Sagay City, Negros Occidental –  With only her dreams and determination as her motivation, a 17-year-old daughter of a ‘sacada’ or sugar cane worker, bested 832 other graduating students of Sagay National High School and emerged as valedictorian.

Sacadas can be found in Negros Occidental, known as the ‘sugar bowl’ of the Philippines.

Living in a remote village in the city, Arlyn Martinez narrated that every day, she has to walk for an hour or ride on a carabao borrowed by her father to get to the main road and then take a tricycle to reach the city’s public high school.

She said that she may not have lived a luxurious life, like living in a comfortable house or riding in a car just like some of her well-off classmates and schoolmates, but she is happy with her  simple and poor life.

“Masaya ako dahil puno ng pagmamahalan ang aming pamilya. Pinapahalagahan ko din ang sakripisyo ng aking ama para sa aming sampung anak niya (I am happy because love abounds in our family. I also appreciate my father’s sacrifices to provide for all of us his 10 children),” she said.

Help through Pantawid Pamilya

Arlyn’s family is a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program that invests in the health and education of poor families, primarily those with children aged 0-18. It provides cash grants to partner-beneficiaries who comply with the conditions of sending their children to school, bringing them to health centers for checkups, and attending the monthly Family Development Sessions (FDS).

In 2013, the DSWD expanded the coverage of Pantawid Pamilya to include the 15-18 age bracket to ensure that the children-beneficiaries will graduate from high school, and have a higher rate of employability.

Arlyn, together with her two other siblings are covered by the program.

She said that the P500 cash grants she receives monthly as well as the P300 received by each of her two siblings helped them meet their daily expenses, such as their school allowance, school supplies, and uniform.

“Nakatulong ang programa sa akin para maging valedictorian (The program has helped me be the valedictorian of our class),” she enthused.

Proud to be a sacada’s daughter

For Arlyn, there is great pride in being a sacada’s daughter.

“Bilang karga tapas sa tubuhan, tinitiis ng aking ama ang bigat ng trabaho pero kinakaya niya, at sa gabi ay nag-aararo pa para lang matugunan ang aming mga pangangailangan  (As a `karga tapas’ in the sugarcane field, my father endures gruelling manual labor, yet he even plows the farm at night to sustain the whole family’s needs),” she narrated.

Now that she finished high school, Arlyn is a step closer to her dreams of uplifting her family’s condition.

“Gaya ng pangako ko sa aking sarili, susuklian ko ang mga sakripisyo ng aking ama. Kaya po ako ay nag-aral ng mabuti (I promised myself that I will repay my father’s sacrifices.  This is why I studied hard),” she said.

If given an opportunity, Arlyn wants to be an engineer or a teacher. She promised that when she gets a job and gets her first salary, she wants to buy a carabao for her father so he could finally own one and not borrow from neighbors anymore.

During her valedictory speech, Arlyn told her parents how lucky she is to have them and how thankful she is to them for making sure that she would graduate from high school. Her parents only finished elementary education.

“Sa kabila ng kahirapan, huwag tayong mawalan ng pag-asa. Ipagpatuloy nating mangarap at magsumikap dahil magbubunga rin ang ating pagpupunyagi (Despite poverty, we should not lose hope. Let us keep on dreaming and continue working hard because it will definitely pay off in the end),” Arlyn stated as she proudly stood on the stage wearing her white academe gown.

Recognizing the likes of Arlyn who graduated with honors, DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman stressed, “Pinatunayan ng mga benepisyaryo na nagsipagtapos ng high school sa taong ito, at ang iba ay nagkamit pa ng honors, na hindi hadlang ang kahirapan upang makamit ang tagumpay. Ang kaunting tulong mula sa gobyerno ay napayabong nila upang mapabuti ang kanilang katayuan sa buhay (Those who graduated from high school this year, others even graduating with honors, have proven that poverty is not a hindrance towards achieving success. They were able to make good use of the little help from government).” ###