Edna Bayubay, 55, a solo parent with eight children goes to every wake in her village in La Paz, Abra. Aside from giving her usual condolences to the aggrieved family, Edna, would also waste no time to offer her best sellers balut, nuts, and corns to the people in the wake.
“Ang pagbebenta ko po ng pagkain sa lamay ay nakatulong din sa akin kahit papaano para matugunan ko ang pangangailangan namin ng aking mga anak,” (Selling food at wakes helped me meet my family’s daily needs), Edna related.
Edna, indeed, showed admirable strength and courage by doing every menial job she knows to sustain the needs of her eight children despite being a solo parent.
Edna’s first husband died due to sickness leaving her with two children. She remarried thinking she would have someone to help her raise her children. Unfortunately, her relationship with her second husband, Rafael, turned sour. Edna left Rafael, taking with her their six children and the two children from her previous marriage.
Today, Edna need not go from one wake to another or take menial jobs anymore just to earn a living because she now attends to her sari-sari store. She set up the sari-sari store after receiving in February 2013 a P2,000 capital assistance from the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“Ginamit ko yung P2,000 para madagdagan ang tinda ko. Ngayon nga may tindahan na ako at hindi na sa kalsada nagtitinda,” (I used the P2,000 to expand my goods. Now, I already have a store and no longer sell on the road.), Edna said.
The SLP is a community-based capacity building program to improve the beneficiaries’ socio-economic status. It has two tracks, the Micro-Enterprise Development track and the Employment Facilitation track.
Micro-Enterprise beneficiaries are given a non-interest loan to a maximum of P10,000 payable within one to two years. Those who choose the Employment Facilitation track are referred to DSWD partners in both public and private sectors for job opportunities.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that the Department has a P1.2 billion fund for 2013 ready to be loaned out to micro-entrepreneurs.
From January 2013 to August 2013, the DSWD released P425,281,174.00 capital assistance to Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries like Edna.
Pantawid Pamilya Parent Leader
Aside from tending her sari-sari store, Edna is also busy as a parent leader of another DSWD program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the conditional cash transfer program.
Edna, who became a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary in 2008, is one of those who will be graduating from the program this year. She was chosen as a parent leader in their community because of her kindness, determination, hard work, and patience. “Pinili namin siya dahil siya ay masipag, mabait at aktibo sa mga gawain dito sa aming barangay,” (We chose her to be our parent leader because she is kind, hardworking, and active.), says Manang Mareng, one of the 24 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries in her group.
As a parent leader, Edna conducts house-to-house visit to interact with her fellow beneficiaries.
She reminds them to continue attending the family development sessions (FDS) and to imbibe the learnings in their daily lives.
The FDS is a regular gathering of parent-beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya. It consists of three modules, namely: Paglalatag ng Pundasyon ng Programang Pantawid Pamilya, Paghahanda at Pangangalaga ng Pamilyang Pilipino, and Partisipasyon ng Pamilyang Pilipino sa Gawaing Pang Komunidad. Topics discussed during FDS include effective parenting, husband and wife relationships, child development, laws affecting the Filipino family, gender and development, and home management.
Edna often shares to her fellow beneficiaries that she owes the positive changes in her life through the FDS. She added that these lessons would be her guide especially that she will be graduating from the program this year.
As of July 24, 2013, Edna’s family is among the 3,924,157 household-beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya in La Paz, one of the 14 set 1 municipalities in Abra which implemented the program in 2008.
Community volunteer
Edna’s involvement in her community does not stop with her being a parent leader. She also actively participates in the activities of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS).
Kalahi-CIDSS started in La Paz in 2012. It uses the community-driven development approach that empowers ordinary citizens to actively and directly participate in local governance by identifying their own community needs, planning, implementing, and monitoring projects to address local poverty issues collectively.
Being part of the volunteers’ team, Edna said that she became enlightened with the real situation of her community.
She related her experience as a Kalahi-CIDSS volunteer where she helped in validating the total number of households in their area. She also participated in coming up with a community map and in analyzing the needs of their barangay.
Never give up
Edna summarizes her life’s struggles by adhering to her guiding principle, “Never give up,” which reminds her about her experiences in the different wakes that she attended just to earn some money.
“Mahirap magpalaki ng walong anak lalo pa at mag-isa lang ako. Kahit anong paraan gagawin mo,” (It is very hard to raise eight children especially that I’m the only one working. That is why I’m doing all kinds of work.), Edna narrated.
Edna reiterated that selling food during wakes helped her a lot in providing the school needs of her children.
Her second to the last child, Juliet, graduated from high school in March while her youngest, Angela, is an incoming junior high school.
Dignity regained
Edna, however, was quick to point out that she regained her dignity with the opportunity given by the SLP, Pantawid Pamilya, and Kalahi-CIDSS of the DSWD. “Hindi na ako nagtitinda sa lamay,” (I don’t anymore sell during wakes), she said.
Likewise, SLP, Pantawid Pamilya, and Kalahi-CIDSS did not only improve her family’s economic situation but, more importantly, these programs have taught Edna to recognize her strength as a woman and mother.
By not giving up to the challenges, Edna is, indeed, an ordinary woman with an extraordinary strength of character. ###
