Maderazo, Dheine Louise L.

EconDev
BSA – A1C
An Analysis on “Ambulansiyang de Paa”,
a documentary by Kara David

Progress. Development. Philippines?

Seeing all these words together makes me feel like I am answering a test where the
instruction says to cross the odd one out, the one that doesn’t belong in the set of words given.
Among these words, I think it’s very obvious that Philippines is the one that doesn’t belong not
only because the other two words are synonymous, but also because I still can’t see the
progress in our country despite all the new establishments, buildings, infrastructures, etc. Yes,
we see tall buildings, a lot of good businesses, but are these the only factors to consider when a
country wants progress? I don’t think so.
Claiming to be progressive as a country is not convincing to me—there may be statistics
and all and yes, numbers don’t lie, but what I think people should keep in minds is that despite
the good numbers we see in those statistics, there are still tons of people who starve, suffer,
and aren’t given the chance to have a good lifestyle. I know that every country experiences
problems but it doesn’t mean that it’s not developing; however, in our country’s case, there are
just too much problems, which for me, arises due to our slow progression. There are still places
and people that don’t experience this, what we call, “progress”— and it’s a big deal. This is what
I witnessed and saw in the documentary video by Kara David, entitled “Ambulansiyang de paa”,
which showed the reality in some places, where there really is little access to the people’s
needs, which in fact, should be readily available because those are necessities.
Upon watching the documentary video, I noticed numerous problems that really gave an
impression to me, but not in a good way—in fact, it made me extremely sad for the people and
even made me cry. These problems also scared me because these are more about their needs
in life that they cannot attain due to difficulty of access. What scares me the most is that, these
are also, in my opinion, matters of life and death.
Very little or no access (at all) to the people’s Health needs. This is one of the
problems that I found very alarming. This was the main point of the documentary video—
showing the lives of a few people in that place, who are experiencing serious health issues, but
don’t have the means to afford treatments, and aside from that, are also really far from the one
or two hospitals that they have in their place, where sometimes a doctor is not even present.
This is real scary if we will think of it. People are suffering from serious diseases but they aren’t
able to buy what they need for treatments because aside from not being able to afford these, it
take too long for them to reach the hospital, so they just sometimes choose not to consult a
doctor. At times when there is an emergency—it maybe major health problems, or even life-and-
death situations—although they want to go to a doctor immediately, they don’t have a choice.
They use the “ambulansiyang de paa” wherein two people who volunteers to help, carries the
person in need of medication, for four or more hours, crossing ten rivers, just to reach the
nearest hospital—which I’d say is not near.
Thinking of solutions to address this problem is hard, since most of it would really be
involving the government because the expectation is that, the people should be in good hands,
given that there’s the government who we elect, that would help us to rise from our rock
bottoms. What I can think of as a way to resolve these people’s problems, is for the
government, specifically, the Department of Health, seek out those who are really in need of
their help—at least do the effort of reaching out to places which are not that civilized and
urbanized, because those are not given what the people in the cities are given. I believe it’s their
responsibility to help these people, and in order to do so, they must know who those people
are. I am aware that they are doing something, even the free check-ups and all, but how are still
people not getting what they deserve? I guess it’s not enough.
Not enough electricity to sustain the facilities in their place. This was implicitly
stated in the video when Kara David mentioned that they gave out solar panels to the
community for them to have a good source of electricity around the area. A lack or absence of
electricity could greatly affect the daily lives of the people and their current state. It will be very
hard to live without enough source of electricity because whether we like it or not, our
generation today uses a lot of equipment that are in need of electricity. Simple home equipment
are in need of electricity, and without it, there would be difficulty in the experiences of the
residents in their everyday life.
Solving this issue, just like other problems in the community won’t be easy, but with
enough fund and effort, it will be possible to resolve. I personally think that the action done
before, which is to donate solar panels was a good idea, i believe it just needs to be improved,
in a way that it should be placed in a safe space or area wherein it won’t get stolen and
destroyed easily. This is for the panels to stay longer in the place, thus, it will give and produce
benefits to the people for a longer period of time. It would be best if give the people what is due.
Poor roadworks and infrastructures. This is actually quite common in many areas in
the Philippines, and mostly in rural places and those living in the mountains. Aside from
experiencing troubles of not having vehicles to go to far places, and the long hours they spend
walking, the path or the route itself that they take towards the place is not feet-friendly — the
road is rough and muddy especially when it’s rainy, which also makes it slippery. In short, it’s
quite dangerous. The people tend to cross a lot of rivers, mostly on their bare feet. I can’t
imagine how much they sacrifice upon taking these poor roadworks especially because I know
that this may also cause them health problems — example, they might get infections from the
dirt but they have no choice because they walk with their bare feet. Another thing I noticed is
that the facilities that they have in their community is not enough to accomodate the people who
resides in the said place, specifically the hospitals.
Knowing that this is a problem that causes other problems to arise, it’s also really scary
to imagine if this won’t be resolved. As a solution, just like the other problems, I think the
government is the one who have the full capacity to help the community with this problem. With
this, they should maximize their capacity to help and at least start allocating funds for such
places with poor roadworks. They’re the ones who have the power, they just have to use it in
the right way, with good intentions.
Watching the documentary, for me, was heartbreaking and at the same time, frustrating.
It was heartbreaking to find out that there are people who experience these problems and I
really feel for them. The video made me want to be able to take care of them and help them.
Aside from this, it’s also frustrating to think because I know for a fact that they are being
deprived of what would help them live and practice a good way of living. I am perfectly aware
that there are poor people, I just can’t imagine this situation to be this worse. Constantly, I’m just
hoping that they would be able to get what they deserve someday, and that the government
would stop being selfish for once— aside from stealing the money for their own selfish reasons,
why can’t they start giving it to those who need it.
Most of the solutions I mentioned were actions to be made by the government, and they
may be the ones who has the ability to help the most, but we also can do something. As
humans, why don’t we try our best to always give a helping hand? Those people in the
documentary don’t have enough, but they’re the ones who are always willing to help. We should
try it too. It helps.