Cebu: A different island, a different story

I have to say that making the transition from the hectic, but quite comfortable life I led in big, chaotic Manila, to small, quaint, and almost-rural Talisay of Cebu has proven less difficult than expected. Although I am not sure what I expected from the move of north to south, but have been told that the people in Cebu are “different” from Manila. As big-city livin’ differs from country side bumpkin’. Cebuanos speak a different dialect (Visaya/Cebuano) and they look different – classifying themselves into three different types (particularly when referring to attractiveness levels of young women): chinita, mestiza/o, and morena/o. They seem happier down here, as if that was possible for Filipinos – since Lonely Planet declares them some of the happiest people in the world. To prove this, of all their some 70 languages and dialects, there are no words for depression, anxiety, anguish, or even boredom (at least as a little translation). And it is easy to tell that although the Filipinos themselves do not think particularly highly of themselves, or that they are in any way superior, they do recognize their innate hospitality, and often can laugh in the face of anything! Constantly “just having fun” or “just joking,” they often find ways to not only see the silver lining, but also be able to laugh in the face of hardship or problems that come their way.

Genevieve (Gen), a 28-year old Fil-Am (yup, you guess it full Filipina, born and raised in America), my co-worker and Project Coordinator for IPA, has gone beyond her job to not only assist in the move, from arranging a driver to pick me up at the airport and to offering me the spare room without charging rent! From the moment I arrived, she introduced me to the Green Bank crew, and I quickly began to feel like one of the family. My housemates include Gen and two other Filipino young men and Green Bank employees, Lyndon (“Don-don”) and Keith. Lyndon is 21 years old, and while young, is quite mature in his mind and thinking patterns, which allows me to bond with him quickly as he is comfortable to talk to, and warms me with his smile every time I see him. Keith is our master chef of the house, talks to his aquarium of fish, and is 27 years old and the wiser and more experienced of the Green Bank staff, having worked there for 5 years or so. And Gen is mayora. Not sure what that makes me, but I have been referred to as “cousin.” Gen despises the title while others have claimed it to mean the “lady of the house,” she believes in particular, it refers to the woman who doesn’t do anything. The title fits accurately when Lyndon and Keith are slaving in the kitchen every night to cook us dinner, while we, the women of the house, lounge around. Although, I do offer to wash dishes. But, like I said, our patterns and easy-going lifestyle have already begun to fit to feel much like a family.

One thing I do miss is the rain. Talisay is exorbitantly HOT, so much so that it’s almost unbearable to go out during the day, if need not to. Unfortunately, since I ended up with the spare room, it is unequipped with air con. However, a fan does fine in the evenings and keeps the mosquitoes off of me, which also seem to be a much bigger problem for me down here than in Manila; however, in the mornings, my room feels much like a sauna and makes it difficult for me to enjoy my weekend sleep-ins – preventing from me to sleep past a mere 10:30 am.

Given all this within settling, work already seems busier and more exciting than my droning coffee-shop days in Manila researching organic mango farming. Not that I have given up on mangoes and in fact, have been assigned to write a business plan. It’s difficult to be given an assignment you feel, as is, you cannot complete. But, given the wonders of Google, I am already done my research and downloaded business plan literature and “how-tos.”

The project here is typical of most of the research projects IPA conducts in the Philippines, regarding microfinance.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a non-profit research institution which scientifically evaluates microfinance products and other development initiatives in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (http://www.poverty-action.org/, http://www.povertyactionlab.org/). In its research, IPA partners with local microfinance institutions and banks all across the Philippines to evaluate their product innovation and outreach. In essence, IPA evaluated programs and determines broadly whether a particular intervention has had the desired effect on individuals and households and whether it is directly responsible for those effects. I would say that my background in econometrics (thanks to 3 quarters of QM Data Analysis courses at IR/PS), including having the privilege of studying under Prof. McIntosh, a celebrity in the field of microfinance, particularly in Africa, has prepared me for the understanding of IPA’s research habits. Essentially, as Gen boiled it down for me, IPA employees in the field conduct research and basic analysis to assist the overseeing professors (Dean and JZ) in writing econometric-style papers. In fact, to my surprise and enjoyment, both Luke and Dean are familiar with McIntosh’s work and think highly of him. Given this, IPA relies heavily and exclusively on using an experimental design that they think to be the most robust methodology (randomized controlled trials) that generates control and treatment groups through randomization, free of selection bias that they claim has clouded microfinance research in the past.

This being said, my position here in Cebu is to collect data and determine what microfinance institutions (MFIs) have entered target areas for the study. We are in partnership with Green Bank of Caraga to test the relative merits of group versus individual liability loan programs. This project will measure the impact of the different lending models for both the institution and the communities in which the bank lends. The evaluation will measure the economic and social impacts of Green Bank loans on the lending program members and their communities; and evaluate the institutional impact of different lending programs by comparing repayment rates, loan size, client retention, drop out and savings mobilization. There are three areas of study being covered: Bohol, Biliran, and Cebu. As aforementioned, I am in charge of covering the study area here in Cebu, and will be working in the field every day, which I highly enjoy. I came here to Philippines, choosing IPA over my other internship opportunity with NP Strategies in San Diego, specifically to get “field experience.” It beats sitting behind a desk, and if work can mean that I can wear flip flops and tank tops, hitching rides on motorbikes, trekking into barangay villages, I am all for it. To put things in perspective, Gen has informed me that this is not a job that suits everyone and some can’t handle the “roughness” of the field (what? no air con?!)…but that’s just me.

So far, I am still in the stages of developing my “list” of MFIs in each barangay of the three municipals targeted in Cebu: Carcar, San Fernando, and Naga. There are about 6-8 barangays in each. To clarify, a barangay is considered a community or village; therefore, many barangays can make up one municipal. It’s actually proven to be a more difficult than I thought, as I first started going around to each barangay during the center meetings to meet the clients face to face and ask them directly for a list of the competitors present in the area. After that proved too time-consuming, I decided to go straight to the municipal halls to get a list from officials there. However, when I realized that the lists given by the municipal halls were significant different from those I had received from the barangays and the clients themselves, Toefilo informed me that many of the institutions do not file permits with the municipal, or “bad banks.” Green Bank was not found on any of the municipal lists. So, now I am back to visiting every barangay, since the barangay halls seem much more knowledge about the institutions present in their areas.

Luckily, Toefilo is my guide, and probably the smartest guy at Green Bank. He is sharp, and charismatic. He can walk into any building and light up the place, bouncing around, poking his head in with a sheepish grin on his face: “AY-YO!” He knows the back streets of every barangay like the back of his hand, and with ease whips me in and out in no time at all. Not to mention, I feel safe riding on the back of his bike. Also, he was the one that started my addiction to halo-halo. And now he is happy, as am I, to share a halo-halo together…even if “on the clock.” He is a hard worker and is sharp and witty. I’ve barely had to explain my project to him and he waltzed in to every establishment probably explaining it better than I could (not that I can be sure, since it’s all in Bisaya dialect).

I sometimes find myself taking for granted my surroundings. When riding on the bike -- trying to put my face down to avoid stray strands of hair whipping me in the face, or an oncoming thick black cloud that we burst through with full force, or a passing truck that I grit my teeth at in hopes of it not side-swiping my long legs that stick out like chicken legs off either sides of the bike – there is a moment, even if for a split second, where there is a break in the row of houses and the coast is exposed. We whiz by crystal-clear blue and green waters, with a few spare coconut palm trees, and some dwindling fisherman in their small but rickety boats out to sea. Or, today, I realized, riding on the back of Toefilo’s bike to some of the remaining barangays I had to cover for Carcar, suddenly that we were on a simple, narrow paved road, big enough to fit two motorcycles on either side, and perhaps a passing car (wouldn’t put it past them to try!), and surrounding us were bright, so bright almost fluorescent, green rice paddy fields, spotted with stark palm trees, and small black and red and blue and yellow mounds moving deep in the thickets to mark the t-shirts and hats and hair of the field workers. I have to smile to myself because it reminds me of where I am. This is where I live. This is where I work. Isn’t it beautiful? I almost cannot believe it. And at that moment, on the bike, whizzing by a field in the middle of the Philippines, I am grateful…and I can’t pinpoint for what.