Mayfourth be with you

“The sense of fulfillment that this job gives you is you know that you were able to help an entire community prepare for any disaster. Whether it's just a short training or anything extensive, you know you're able to save lives.”

DO you know anyone who is named after his or her birthday?

For this week's edition of Boardroom Watch, we did meet someone who fits the bill.

Mayfourth Luneta, deputy executive director of the Center for Disaster Preparedness Foundation, was indeed born on the 4th of May.

Mayfourth is known by no other name, alias or nickname, and she's proud of having the same name and birthdate.

She was named after the May Fourth Movement, an anti-imperialist political movement that grew out of student protests in Beijing, China in 1919.

Interestingly, even her family name — Luneta — is unique.

Luneta — which is popularly known among Filipinos as the national park at the heart of Manila — is her father's last name.

Mayfourth's parents met in student protests when they were in college.

Luneta apparently channeled the idealism that fueled the movement as she's now at the forefront of effecting change in communities her nongovernment organization (NGO) serves.

Luneta joined the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) as a volunteer in June 1999 or five months after the NGO started.

“I just left my teaching job,” Luneta shared.

“At the time, CDP was about to start its first training course. I was invited to volunteer for them since they needed manpower.

“I volunteered to assist in a training course on disaster management. After one or two weeks, I was hired as a regular staff.”

From then on, Luneta made the CDP her home ground.

Luneta recalls that in her early days with CDP, she learned how to multitask.

“There were only four of us then. I eventually learned how to handle administrative tasks like managing petty cash,” she recalls.

Luneta has been with CDP for 24 years.

This January, CDP will mark its 25th anniversary, and they plan to celebrate the whole year. “That means we have to start preparing in December or even earlier,” Luneta said. “Hopefully, we can highlight the work and the advocacy of CDP.”

CDP is known in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific Region as one of the pioneers in the field of community-based disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation.

CDP works with NGOs, people's organization, communities and government agencies at all levels to enhance their capacities in disaster prevention and mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, and rehabilitation and recovery.

Dealing with disaster is nothing new for Luneta.

As a college student, she volunteered to be a “documentor” in a disaster awareness training program. Her trainer eventually became her boss.

Working at CDP gives Luneta a major fulfillment.

“This is where I got my roots,” she admitted. “I had been to two other jobs as an organizer and a teacher. One was only one year and the other, three years.

“The sense of fulfillment that this job gives you is you know that you were able to help an entire community prepare for any disaster. Whether it's just a short training or anything extensive, you know you're able to save lives,” she said.

“After a training course or in the aftermath of a disaster, I get calls thanking us for our efforts,” she added.

Changing mindsets is the hardest part in Luneta's advocacy.

“We don't just teach people how to administer first aid. We try to make them understand why they need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. When a storm is threatening, we teach them what to do or how to prepare.

“We make people, especially those living in high-risk areas, realize that preemptive evacuation is a wise move rather than wait for responders to come and rescue them,” she said.

“What is frustrating and challenging for Luneta and her team is when they still see people living in high risk areas even after experiencing several disasters.

“We call this a regular cha-cha with the residents,” she lamented.

“We already have valedictorians in our rescue efforts. They live in houses near the river. They evacuate to a higher place but will return once the typhoon is over and the water has subsided. They continue to take the risk because it's cheaper to stay in those areas and that they do not have enough means to look for a better and safer place. That is why we continue to advocate for prevention and mitigation which includes addressing the root causes of vulnerablities.

Luneta suggests that intervention measures should be done before disasters happen. Adressing poverty will help the vulnerable sectors, to not only prepare for disasters but to prevent it or mtigate the risks (if they have the means they can look for better and safer areas where they can live).

The vulnerable sectors of the communities should be consulted in doing the local government's comprehensive land use plan to ensure that at risks areas will not be used as residential or commercial areas.”.

The CDP is a member of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) representing the civil society.

The NDRRMC serves as the president's adviser on disaster preparedness, disaster operations and rehabilitation efforts. The council acts as the top coordinator of all disaster management efforts of the government and the private sector.

Luneta refuses to think what she's doing is a man's job.

“In our office, about 80 percent of the employees are women,” she said.

“In the early years, men monopolized this kind of response job. Today, there are more women.”

There were a number of challenges Luneta's organization encountered during this pandemic.

“We became an APOR (authorized persons outside residence). That was part of our job. We worked in the relief areas near our place in Pasig City, where our office is.

“We also worked online because the needs are mental health and psycho-social support services. That's what we gave in times of emergency response. We adjusted and gave more than a hundred services in the pandemic.”

Luneta acknowledged every work is hard.

“Your urge is to be able to help and contribute,” she said. “At the end of the day, you will ask, 'Who will do this?' There are still people who need help. So we have to work.”

Luneta finished Bachelor of Science in Community Development at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She took up her Master's in Public Health at the Adventist University of the Philippines.

Her mom (Zenaida) wanted Luneta to take up Medicine, while her dad (Domingo) wished she'd become a lawyer.

“It turned out a little bit of everything, I was able to get it,” Luneta asserted. “I took up Public Health.

“I didn't become a lawyer, but we are advocates for DRR. I didn't become a doctor, but I became a public health person. Community service is still instilled in what I do.”

Last year, Luneta attended the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference of Governments to talk about their strategies in the Asia and Pacific region in Brisbane, Australia. She also went on a work-related trip in Jakarta, Indonesia.

An Adventist, Luneta gets to strictly rest on Saturdays.

“I go to church and do my ministry,” she said. “That's a whole day's work from the sunset of Friday until the sunset of Saturday. That's very important, so you get to replenish everything.”

Luneta gets to visit her 73-year-old mom once in a while in Batangas City, where the family has a farm. At other times, her mom gets to visit her in Manila.

“My mom is my rock, the wind beneath my wings,” said Luneta. “She constantly guides me. She has a very big influence on me. She's vegetarian, and I am, too.”

What is important in Luneta's job is her mission which is fixed in her vision to create a community that is safe, prosperous and stable.

That is what she often reiterates to her staff of over 30 in the office, where she is the second in command. She heads the operations. On top of her is Lorraine de la Cruz, who is the Executive Director of the CDP.

Luneta doesn't look at the failures around her more closely.

“If I do that often, I would be dead a long time,” she said. “It will really shorten my life. So, I choose to see it, but at the same time, I look beyond it, and you will see the light at the end of the road.

“I still believe God really knows what's best. Everything good is meant for this country. Although bad things happen around us, which God definitely did not will, we will still be victorious in the end.

“No matter how heavy your workload is, if you know there is someone who will help you, that will be easy because there is someone else who helps you carry the load.”

* * *

Quick questions

What is your biggest fear?

Not being able to do my best.

What really makes you angry?

Seeing injustice.

What motivates you to work hard?

My love for others.

What makes you laugh the most?

Corny jokes.

What would you do if you won the lotto?

I think I can do a lot and help people.

If you could share a meal with any individual living or dead, who would they be?

A meal with Jesus.

What was the last book you read?

More on child guidance by co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventists Church, Ellen White.

What is the most daring thing you have ever done?

Nothing too daring in what I'm doing.