MANILA, Philippines — In the world of Facebook, bayanihan can be at its best.

There have been many occasions when people have taken their inspiring stories and advocacies online, helping the sick, the abused and other marginalized sectors of the society with the aid of Facebook.

Then there is this one life-changing Facebook story.

In October last year, 29-year-old blogger and former government official Jay Michael O. Jaboneta just got back from a trip to Zamboanga city where he was invited to speak in the Mindanao Bloggers’ Summit. Upon return, he immediately updated his status with an information that bothered him. It said: “I just came back from Zamboanga city and heard about a story of kids practically swimming to school.”

Jay learned about this from one of the campaign volunteers Juljimar Gonzales on his last day in the city but did not have the time to visit those kids and verify the information.

At that time, Jay was the New Media head under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) of Secretary Sonny Coloma.

Foremost marketing trainor Josiah Go, one of Jay’s close friends, then commented on this status, challenging him to do something about it.

“He asked me 'Are we gonna stop at just telling the story?' So napaisip ako and thought about doing a mini-fundraising campaign to buy these kids a boat that they can use to school. So that was it. In a matter of two hours, mayroon na kaming naraise na 20,000 from our own group first. Then within one week, it reached P70,000!” he says.

With the cash on hand, Jay called on another friend Dr. Anton Lim of the Tzu Chi Foundation in Zamboanga and asked his help to check if there were indeed kids in the remote village of Layag-Layag, Zamboanga who were living in that dire situation. Upon verification, Anton immediately partnered with Jay in raising the rest of the funds and volunteered to help implement their little project.

Dr. Anton says they initially thought of building a footbridge to link the village to the community but they needed to raise P10 million so they settled on building a boat instead.

Sad plight

The Tausugs and Samals from Sulu are residing in that mangrove village of Layag-Layag, Zamboanga and earn a livelihood through seaweed farming. Many of the 200 kids swim for two kilometers from their village to the shore during high tide. From there, they walk for another one kilometer to reach the Talon-Talon Elementary School. In the afternoon, they return from school and walk through another two kilometers of mud during low tide.

“The taller kids just wade through chest-deep of waters, trying hard not to get their things wet. They hold on one hand a plastic bag containing their uniform, shoes, bags and books. Pag nangawit na, ililipat naman sa isang kamay yung mga gamit. When they get to shore, magpapatuyo muna sila and then change into their uniforms. Pero ‘yung mga smaller kids, they really swim,” reveals Jay.

But the kids actually don’t mind the swimming, Dr. Anton adds. He says these children thought this was a natural part of their lives. In fact, mothers already bring their toddlers with them to the sea while they engage in seaweed farming.

“The people there are really poor. They eat seaweed thrice a day. In the morning, seaweed with soy sauce, in the afternoon seaweed with vinegar, at night seaweed with MSG. If they eat seaweed with onions and tomatoes, may party na nun, birthday o malaking handaan sa bahay. If you see the level of poverty there, you will be moved beyond words. But what’s admirable is that they don’t complain about their poverty. They just don’t know that there’s a better way of life,” says Anton, a veterinarian.

Schoolboats and more

On March 27, less than a year after that Facebook status touched the hearts of many, the first yellow boat was turned over to the residents of Layag-Layag. The boat, christened “Bagong Pag-asa”, was customized to be able to pass through the corals and mangroves that surround the area. It can accommodate 20 kids.

Jay says it took them two months to find a boatmaker and another two months to build the boat. Luckily, they found Abraham Mawadi, one of the residents in the village who volunteered to make the boat. Meanwhile, the logs used to build it were donated by the DENR.

According to Dr. Anton, Abraham was not even a professional boatmaker but just learned about it along the way.

At present, Jay’s Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids Facebook group and fan pages are raising funds to build the fourth boat. The second boat is already finished while construction for the third one will start later this month.

More than the boats though, their group has also partnered with the Zamboanga State College of Marine Science and Technology to help Layag-Layag residents improve their livelihood and provide college scholarships to 12 students.

Mabate's turn

Meanwhile, the overwhelming success of the boat project in Zamboanga inspired Dr. Ophelia Sy, another friend of Jay, to replicate it in Monreal, Masbate where kids jump off a cliff and swim to go to school.

“About seven kids wake up early, sila nagsasagwan ng bangka nila and then jump off a cliff and swim to school. If they don’t go over that cliff, malayo pa ang lalakarin nila to school,” says Jay who hails from Cotabato city.

Since the boat is smaller and less expensive than in Zamboanga, the Masbate group were able to build one in just two weeks. Upon learning of a new transportation that can take them to the school, more children were inspired to enroll this school year. Hence, they stepped up the fundraising campaigns for both projects. To date, they have already raised pledges for the construction of 14 more boats in Masbate. Donors come from local and foreign individuals, and organizations.

The incredible teamwork and outpouring of support for these initiatives have inspired Jay to form the Philippine Funds for Little Kids to raise funds for more children across the country with similar stories.

“We’re happy more people are now helping out to benefit more children living in the same situation. We’re not after who gets the credit here. What’s important is that we are able to restore hope and rebuild communities, one yellow boat at a time,” says Dr. Anton.

Real heroes

Jay and his group earned local and international media attention because of this feat. He was also featured by no less than Facebook for being one of the top inspirational stories this year. Recently, he was feted by Yahoo Philippines’ as one of the seven modern-day Filipino heroes in the Pitong Pinoy project.

“It feels good to get all these attention and honor but for me the true heroes are the kids who brave the waters and the mud just to go to school. Now what makes it successful is that their community also felt inspired to help themselves. This wouldn’t happen without the inspiration I got from Atty. Alex Lacson, and the combined efforts, hardwork and support of my friends Anton Lim and Josiah Go. I believe this is one perfect example of people power.

Instead of always complaining about the problems in the country, why don’t we be part of the solution? People power should not be about ousting leaders but about what you can do everyday for your country,” ends Jay.