The economic crisis that accompanied the political crisis then also pushed me to go outside the confines of formal education and straight into the informal economy as I became the primary breadwinner in our family of seven (7) siblings. It was also a form of self-sacrifice on my part, and I noticed in my years of advocacy and development work that it is usually the gay members of the family who are automatically expected to take care of the rest. It was a role that I just naturally assumed and took for granted. I had to stop school so that my younger siblings can continue on. Even if all of them have already finished and moved on with their respective careers and life paths, I have remained stuck in the role of resident nurturer and provider.

My decision to pursue and finish my college degree late in my life is something that I owe to myself – for my personal fulfillment and liberation. I have grown weary of working hard for long hours in order for my other siblings, including nieces and nephews, to finish their formal education, yet I have not been able to do the same for myself. As I urge them to study hard and finish school, I constantly feel pangs of guilt for not being a good example to them. I have also started to doubt my own personal worth and to wonder if all my rationalizations for not finishing school may just be borne out of fear that I may not have what it takes to do this.

Thus, I had to do it to prove that I can, even at mid-life. As I took on a more public role as the spokesperson of PROGAY-Mindanao, I realized that I would serve the gay community better if I attained my college degree. And doing so at mid-life may also serve as an inspiration to others who had to sacrifice schooling to become the breadwinners in their families. It would send the message that it is never too late to go back to school and accomplish something meaningful.

In my work now as a Coordinator of the newly-created Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) Desk under the City Mayor’s Integrated Gender and Development Division, my college degree would not only be desired, it is necessary. A landmark innovation in local governance in the Philippines, the LGBT Desk in the Davao City government will have a better chance at being institutionalized if I am a permanent employee occupying a plantilla position.  It will support Affirmative Action and enable gays like me to be mainstreamed in the civil service and become catalysts in promoting gender equality in local governance. I have already passed the Civil Service Professional Examination and possess the minimum requirements for a plantilla appointment, except for the required college degree.

I am given this rare opportunity to become a catalyst in mainstreaming gender issues not just in the City of Davao, but in the entire Philippines. It is because Davao City is the first, and so far, the only local government unit in the country today that has a clear policy and program that integrates LGBT issues and concerns in its development framework. It is a recognized trailblazer, and its best practices are being replicated in other areas, and studied and emulated even by other countries. Acquiring my College Degree would therefore be a crucial step in sustaining this development.  (Wilfredo “Pidot” Villocino wrote this piece in 2005 when he enrolled to complete his Mass Communication course at the Ateneo de Davao University under the Enhanced Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP). Villocino graduated on his birthday last year and is now pursuing his Masters of Science in Development Admnistration at the University of Southern Philippines).

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