Sibagat, Agusan del Sur – This is about a group of Manobo women from Sitio Bantolinao of this town who started their own business and made it flourish.
They are ordinary Manobo women with no diploma to boast of.
All they have is the vision to improve their economic condition by embarking on a group business.
They started as beneficiary-mothers of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program grouped together for their Family Development Session (FDS), a monthly gathering of parent-beneficiaries where they discuss parent effectiveness and home management.
With the help of the cash grants they received from Pantawid Pamilya, they were able to save some money and started a sari-sari store business.
The sari-sari store became a success.
In December 2011, they returned the members’ share of the profit with each receiving P9,000.
At present, the store has now expanded and is already selling gasoline, medicines, and school supplies.
Growing bigger
Eventually, the group received seed capital assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), and formally registered as the Bantolinao Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran Association (SKA).
According to Evelyn “Inday” M. Inocente, the group leader, they received seed capital assistance in January 2012.
They decided to pool together the P10,000 seed capital each of the 19 members received to start a bigger livelihood project.
With only 50 households in the community, they believed that the capital assistance would be more practical if they started a business as an association.
The Bantolinao SKA sari-sari store sells basic commodities needed by the community like slippers and apparel. The group also expanded the sari-sari store in a nearby barangay and opened a gasoline business in another sitio.
The group also started a “buy and sell” business for abaca fiber and rattan.
When it comes to obligations, the Bantolinao SKA is always on time for the repayment of their loan with DSWD.
Six months into their business, the Bantolinao SKA had more than P76,000 in savings at the bank and it has been increasing since.
While the Bantolinao SKA operates independently, it has entered into a joint project with the Sibagat SEA-K Beneficiaries Federation with an abaca production project.
With the support from the local government of Sibagat, they acquired a five-hectare land and planted it with abaca.
Inday, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the federation, manages the project.
They also ventured into a mini hydroelectric power generation business, tapping the falls located in Bantolinao.
Called Bantolinao SEA-K Electric Power Co., it is owned by the people of Bantolinao. The residents automatically become members.
The monthly amortization is P200 per month.
The project provides round-the-clock electricity supply to approximately 50 households. It also provides the opportunity for member-SKAs to engage in processing raw materials available in the community to sell them at a competitive price.
According to Inday, the group members are confident, determined and persistent in realizing these livelihood projects because there are people and groups that believe and support them such as DSWD; the NGO, Socio-Economic Uplift, Literacy,Anthropological and Development Services (SULADS); and, the local government of Sibagat. Inday expressed the gratitude of the association to the many groups that have helped them.
“Nakayanan naming ang pagbabago dahil sa tulong ng pamahalaan at ng iba pang mga grupo. Salamat sa tiwala na kaya namin ang pagbabago (We were able to deal with change because of the help of the government and other groups. We thank you for the confidence that we can change our lives for the better),” Inday said.
The success of Bantolinao SKA and the Sibagat SEA-K Beneficiaries Federation is a manifestation that ordinary people, if given the opportunity, can work for their own development and find their way out of poverty. ###
