☼ GARDENERS aND OFFICE CLEANERS

Written by: Rodel J. Abalus

Village plazas where sports, recreation, cultural activities, and at times physical education classes are held look appealing when there are healthy flowering plants and plants.

While the three gardeners/office cleaners were sitting at the Balabag Village plaza of Boracay Island as they went on their daily work, a chance interview was conducted on August 28, Wednesday afternoon.

It was learned from Maria Melly Bartolome, 54 years old, who had worked for three (3) years as a gardener/office cleaner, that if they like a particular plant, they request from the owners in order to plant at the plaza.

She explained that compost from the Material Recovery Facility was used in the concrete box for plants on the southern side of the basketball court of the plaza.

According to her, that was the reason why the plants were more robust there than the plants on the eastern side of the plaza.

Meanwhile, Gelly Seraspi, 37 yrs old, the youngest among the three and had worked on the job since March 2013, expressed appreciation of the attractiveness of the garden at the Manoc-Manoc plaza, and at the surroundings of Yapak Village.

Cecilyn Bartolome, 49 years old, who had worked for three (3) years on the job, offered the interviewer her improvised seat, made of ply wood, and cautioned Seraspi for staying under the heat of the sun who answered back in the vernacular in a mildly joking manner something like the foreigners do the same and that her father was a half Filipino and half foreigner himself.

Their work schedule is Mondays to Fridays, and half day on Saturdays and their work also include cleaning offices.

At the end of the interview, the three (3) ladies all had a sweet smile as they asked the interviewer to greet them over the radio.