By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Arsenio Malong is from Baguio City. No, he is from Asingan, Pangasinan. No, he is from Davao. No, he is from North Cotabato. No, he is from Sultan Kudarat. No, he is from Mankayan, Benguet.
Fact is, Malong is from all those places at one time or another. Arsenio was a “mestizo”, being born of a Kankanaey mother and an Ilokano father from Asingan. He was born in Mankayan but due to possible cumbersome registration in the town then, his birth was registered instead in Tayug, Pangasinan. That was 72 years ago. Yes, he is already a septuagenarian, and still going strong.
But who is Arsenio Malong? Definitely, he is unbeknownst to many of us but to the barangay political landscape in Baguio City, his name surely rings a bell. He is all of 5’2″ feet tall, and he served as a barangay captain in Atok Trail, Baguio for about 20 years. That is the first that we could learn from him. Being small is never a hindrance in the attainment of greatness.
I know of somebody who is almost of the same height as he, who went on to become a highly respected diplomat around the world. He is Carlos P. Romulo, a Filipino, who became the 3rd or 4th President of the General Assembly of the United Nations. He was commissioned as a general by both the US and Philippine armed forces during the second world war because of his stature. He was the same guy who was asked by a journalist in one of his visits to Texas, U.S.A.: “General, how do you feel being surround by giants (six-footers)?”. Expecting perhaps to have a good laugh, the journalists were floored and silenced by his answer. He said, “I felt like a dime surrounded by cents”.
But back to Arsing or Seniong as his colleagues and friends call him. He became a barangay captain from 1982-1997. After temporarily lying low from barangay politics for a few years, he returned to his former post in 2006 and ended his stint in 2013.
He actually served as official in two barangays. First, as barangay secretary for 10 years in Apugan-Loakan, then barangay kagawad at Atok Trail for one year and two months before immediately taking the reins of the barangay starting September 1, 1982. He was reelected several times for the position which meant that he had the talent and was effective as local administrator. To say that he was highly respected and well-loved by his constituents is not an overstatement.
His journey to Baguio was not paved by precious stone nor was it smooth. According to him, he was told that his parents took him to Mindanao when he was still one-year old to take advantage of the homestead program crafted by the government then to populate the promised land or the Canaan of the Philippines – Mindanao.
His education was nurtured in that promised land up to his two-year secretarial course. Shortly after finishing his two-year course, he was employed as a casual employee with the then Bureau of Health in Cotabato City. He was assigned with the malaria pest control unit. During his incumbency as barangay captain, he tried to parlay that experience to combat dengue fever. Unfortunately, he was not given the push or support to apply his experience in controlling malaria, to help combat the dengue fever that was already very prevalent in Baguio.
After his BOH stint he worked for the Cotabato Bus company as a conductor, then as an inspector. His job there was cut short by his mandatory military training for all able-bodied young Filipinos upon reaching the age of 20. He liked his training for one and one-half year thus, he enlisted with the Philippine Army in 1966, serving in many places such as Cagayan de Oro, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, Jolo and many more. He fought with Muslim rebels. In one of the evening encounters, many of the then largely untrained and under-armed rebels were killed. The morning after he was aghast to see that many of those who died were his childhood friends and neighbors. His appetite to wage war against the rebels considerably waned. During battles, he started to fire his gun in the air, not aiming against the rebels.
He therefore decided to quit the army in 1968, and started to farm their homestead of about 20 hectares. He used to grow rice, coconut, mango, marang, banana, vegetables like pechay and many more. He was enjoying. He even produced a very high yield of 160 cavans of rice per hectare for which he was awarded a 2nd prize in a competition. That yield was almost unheard of in the 1960s. His farming prowess was beyond any doubt.
But his farming activities were again cut short in 1972 due to the intensifying activities of the Muslim rebels. They got their farms by sheer intimidation. This was a case of “ako ang nagsaing, iba ang kumain”. It was a case of helplessness on their part.
He can remember during his farming days that there was one agriculturist and one municipal councilor in-charge of agriculture. It was a good and effective arrangement, according to him. This was implanted in his mind; that agriculture is that important in every locality where there is a place to grow crops or raise animals.
When he was already the barangay captain, he noted that there were no agriculturists around to help, even when there were agriculture graduates from the barangays. He cited the fact that there were so many idle lands that could be made productive, contributing to food security but there were no experts to help. Thus, was born his desire to finish a course in agriculture so that he could better share his knowledge to community people.
After his farm was “confiscated by the rebels, and the peace and order situation in their place was becoming worse by the day, he thought of going back to Baguio where his mom had already relocated earlier. He was just too glad to be settling down in one of his roots.
For the first 15 years of his being head of the barangay, there were no allowances given to officials. So, they were serving for the sake of service, never thinking of getting anything in return. How different is the motivation of becoming a barangay official nowadays!
Because there were no allowances offered to barangay captains before, he was supporting himself through agriculture and private mining. He actually started his mining activities in 1973, long before becoming a barangay honcho and terminating it in 1990 .
Responding to the great earthquake in 1990, specifically on rescue missions in a collapsed building in EPZA during that time, he saw tons of leather wastes scattered all over. His fertile mind lighted up. He decided to do something with those seemingly useless craps. He made arrangement with the concerned company so he could get them for free. At the same time, he was helping them dispose of unwanted garbage. Out of those garbage, he pioneered the patched leather craft churning out jackets, bags, purses, woven or inabel products, and many other souvenir items. For this, he established his Malong’s Leather Products company. After a while, he was already supplying his products to the then very famous brand, Manel’s and the high-end department store, Rustan’s in Manila among others.
He was designing his products. To do this, he went to various showrooms, exhibits, trade fairs and either make mental notes or photos of those he fancied. He then made his own design based on what he saw.
At the height of their operations, Malong was employing as many as 60 workers aside from contracting jobs to at least 20 tailoring shops in Baguio and La Trinidad. Many of his employees started their own patched leather businesses, providing stiff competition to his own.
Not all good things last though. There were times that Malong hauled tons of leather wastes from Marikina but came a time that leather “retasos” were already short in coming, their prices have gone up (yes, retasos were later sold because of Malong’s creativity) too. Because of this, he was no longer able to deliver for orders that kept increasing.
Arsing laments the fact that no government entity came to help them even when they were seeking it except for a puny, one time aid from DTI. According to him, even banks were not providing loans; they only accepted land titles as collaterals with the government sitting helplessly by. There was therefore a problem on capitalization and marketing. That of course, is one big reason why the Philippines in general is not advancing economically as desired. He is suggesting up to now, that banks through the proddings of the government should find a way to loosen up those collateral and other requirements. For instance, if there is any bidding, the government will require engineering works which will cost a sum, only to be told that you do not qualify. This should allow small entrepreneurs to have a fighting chance to somehow succeed and grow.
Malong’s business activities propped up his barangay captainship, and he was proud to claim that. Among others, he was able to start the cementing of roads in Atok Trail, help build school buildings, started a day care center, built the Barangay hall, helped open ALS in Fort del Pilar, sponsored various Voc Tech and livelihood trainings, built health centers, waiting sheds, and water supply of the community.
Next week, we will show his journey as a senior citizen student for a bachelor’s degree.
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