Name: LEONESSA D.

JANDUGAN

1. What defines a family for you?

- Family is not necessarily blood related. It is neither a place nor a building but a
community of genuine people where you can be safe to be who you are. That even
in the face of uncertainty, they're your certain. In the face of chaos, they'll be there to
help you calm the raging emotions within you and in the face of success and
achievements they're the one who will genuinely rejoice with you and cheer you.
That's a family for me. I am blessed that I have both blood related and a community
that I can call as a family.

2. How does family counseling work in the contemporary era?

- Family counseling can help families of today, especially those who are facing challenging
and threatening situations that will affect relationships among married couples, children
or other family members. Through counseling,issues can be addressed like marital or
financial issues, conflict happening among parents and children, the result or effects of
substance abuse or a mental illness on the entire family, or the violence happening in the
family. And I think family should be more open to counseling to help save our society.

3. State three challenges in the contemporary Filipino family and how will you address them as a
counselor.
- A. Negative influence of mass media. Most of the telenovelas nowadays portrays
on mistress, and some movies even animated ones present moral values that are
completely opposed to Christian teachings and basic human integrity, like sex
and violence.
As a counselor, I will make a visit at least once a week or twice a month in
each class and talk about the bad effects of mass media. Conduct symposium
once in every quarter to learners and parents showing to them the effects of
mass media and will conduct an essay contest among intermediate students in
the elementary on the effects of mass media. I believe that constant reminders
will form a mindset that will help the learners protect themselves and make the
parents more aware of what’s been happening in their children’s lives.

- B. Economic pressure. Parental absenteeism in search of jobs abroad or being

so busy and preoccupied with work are factors weakening Filipino families. If not
an OFW, parents are almost always out in the home leaving children behind with
the grandparents or with the yayas because thinking that when they keep on
working they’ll be able to give a better life to their children without realizing the
risks they exposed their children from their absence.
As a counselor, I will conduct an orientation before the opening of class in
the school year requiring the parents and imposing a NO PROXY policy but if the
parents are abroad, then grandparents or any immediate family should be the
one attending the orientation. In the orientation, the discussion on the importance
 of parents’ involvement in their children will be one of the topics. Discussion on
GAD and VAWC will also be included. And a once a year School Family Day.

- C. Communication - we are now in an era where communication is already fast

and convenient due high technology yet communication among family members
starts to dwindle. When families go on a trip or eat in a restaurant, instead of
talking to each other, they’re more engaged on their gadgets and social media
platforms, busy on updating their status, busy watching and listening to any viral
videos. Even in homes, parents and children will just sit in their own corners and
be busy in their own world through their gadgets.
As a counselor, I will require the learners, through their classroom
advisers, to have a daily journal on how they communicate with their parents
regarding their day at school. In this way, learners will be able to have time to talk
to their parents so that they’ll have something to write in their daily journal. And
as a part of the daily classroom program, one or two learners in the class will
have to read their journal to the entire class and their classmates will be
encouraged to interact with their classmate/s presenting.

4. Narrate your family dynamics based on your genogram.

My Papa Leo grew up in a family where education was not of great value. He had five older
siblings and one younger sister. My Lolo, my father’s Papa, was a farmer and he was never
convinced that education can make a difference. What can education do when they have a wide area
where he and his children can do farming. And so my Papa after graduating from high school he
went out from my Lolo’s place to look for a greener pasture where he can have a job so he could
save money for his college tuition fee. For 2 years, he worked and saved up so he could enroll in
college. He became a working student at SMC main which in return he can enroll in college. After 4
years of hard work, he finished his bachelor degree and later he was absorbed as a high school Math
teacher in the same institution. Anong the eight children of my Lolo, on my father’s side, only my
Papa finished college.
My Mama grew up in a family of farmers. Opposite to my paternal side, my Lolo, maternal
side, wanted to send his three children to school yet cannot afford to do it because of poverty. After
graduating from high school, my Mama decided to become a working student just in order to finish
her education and have a bachelor’s degree. Her two younger siblings were also sent to college but I
think only my uncle Uldarico was able to finish it because my uncle Hegino got married at an early
age. During the President Marcos leadership, he signed into a law an agrarian reform where tenant
farmers can own the land they were farming by paying the owner with the crops they harvested. And
my Lolo was one of the grantees but when my Lolo died, on my maternal side, the land that he was
farming was left unpaid from the owner. So when my Papa and Mama got married, they decided to
pay the farmland that my lolo left unpaid from the owner. But years later, my two uncles, my Mama’s
younger brothers, came and claimed a portion as their share to inheritance, they’re referring to the
farmland. They insisted and even called for a hearing in the agrian office to say that my Mama and
Papa manipulated the papers so that the land title will be named after them. With the thorough
research and investigation done by the agrarian office, they found out that the farmland was not even
transferred to my lolo’s name because he wasn’t able to pay the landowner before he died. And it
was proven that it was my Papa and Mama who paid the amount so that they’ll be able to transfer
the land title in their names. It was an ordeal in the family that brought about a dysfunctional
relationship among my Mama’s siblings and her. And to end the dispute, my Mama and Papa
decided to sell the bigger portion of the farmland that my two uncles wanted to claim. My Mama
died in complications since she was a diabetic patient. My two uncles died in cardiac arrest.
And today, my siblings and I put a premium on education and valuing relationships over
material possessions. Communication is the key to solve whatever misunderstandings so that
family will remain.