THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER DADDY DOC TJ

MOMspired Tribe
May 18, 2021
3 min read

Healthcare professionals typically wear white coats. But for the residents of the remote Barangay Calawis in Antipolo, Doctor Tj Malvar may as well be wearing a white hero’s cape.

Initially, it seems he’s just an ordinary public servant with an incredible heart for serving his community. But digging deeper, you’ll find that he has served as a village doctor for five years; and since 2018, has handled the barangay health center and health workers as their kagawad.

In 2020, the country was placed on lockdown, and with the loss of jobs, his beloved community of 1,500 households faced the uncertainty of whether they’d be able to find their next meal.

It was in the times of crisis that his true powers emerged – foresight and grassroots activation. Doc Tj saw a deep problem emerging and made it his mission to prevent hunger and malnutrition from seeping through the town.

Doc Tj and his team, packing all their boxes of fruits and veggies for Gising Gising

Merely days after the announcement of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), he set up PUSOKitchen, a donation-based soup kitchen. Donations poured in and volunteers gave their support, all in the spirit of bayanihan.

This held the enemy at bay for a while. However, he saw that it could only hold on for so long. With budgets dwindling and lockdowns extending, he knew he needed a more sustainable weapon to fight hunger, not just for his own community, but for many others as well. He gathered insights on the vegetable trade by connecting with farming communities and meeting with the Department of Agriculture.

photo taken from the Gising Gising PH Facebook page

The situation in the country showed little hope of improving quickly. But instead of giving up, Doc Tj found highly capable allies – Celina Borromeo and Tonyo Silva; and the trio joined forces to establish Gising Gising, a social enterprise that sold vegetables in boxes; which is done by linking local farmers directly to the market and giving to underserved communities (similar to companies like TOMS, it uses the “one box sold, one box shared” model).

Running this enterprise was filled with challenges, especially since it heeded to the call of public service more than the business drive for profit. But they believe that it will all pay off in the long term.

Although the immediate problem is hunger, Gising Gising geared up to battle against a stronger and more complex enemy – FOOD INSECURITY. Because at the root of hunger are issues of poverty, lack of accessibility, price instability and lack of knowledge about nutrition. They address these through their model (mentioned above) and go further by educating moms and setting up community health centers. They are only scratching the surface, but the fight keeps them going.

With their increased capability and growing team, they’re able to extend help to other initiatives. As of May 1, they have shared close to 2,000 community pantry packs across 47 community pantries in Metro Manila, thanks to hundreds of donations/orders!

Gising Gising believes that in sharing the goods and finding sustainable means to source and distribute produce, we can slowly fight food insecurity

Doc Tj has come a long way, but he wouldn’t have become the person he is today without the support of the community. The people of Barangay Calawis served as fuel to his long-time dream of becoming a doctor, telling him how much they were looking forward to seeing him in that white coat (cape). Their collective dream came true.

His beautiful children, Anya and Claire, and his wife Jasmin fully support his passion. They’ve long embraced the idea that there aren’t just four people in their family, but four plus the whole of Barangay Calawis! And it seems lately, that the “family” he cares for will just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Like how Lilo and Stitch say that “family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten,” Doc TJ’s vision is food security for ALL.

Though that goal may be overwhelming, he has proven that heroic deeds can start at the level of family and community.

We’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of Super Daddy Doc’s adventures!