By BERT SIANGEN
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat.com
MANILA – An activist in community development work passed away at 57 years old.
Jean Chagyowen Macliing, or Manang Jean, as she was popularly known with her professional and warm personality , was into development work with non-government organizations and people’s organizations in the Cordillera as well as with national NGOs and church institutions for more than three decades.
Manang Jean died of ruptured carotid artery aneurism, September 8 at the East Avenue Medical Center. Wake and burial services were at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John, St. Luke Hospital, Quezon City.
After graduating Business Administration at University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1975, Manang Jean pioneered in people based development work with NGOs, peoples organizations, and church institutions .
She was instrumental in setting up NGOs, serving as the first executive director of Katinnulong Dagiti Umili iti Amianan (Kaduami), Urban Poor Assistance Center ( Upac ) and Center for development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC). She was also the first national development officer of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines . She also taught Management at Saint Andrews Seminary, Quezon City.
She was also the executive director of Ecumenical Center for Development (ECD), now Kasimbayan.
Before her death, she was officer in charge of Philippine Network of Food Security Programs (PNFSP). Up to her last day, she was working on the disaster response project of Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development (Accord) in Central Luzon.
For more than three decades, she was an organizer, advocate, project and management consultant with peoples organizations and NGOs including church institutions. She was also the first Manager of the Rural Bank of Bontoc, Mountain Province.
During the memorial service at the Anglican Church Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John, numerous tributes from colleagues extolled Manang Jean’s efficient professional and unselfish services delivered in smiling amiable manner. Her knowledge and skills, as well as personal character, enhanced her committed service for genuine peoples development, to which she dedicated her life.
Manang Jean was truly an icon of activist NGO development work and service to the people. Speakers among the youth also showed the side of Manang Jean’s service oriented character in housing and feeding students and youth short on budget, or seeking comfort of home from the rigors of study and activism.
Nieces and nephews gave a glimpse of their auntie as second mother, providing a teddy bear of comfort or the smell and touch of comfort, as well as assistance in their academic pursuits. Her two children gave the tribute that their parents, by example, have raised them on the principle of simple living and service to the people.
Manang Jean’s example in committed development work and sacrifice are a legacy that should be pursued by other development workers.
