PARACELIS, Mountain Province – People must have the strong determination coupled with hard work amidst grueling challenges that may transpire in the journey to achieve their dreams and aspirations which is to contribute in improving the living condition of their families in the future.
For Mark Davis Moises Gongcakic, 27, a truck driver and a corn farmer, who hails from barangay Buringal, here, his being colored blind was the primary obstacle that prevented him from being part of the country’s uniformed service which was his aspiration when he was young. He is the eldest among the seven children of spouses Florencio, a former punong barangay and Mercy Gongcakic, a corn farmer. The Gongcakic family relied on corn farming as the major source of livelihood that allowed some of the children to be able to finish their college education while the younger ones are still completing their basic education in the public schools in their place.
“As the eldest child, I had to make sure that I will help my parents in tending to our corn plantation during weekends since corn farming is our primary source of livelihood. Life was really difficult because we live in one of the remotest barangays of Paracelis. We had to be patient because we will not be able to achieve our dreams and aspirations if we gave up during those most challenging times in our life,” the younger Gongcakic stressed.
After completing his basic education in a public school in their place, mark pursued his tertiary education at the State -run Ifugao State University (IFSU) Potia campus where he finished his Bachelor of Science in Criminology (BS) Crim) in 2017. The 27-year old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) sustained his studies by applying for a scholarship grant with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to help him minimize his family’s expenses for his education. While studying in college, he had to go home during weekends to help his parents tend their corn farm. He and his colleagues survived the difficulty of college education by relying on the abundance of edible plants within the community where they lived aside from hunting in the forests to hunt for wild animals during their free time.
Mark immediately took the review classes in preparation for the licensure examination for criminologists to fulfill his desire to become a member of the uniformed service, either as a police officer or a soldier. During his younger years, he used to watch action movies and saw for himself the important role being played by the informed personnel in maintaining law and order, thus, he aspired to become one of them in the future starting with his chosen college degree of criminology.
“I was lucky enough to pass the licensure examination for criminologists that is why I proceeded to apply to be a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) a number of times. I was able to pass the stringent requirements and rigid trainings but I eventually failed the medical examination because of my being color blind,” he added.
He also hurdled the one-year stringent training of the Scout Ranger of the Philippine Army in Bulacan but the sudden prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic ruined his dreams of becoming a member of the military’s elite force because deployment stopped. When the situation started to normalize, they were informed by the military authorities that they have to start anew.
Mark, while attending trainings, never forgot to go home after his frustrations to help his family in their farm work to sustain the studies of her younger brothers and sisters.
His father bought a truck for the delivery of their corn produce to the town center which is an hour away from their place. Mark related that transportation from their place is very rare that is why the presence of their truck was a big relief on their part and other corn farmers in the transport of their produce. Corn farming had been their main source of livelihood that allowed many families to survive the difficulties of life, especially that they are from remote communities that is why aspiring for better living conditions for their families is an aspiration that must be realized through determination and hard work coupled with destiny and luck.
“After my frustrations in trying to enter the military service, I tried to inquire from recruitment agencies on the process in working overseas. Aside from being expensive because of the charges being required to be paid, the process will be tedious that is why I tried to ponder on what to do,” he said.
One day, Mark’s father informed him of an upcoming free Nihongo language training that will be conducted in the town proper courtesy of the Dominguez family and their partners. He immediately visited the assigned language coordinator, Flora Awingan-Fianitog, to inquire on the requisites of the said training. He was also responsible in recruiting some of his neighbors in their barangay to avail of the free language training. During the conduct of the Nihongo language training, he and his two conductors had to travel from their place to the temporary center in the town proper and vice versa daily using his motorcycle. When it does not rain, it will take them an hour to go to and from their place but when there is a heavy downpour, their travel time is doubled because of the bad condition of the road.
“At the start, it was really difficult to learn a different language but we had to think that it will be a game changer in our lives that is why we persevered to study hard. Some of us were about to give up but we had to comfort each other for us to finish the course and take a step forward in the realization of our aspirations for our respective families,” Mark said.
When they were in the second month of the training, some Japanese employers started calling up the top trainees for initial interviews in preparation for their possible selection to the available jobs being offered to them. Luckily, he was one of the top trainees who were sent for an interview by their potential employer that is why he saw it as an opportunity to get closer to his aspiration to land in gainful employment to the foreign land. He considers his being selected by his prospective employer even if it was only his second month in the Nihongo language training as his destiny because of several failures to enter the uniformed service due to his color blindness. ‘ “I was inspired to pursue and complete the Nihongo language training for the remaining two months because of the good news that I was already selected to be one of those who will be employed in a Japanese iron processing company. It was already a giant towards realizing my aspirations to be employed in Japan. Our being selected also served as a motivation for others to do their best to hurdle the challenges of the training. We learned that there were already some individuals from other towns who were already deployed to their employers through the efforts of the Dominguez family that is why we took the language training seriously until we were able to complete it,” Mark said.
He was able to pass the pre-medical examination prior to his departure to the
Sage Asian Language Center in Bulacan for their masteral Nihongo course in preparation for their deployment to Japan. However, head to be honest to the agency on his being color blind that is why he received instructions to remedy the situation considering that he is considered as employed with the company that hired his services. He had to search through the internet for possible remedial measures and he was able to see a clinic based in Santiago City, Isabela offering corrective eyeglasses, thus, he had to travel to the place just to try it. When he arrived at the clinic, he contacted the agency through video call to show to the assigned personnel how the corrective eyeglasses work. It actually helped him a lot to solve his being color blind although there were two numbers that he was not able to read but it seems that he was able to pass the test. Ironically, the pair of eyeglasses cost around PhP4,500 which was too expensive on his part considering his very limited resources, thus, he tried to search online a similar correctional pair of eyeglasses that is much cheaper which he was able to get at around P450. When the said eyeglasses were delivered, he immediately called up the agency which linked him to the mother agency in Japan that repeated the test on him to ascertain the effectivity of the item that was bought for the purpose, thanks, to the correctional eyeglasses as the agency in Japan allowed him to pursue his Nihongo masteral course as his condition was just right for the job that he will be doing.
“I was very happy and grateful about the decision of the agency to allow me to proceed with the completion of the masteral course. I said to myself that I had to make good in my job because of the rare opportunity given to me despite my being color blind, thus, there is still hope for everyone with similar condition, it is just perseverance, determination and hard work to achieve our aspirations in life for the benefit of our families,” mark exclaimed.
The Nihongo language training is part of the Join Us for Progress: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs program of the Dominguez family in partnership with the Manila-based Philippine Human Resource Global Information Center and the Bulacan-based Sage Asian Language Center.
Under the said program, qualified and selected individuals will be given a 3-year special training visa that could be extended up to five years at the choice of the beneficiary and even up to ten years depending on their performance in their work.
The 27-year old OFW is entering his sixth month as an all-around worker under the Nakagwa Shearing Co. Ltd. Based in Minami, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, Japan where he is in the companion of a colleague in the Nihongo language training course who is a resident of Tabuk city, Kalinga but is married to a lass from Paracelis.
He currently handles the operation of five machines but started gradually as a cutter, presser and eventually ended up doing multitasking in the company. He describes his Japanese employer and fellow workers as very understanding, helpful, compassionate and with good labor practices that is why they established a strong working relationship allowing them to cope up with their homesickness which they earlier encountered during their early days in the foreign land.
Mark plans to earn for his family and help in uplifting their living condition. He is also grateful to the Dominguez family and their partners for having thought of conducting the free Nihongo language training in the municipality that allowed them to significantly reduce the resources that they had to provide to be able to get their current jobs in Japan.
He hopes that other people will be inspired with their journey to the foreign land and wished them the best of luck in their desire to contribute in perking up economic activities in the places where they come from. Mark strongly believes that determination and hard work were the key to where he is now aside from luck and destiny that is why people striving to achieve their aspirations should not lose hope when they encounter challenges in trying to achieve their dreams in life.
For her part, Fianitog, the assigned local Nihongo language coordinator, described Mark to be a passionate and dedicated young man with a bright future because of his core values that he was able to demonstrate during the duration of the training. She also learned from Mark’s family that he is regularly sending a significant portion of his salary to his family where she learned that things are now going right in his desire to bring his family to greater heights amidst the current challenges confronting the country’s agriculture industry. By Dexter A. See