​
The Kuya Manny Initiative
By: Chelsea Paz, Janelle Sy, Elin Dela Cruz
Kuya Manny is part of the staff or the non-teaching personnel in the Ateneo de Manila University. For the past few years, he has been assigned to work in the Bellarmine Hall building, the farthest LS building from the campus. During his daily rounds in the hall, he would hear the lessons taught to the classes being held in the building. Incidentally, the CSV class for this semester was held in the Bellarmine Hall. The rooms in Bellarmine are non-aircon, so it is easy to listen to the ongoing class outside the classroom. Sometimes, it even echoes throughout the whole floor since the doors of the classrooms are always open.
The CSV class is held in the third floor of Bellarmine hall every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Kuya Manny is assigned in that floor for cleaning. During his regular rounds in the floor, he probably heard about the lessons that Sir Laurel, the professor for the CSV class, taught his students about CSV. The class would discuss about the beginnings of CSV, Nestle plan, and other CSV initiatives all around the Philippines. Kuya Manny would always pass by every class time, the CSV students always hear the creak of his cleaning cart passing by the classroom, and would probably listen today’s topic whenever he has the time. No one in class knew about this as he never approached Sir Laurel or any of the students.
Until one day, he approached Sir Laurel about CSV activities and the class field trip in Nescafe Lipa, just before the second bell rang. They talked about the CSV activities that the class did, the Nescafe plan, and the visit of the class to Lipa. According to Sir Laurel, he was really interested in CSV, and how it works. Kuya Manny eventually talked about his farm in Bicol, where his wife stays. Finally, he asked Sir Laurel if he can buy seedlings so he can plant it in his farm. Sir Laurel, being the CSV advocate that he is, agreed to this and planned a way to give Kuya Manny seedlings.
In light with Kuya Manny’s plan, Sir Laurel presented the idea to the class as he wants to include the CSV students in this initiative. He asked if the students can donate money to buy the seedlings, and act as a benefactor to Kuya Manny. Fortunately, almost everyone in class agreed to this plan, as they were also interested in how it will turn out for Kuya Manny. Just before Kuya Manny went back to Bicol, Sir Laurel, together with his CSV class, was able to give Kuya Manny 20 seedlings of coffee plants for planting.
As of writing, Kuya Manny has already planted the seedlings and waiting for the plants to grow. When the time for harvesting comes, he will be able to use the coffee beans in partnership with local coffee shops, or possible start a partnership with a company just like Ka Mila. In the future, in line with the vision of Creating Shared Value, we hope that Kuya Manny can use his coffee plants to encourage his neighbors to participate in his sustainable livelihood.
