Kapitbahay
Property manager Gel Sipat and his team locked down with their Avida Towers Residents to create a safe, caring community where they all looked out for each other
Words by MARGA CONSTANTINO
The aroma of home-cooked food wafts through the air at the Avida Towers community market. Gel Sipat, 28, walks between stalls, exchanging pleasantries with each vendor as they set up a mouthwatering array of viands, baked goods, and produce that they hope to sell that day. It feels like the hundredth market day in the premises, and they all recognize each other even with their face masks on.
As the property manager of Avida Towers Prime Taft, Gel has been working non-stop to look after the community’s 900 residents. He and at least 79 of his staff members have been living in the property since the Enhanced Community Quarantine was announced in March 2020. It has been a painful adjustment but they were determined to protect and serve their community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Simple steps, big impact
By staying on-ground, Gel was able to respond quickly to the needs of the residents. One of their earliest concerns was how to get food and essential goods. With the support of the Board of Trustees, Gel and his team started the Community Market, where marketplace vendors sold their products on-site every day so that the residents wouldn’t have to leave the premises.
They soon opened the Neighborhood Market, where residents whose jobs were affected by the lockdown could likewise sell food and other items to earn extra income. One of them, Marvin del Pena, sells four to six sacks of rice a day. He was so pleased with the exceptional service that Gel and his team provided that he even donated two sacks of rice for the stay-in staff’s meals. Many other residents made similar contributions. They were all kapitbahays looking out for each other.
Good harvest. Residents nurture their home businesses through the Neighborhood Market. Marvin dela Pena (center and right photo) started selling rice there, then took online orders from neighboring properties. Including deliveries, he now sells up to 10 sacks a day. His business helps rice farmers from Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and Tarlac.
Random acts of kindness
Many of the community projects involved residents or volunteer off-duty personnel who simply wanted to help. In May, they arranged on-site, free medical consultations with Avida residents who were doctors. They even organized a property car wash where off-duty personnel volunteered to wash the vehicles that sat idly in the parking lot.
The residents’ feedback has been overwhelming.
“They are very satisfied with the service of APMC and Ayala. They really appreciate it and are very thankful that they are here with Ayala,” says Gel, who continues to live on the premises. He says that it is just part of the APMC culture of leadership and concern. As long as the residents need their support, he will stay.
#AyalaCitizen Diary: Gel’s busy workday can include administrative paperwork, COVID awareness seminars with residents, or door-to-door distribution of relief goods. On weekends, they volunteered to wash residents’ cars for free.
Waiting for the big day
Every day, though his mind is fully focused on work, Gel’s heart reaches out to the girl he loves.
A week before the lockdown, Gel bought a beautiful engagement ring and made plans to propose on his anniversary with his girlfriend of four years. As luck would have it, their anniversary fell on March 16, 2020, the beginning of the ECQ. On this day, both he and his girlfriend were locked down in their own workplaces, torn away from each other for months.
In sickness and in health. Gel holds up the engagement ring, and waits for the day he can finally propose to the love of his life.
This was painful for Gel, but he put aside his disappointment and went to work, hopeful that God would bless him with a better time to act on the desires of his heart. Gel felt that the Lord finally answered him when the ECQ was lifted in June, and he again planned for the perfect proposal. On his girlfriend’s birthday, July 20, Gel took her out to a romantic dinner, got down on one knee, and asked the love of his life to marry him.
Of course, she said yes.#
PUBLISHED July 31, 2020
