Borja, Shieldon D.

A06A04
Bulanadi, Alfredo Jr. F. A-22

Initial Data Base [DRAFT]

ZABALLA Family

A. Demographic Data

No Name Relationship Ag Birthday Civil Se Religi

. to the Head of e Stat x on
the Family us
1 Abraham Head of the 58 June 1, 1951 M M C
Zaballa family
2 Myrna Zaballa Spouse of the 54 October 20, 1955 M F C
head
3 Aldrin Jay Grandson 14 September 20, N/A M C
Zaballa 1995

LEGEND:
F – Female M – Male C – Catholic

A. Family Structure, Characteristic and Dynamic

The informant Mrs. Myrna Zaballa claims that they are three members in the
household. The family structure is nuclear and patriarchal in authority. The family
resides at Poblacion 5 RR alley Tanauan City, Batangas. They acquired their
house from Mrs. Zaballa’s parents. There is no other person living with them who
are not a member of the family. She had been residing in their house since the
day she was born. She was originally from Tanauan and her husband was from
Bicol.

Their primary language spoken was Tagalog. She said the one responsible for
making the final decision at all aspects in their house is Mr. Zaballa.

The Zaballa couple has four offspring namely; Dindo Zaballa, Jenalyn Pareño,
Sheryl Castillo, Morena Nuñez. All of their children have their own families and
houses, living away from the Zaballa couple. Their grandson, Aldrin Jay Zaballa,
child of their first son, currently resides with them.

According to Mrs. Zaballa, there are no conflicts between her and other
members of the family. She further explained that all of them are in good and
harmonious relationship. Each member of the family has the freedom to give
their opinions. They share to one another their problems, fears, happiness and
victories to each members of family. Mrs. Zaballa stated “Pag ako’y
namomroblema, pumupunta lang ako sa aking mga anak”. She said that she is
open and that didn’t find it hard to share her feelings to the other members of
the family. She preferred sharing her problems with her family or sometimes,
with her best friend who is from the other barangay.

As for the interaction of the Zaballa couples with their children, she stated
“para lang kaming magkakapatid. Nagbibiru-biruan paminsan-minsan”. In terms
of discipline towards her children, Mrs. Zaballa said she talks to them whenever
they have wrongdoings. She is a disciplinarian when it comes to the
grandchildren. She said “pinagsasabihan ko sila pag may mali silang ginagawa.
Minsan, pinapalo ko din sila pag sobra na”. She said that she knows how her
grandchild feels whenever she punish them but she believes she have to do so
for them to know their mistakes. She added that her grandchildren weren’t like
others, who answers back whenever you scold them, they remain quiet and
sometimes, silently weeping in one corner.

B. Socio-economic and Cultural Structure

Mr. Zaballa studied at Irigan Elementary School. He stopped studying after he

graduated from elementary at school year 1963-1964 and has no plans to
continue finishing up to college anymore as he reasoned that he was too old for
schooling. On the other hand, Mrs. Zaballa, the wife, graduated from elementary
at Tanauan South Elementary at school year 1968-1969. She graduated from
high school at Tanauan Institute College. She also stopped schooling after she
graduated from high school. Their grandson, Aldrin Jay, is currently a 1st year
high school student at Tanauan Institute College.

Mr. Zaballa, the head, works to support the needs of the family. He works as a
barangay tanod in their place. Aside from being a tanod, he also has a sideline
job which was buy-and-sell business at the market near them, earning an
amount of 150 pesos as the lowest income for a day. Approximately, he earns
4,500-5,000 pesos a month. He described his working place as, “Maraming tao,
pasalin-salin ang bentahan…” He said that whenever there are products to be
sold, he doesn’t settle on a single product. He chooses those products which are
timely and which he thinks has more profits to be earned. Mr. Zaballa said that
whenever he is not on duty in the city hall, he is in the market selling his
merchandise. He confessed that he usually gets stressed when doing his works.
He copes up with the stress by going to their house every afternoon and
relaxing. His form of relaxation is by sleeping or eating or watching television.
On the other hand, the head’s wife works as a nutritional scholar in the barangay
health center. She said that whenever she is not on duty in the center, she is in
the house sleeping or doing the house chores. The head, together with his wife
earns an amount of 5,500 pesos quarterly from their work at barangay hall,
health center, and Batangas city hall.

The informant, Mrs. Zaballa claims that the one who does all the budgeting in
their family is her husband. She also said that their basic necessities are
adequate enough for all of the members of the family. Although sometimes,
there are cases that they were short of money to use during times of emergency,
they just borrow from their children. As for budget allocations, the family
prioritizes food expenses first, followed by water, electric bill, health, education,
and clothing, in that particular order.

According to Mrs. Zaballa, she described her relationship to their

neighborhood as good and they do not have any enemies or rivalries in their
community.

She also said that they participate in the activities in their community. In
addition to that, Mrs. Zaballa is the one who keeps the records of planned
program and activities for the community as part of her work in the barangay.

C. Home and Environment

The living space in their house was enough to accommodate the whole
family. As Mrs. Zaballa said, “ok naman yung espasyo ng aking tirahan,
kumportable at tahimik naman pati dito, walang dapat ipag-alala kung
mapapasok kame at mabait naman yung mga tao dito”. The type of material
used for building the house is made of wood, steel and cement. The distance of
their house to another house is approximately 1m to 1.5m. There are two
jalousies in their house. The client’s perception on the ventilation of her house is
that it is well ventilated. There is only one room in their house where the whole
family sleeps. But now, the family sleeps outside the house, for the reason that
Mrs. Zaballa feels afraid of her experience of seeing someone who did suicide
inside their house. The couple sleeps together side-by-side with their grandson.

There is a presence of breeding ground or resting sites for mosquitoes and

rodents at their house, specifically at their front yard where their two (2) dogs,
tied on the leash and guarding the entrance of their house, and an empty bird
cage are found. Mrs. Zaballa said that she control vectors through fumigation,
insecticides, mosquito/insect coil and using screen on windows and doors. She
added that she doesn’t use bed nets at night because she has difficulty in
breathing when using such.

The uncovered ceiling fan on Mrs. Zaballa’s sleeping area poses an accident
hazard, e.g. the exposed fan blades might loose from the fan itself, and thus,
may cause accident.

The lighting facilities, which are electric-operated, are adequate enough

according to Mrs. Zaballa.

Mrs. Zaballa said that the main source of drinking water is through delivery of
mineral water every month while the supply of water they use for washing
clothes, washing the dishes, bathing etc. comes from Tanauan Water District.
They use container for water storage. The toilet facility that they privately-own is
water-sealed latrine and the condition is clean. The opening of their toilet is not a
door. Instead, they use curtain. Inside the comfort room, there is a pail, a dipper,
and a faucet. No other person is using their toilet other than the members of
their family. According to Mrs. Zaballa, the distance of the connections of water
source 2 meters – 2.5 meters deep while the septic tank is 5 meter deep. The
septic tank is made out of PVC pipe and covered with hollow blocks.
 Mr. Zaballa is the one who disposes their garbage everyday in the morning.
Their way of disposing their garbage is through garbage collection. She stated
that doesn’t practice any of the garbage refuse management such as recycle,
reuse and segregation. She throws her thrash all together in a sack, not
separating the biodegradable from non-biodegradable, and then disposes it in
the garbage collection truck. The garbage was collected every morning. The
distance of the garbage sack from their house was around 5 meters – 6 meters
and around 4 meters – 5 meters away from their sleeping area which was
outside the house.

There are available health programs in their community such as free-

consultation, immunization, pre-natal check-up, medical mission, and family
planning. Facilities for health such as clinics and health centers are also available
in the town near them. Recreational facility such as basketball court is also
available in their barangay. Communication facilities such as computer, internet,
telephone, and cell phone are not readily available in their household, especially
in case of emergency, as they have to go to town to avail those services.
Transportation facilities such as bus, jeepneys, and tricycles are available in their
town.

D. Health status of each family member

According to Mrs. Zaballa, she undergoes at least two medical check-ups

every three months because her blood and sugar level status needs to be
monitor as she often had an elevated blood lipids/cholesterol, sugar level, and
hypertension. She confessed that she also had asthma. Being 5’1ft. (1.55m) in
height and 81kilogram in weight, her Body Mass Index (BMI) was 33.75 kg/m2.
She is considered to be an obese 2. She doesn’t smoke, drink alcoholic
beverages nor do any substance abuse. She has a sedentary lifestyle watching
television or sleeping or eating only when she has nothing to do when she has
no work. She also confesses about her having difficulty in breathing sometimes.
She thinks that the reason for that is her heavy body weight.

Mrs. Zaballa had been taking ‘Metropolol’ for her high blood pressure,
‘Glibenclamide’ for diabetes, ‘Allopurinol (elavil)’ for elevation of cholesterol, and
‘Salbutanol (bronelid)’ for asthma. She had been prescribed to take the first
three mentioned medicines once a day, starting six months ago. The last was to
be taken only when she experiences asthma attack. She also drinks herbal
ampalaya tea.

Mr. Zaballa was observed to be a smoker. According to Mrs. Zaballa, “kaya

nung umubos ng kalahati ng isang kaha. Sabi pa nga daw nun, mas masarap
daw ito kesa sa kape...” She also observed that whenever he does his smoking,
the latter lost his appetite and end up not eating. Mr. Zaballa has a busy lifestyle
because of his work in the market and being a barangay tanod in the barangay
hall.

The family eats three a day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes, taking
meriendas in the morning and afternoon. According to Mrs. Zaballa, she really is
the one who eats a lot. Mr. Zaballa and Aldrin eats small amount of food. She
added that Mr. Zaballa loves eating vegetable while Aldrin is the other way
around.

E. Practices on health promotion, maintenance

According to Mrs. Zaballa, everybody in the family has complete

immunization.

Mrs. Zaballa verbalized that she has an adequate rest and sleep. She feels
refreshed and energized. Though sometimes, when newly waked-up, she feels
pain on her feet when she tries to stand up. She sleeps at around 8:30pm-
9:00pm and wakes up 5:00am during working days and 6:00am on non-working
days. Her perception about enough sleep was “walang sagabal, yung di
ninenerbyos sa gabi”. She experience difficulty in sleeping when she
experiences asthma attack.

She doesn’t have an adequate exercise but she got lots of activities like
household chores which are enough to make her stress (e.g. washing the
laundry).

As a form of relaxation, whenever she has nothing to do, she said that she
just watch the television or sleep.