With the help of UP Painters Club, SIBOL members encourage the children of San Antonio Elementary School in this annual art workshop to use their creativity in communicating important Filipino values.

With its very “organic” sounding name and a logo that depicts a sapling, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) SIBOL organization is always being mistaken for an environmental group.

But SIBOL in fact is a socio-civic organization and its name actually stands for Service, Integrity, Benevolence, Objectivity and Leadership. The group’s objective is to cater to the upliftment of the marginalized sector of the society. “We do community-based projects inside and outside the campus like medical missions, street projects, and tutorials, which we conduct inside the UPLB,” explains SIBOL vice president Eva Celis.

SIBOL has also made its way to the communities of neighboring provinces like Quezon and Batangas. “That’s where we witness reality. It’s really a different experience. On campus, kung ano yung itinuturo ng teacher, tanggap ka lang nang tanggap, kung baga walang application. When we go out to the community, we practice what we learn and appreciate things more,” shares 20-year-old SIBOL president Maylene Dumandan.

Last December, the group’s PagSIBOL project earned them a place as one of the finalists in the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) awards.
A healthy-community project, PagSIBOL was embarked on with the help of the municipality of Los Baños. The barangay-based program includes medical missions, livelihood training seminars, art workshops and also an anti-dengue campaign.

From community to communities

SIBOL started as a political party, in the Development Communication (DevCom) department of UPLB in 2001. But after losing in the election, the 13 founding members transformed the party into a legitimate socio-civic organization. With 42 members today, the group is slowly becoming a UPLB institution that works closely with communities and partners in order to conduct their daily, monthly and annual projects.

The group is composed of students from different courses who drive the organization to its mission to help find and solve problems of communities. Celis believes that these problems exist in communities because of only one thing — lack of or no communication at all.

“For me, the common problem with these communities is the lack of communication between the leaders and people in the community. We ask the people in the community in our need assessment strategy and then ask the LGU (local government unit) who is designing the wrong programs from what the people actually needs. They really need to communicate, consult and also to build partnerships,” she relates.

However, the group does not only hold projects in different communities but on campus as well. “We hold tutorials where we assess what subjects in a semester has a high mortality rate. Then we tap into different academic organizations, we provide the venue, publicity, then sa kanila na yung instructors,” Celis relates.

SIBOL is also helping mold its members into better members of the community. In choosing their members alone, the group conducts not just a simple sign up and pay the fee membership. They let the applicants go through an entire process. Freshmen applicants are discouraged though.

Celis, a senior DevCom student, considers SIBOL a continuation of what she had started back in high school in Batangas. “Ever since in high school I was active in different organizations outside the campus and I found SIBOL, an organization that conducts not just ordinary projects but outreach programs as well. I thought that while I was studying I can also help communities outside,” she shares.

SIBOL helpes her develop her leadership skills and personality, she admits.  “Also, the realization of leaving your comfort zone and seeing the reality outside that is not taught in the four corners of the classroom. You will see that there are so many people who are in need and we’re here to share what we know. The partnerships we build also bridge extensions to the communities.”

Graduating student Dumandan adds that apart from the experience,  it’s the development that SIBOL gives to its members that makes everything worthwhile. Also, it’s the the family that the organization builds is the best part of it all. “The fact that the organization doesn’t need to give out big amounts of money means that everything is a collective effort. It’s our family on campus,” Dumandan relates.

“And the experience of the beneficiaries appreciating the simple things you do for them makes everything worth it.”