dishes, and feeding their pet dog
before preparing to go to work at the barangay hall where she is the treasurer or at a meeting
where she is a member of an organization.
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For most, the voluminous task may be more than enough to keep a woman of her age