#CourageON: In our communities, corruption is personal

In February last year, I was just like any other college student in Silliman University, rushing to meet deadlines and running all over our 60-hectare campus for all kinds of activities.

I didn’t expect that, a little less than a year after my graduation, I would return to that same campus — no longer as a student, but as a professional journalist teaching other young students how to tell stories.

Hi! I’m Shay Du, a researcher-writer for Rappler. Nine months ago, I moved from my hometown of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental — where I’ve lived for practically my whole life — to join the team in Pasig City. 

Every opportunity to learn and write stories that are national in scope has been exhilarating, especially knowing that I would never have been able to do all this if I stayed home. 

Still, although I do write stories about Negros Island Region from time to time, I know that there is still so much more to cover in the community where I came from. That’s why Rappler launching its first #CorruptionWatch roadshow stop in Dumaguete City couldn’t have come at a better time, since it allowed us to train civic engagement volunteers, who we call Movers, that are willing to contribute stories from their communities. 

But beyond the training we conducted, this roadshow was so memorable to me because of how eager the community was at every step of the way. I wasn’t surprised by it, especially since Dumaguete is no stranger to banding together for a common cause. But being part of the action and actively helping it along, instead of acting as a passive observer as I had when I was younger, is something else entirely.

Even from the start, it literally took a whole village to make the roadshow happen, from partners in the academe to local business leaders. The months leading up to the roadshow had been a blur of calls and video conferences, but each and every time, our partners would express just how happy they were to be a part of something so meaningful to society. 

In the hands-on anti-corruption workshop, many of the Movers had also been my juniors when I was editor-in-chief of the university student paper, the Weekly Sillimanian. It made me so proud to see how far they have come in the short time since I hadn’t seen them, and I am even more excited about the stories they will write as Movers because of the passion they showed during the workshops.

Some were interested in writing about how lacking government action led to the slow death of the local art of claypot making. Others talked about their ongoing investigation into a delayed flood control project affecting fisherfolk living near the coastline. Many Movers also shared their frustration with the difficult task of finding and accessing documents that should have been made public in the first place.

That same passion powered the roadshow’s culminating townhall, even when storm signals from Tropical Storm Basyang and the absence of invited government officials tried to dampen our spirits. Locals were eager to come up to the microphone to share their frustration with red tape and inadequate transparency measures.

“How do we channel that energy?” lawyer Golda Benjamin would ask toward the end of the townhall. That day concluded with discussions about how to mobilize the community in support of good ordinances, and how to keep the fire burning for the young people who want to see real change in the way the city is governed.

In the hustle and bustle of things, it’s easy to forget just how many people are willing to show up when our communities are on the line. For me, it was natural to think I had to fight my battles alone and carve my own path.

But if we all have the same destination in mind — that is, a better community and nation for all of us — then it only makes sense to rely on each other. There is no other place like home that will get people angrier at corruption, or more passionate about systemic change.

Less than a year ago, I might have learned that fact in one of my journalism classes. Now, as a journalist, I know it by heart. And I’m so excited to see where collaboration with our communities will take us, in Dumaguete City and beyond. 

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