MARTINA del FUEGO

A Bubbling Discovery

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OUR TOOLS MUST be defective,” a dispirited peasant remarked as he held the melted bar of soap in his hands. “No, there must be a missing ingredient,” argued Ka Rosa.  “Perhaps, only the teknokrats can produce this stuff,” Ka Tonio, a fellow peasants finally retorted in frustration. 

Deep in the  jungles of the Cordilleras, 35 peasants trainees from the five towns of Sta. Rosario [not the real name of the place] grappled for answers that would give substance and form their very first endeavor in soap production.

In this town, where government services are virtually non-existent, a basic item like scented soap is considered a luxury.  Thus, the People’s Revolutionary Organs of Governance (PROGs) established by the villagers decided to conduct seminars on soap production as part of the PROGs program on self-reliance. Since ingredients for soap-making abound in the area, they felt that they should hardly have any trouble in manufacturing the product.

Thus, in August last year [1989], a group of peasants who are also members of the Socio-Economic Teams of the PROG, proposed the project concept with a people’s organization in Manila. After a series of consultations, illustrated kits were sent to the village for the peasants to pore over, while they awaited the arrival of an instructor.

But days passed without the resource person from Manila making an appearance. Military operations and bad weather had delayed his arrival.  The peasant’s excitements soon turned to impatience.

Confident with their seminar kit on hand, the peasants went ahead with the experiment without waiting for the instructor.  One trial experiment led to another until a series of failures dampened their hopes for success.

When Ka Nestor, the volunteer-technician from Manila finally reached Sta. Rosario, skepticism was already widespread among the peasant trainees. They don’t so much doubt Ka Nestor’s ability as they did their own.  As one trainee remarked, “How could simple unschooled peasants like us produce such a precious commodity? We have to walk tens of kilometers and cross rivers and mountain trails just to be able to buy soap for our families.”

Ka Nestor, who lived most of his life with the peasantry, readily understood their anxieties.  But he also believed in the villagers’ capacities and boundless potential. Encouraging them, he pointed out: “I may have the formulas, but it is you yourselves who produce the resources right in your backyards necessary for the formulas to work.  Given the right opportunity, you could discover other means of utilizing these raw materials in the same way that you have discovered many indigenous herbal cures.  In you communities, everyone has the right to  learn, not just those who can afford to buy books or pay expensive tuition fees.”

During the actual training, however, creeping self-doubts constantly threatened the peasants’ confidence. For 15 straight days of theoretical grounding and step-by-step demonstrations, the constant fear of failure shacked their minds.  But Ka Nestor’s unflagging optimism and steadfastness kept these fears in restraint.

More than this, however, the support that had poured in from the wartorn villages of Sta. Rosario buoyed up their spirits.

Months before, barrio council  leaders called for voluntary support for the soap-making project in mass meetings.  The appeal yielded more than what they  expected. Each family contributed at least two coconuts (coconut oil is the basic ingredients for soap-making). Even the Red fighters in the region responded with generosity.  Despite their limited resources, each guerrilla in the area allotted a bottle of coconut oil for the project, produced either from the NPA’s communal farms of from the fighters’ individual  food budget.  For tools, available metals, wood and kitchen utensils were improvised and assembled by a team of peasants and guerrillas.

The money needed to purchase some of the tools and ingredients was also shouldered in advance by Red Army to expedite the coco-project.  The necessary funds were unavailable as yet because military harassment of people’s organizations delayed the entry of material support from the cities and town centers.

As the seminar neared its final phase, the peasants’ fears were slowly dispelled. Excitements grew and all eyes were glued to the soap mixture.

When the mixture was finally molded and cut, melodious cries of oohs and aahs, interpersed with cheers and laughter, broke into weeks of tension. Tidings  of triumph spread fast among the villages.  Soon, the training site was cramped  with young and old, all wanting to have a touch of the final product and see if it was for real.

Womenfolk, in particular, shrieked with delight as they sniffed their own scented soap bars while their children frolicked around.  Said Ka Nestor: “It was like Christmas.  Everyone was bubbling with energy and high spirits and clutching bars of soap.”

From the total number of bars produced, the Socio-Eco Team distributed free samples to the participants and visitors.  One hundred twenty bars were set aside for each NPA front while five pieces were allotted for each PROG official to show to their constituents.  The rest were reserved for the families in the village.

A week after, the first batch of peasants trainees conducted the same seminar to a second group of trainees, who in turn shared their new-found skills with others.

From soap-making, the peasants embarked on the production of vinegar, coconut cookies and bread using the same ingredients.  Later, Ka Nestor and the peasants also successfully made use of oil extracts from carabaos, wild pigs, cows, and snakes for soap production.

The team’s next venture, Ka Nestor explained, is the extraction of essences from the plants available in the area so the peasants would no longer have to buy perfume from the  center.

The unprecedented  economic venture led the villages to commemorate their success by inaugurating their first coco-processing “plant” last September. The three-day affair was celebrated by 300b villagefolk and a platoon of NPA guerrillas. The ceremony commended with the singing of the  Philippine national anthem and the Internationale as the NDF and the Philippine flags were unfurled.  Officers of the Socio-Eco team, the mayor of the PROG and other officials congratulated the participants and the NPA for the cooperation and commitment in developing the communities of Sta. Rosario.

Following the official’s opening address, the team of peasants demonstrated how to operate the plant.  By the end of the third day, the plant was able to produce over 600 bars of soap, 1,000 coco-cookies, over 500 pieces of bread, about 100 liters of vinegar and several boxes of coco-candies for children and adults alike.

The peasants masses celebrated the plant’s successful run with their traditional songs and dances.  Among the festive crowd, the first batch of peasant trainees radiated most of the smiles, fascinated with the discovery that they could, after all, do things just as well as the teknokrats from the city.