Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiary Jocelyn Paraba believes that it is not enough to simply receive assistance from the government, but instead support and lend a hand to its advocated projects. Being a woman didn’t stop her to actively participate in the construction of their farm to market road project under the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process program. For her, it is high time to give back the blessings she receives from the Pantawid Pamilya program by contributing her time and effort towards a better community.

 

*************

Seeing progress through a mother’s eye

 

For Jocelyn Paraba, it is of great accomplishment to see one of her child to finish studies and have a job in a multinational automotive company.

“Laking ginhawa po iyon sa buhay namin. Ngayong nagsisimula nang mag-trabaho si Amy, kaya na niyang tustusan ang sarili niyang mga pangangailangan. Bawas gastusin na rin po iyon sa amin,” 40 years old Jocelyn shared about her daughter Amy, who is currently working as operator in Yazaki Corporation in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.

Jocelyn’s family is one of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries in Brgy. Villa Batabat, Buenavista, Quezon. One of the goals of the Pantawid Pamilya program is to help poor families in providing education to their children aged 0-18 years old through cash assistance, provided that they comply with the set conditions of the program.

Jocelyn affirmed that Amy was able to finish high school through the cash grant they receive from the program. She was able to give Amy a daily allowance worth Php25.00, enough to buy her meals at school. She was also able to set Php60.00 allowance per week for the gasoline of their motorcycle, which they use for transportation to school. Being able to manage the grant properly enabled Jocelyn to provide for Amy’s school needs, thus keeping Amy from having perfect attendance, which is enough to fit the 85% monthly school attendance compliance of the program.

Aside from Amy, her two other siblings, RJ and Adrian, are beneficiaries of the program as well. The family gets a total of Php2,200.00 monthly assistance, which is enough to sustain the needs of the family, according to Jocelyn.

“Nakaipon pa po ako dahil sa grant na binibigay sa amin ng Pantawid. Kaya nang makatapos ng high school si Amy, pinakuha namin siya ng vocational course para mas madali siyang makahanap ng trabaho,” Jocelyn recounted.

Jocelyn proudly added that Amy eventually got a National Certificate on Electronics after finishing her training in Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Lucena City, Quezon. After a few months, Amy was able to find a job in Laguna and started to contribute in paying for home expenses and school needs of her two siblings.

 

Keeping her family stable

Jocelyn said that they don’t want to merely rely on the assistance provided by the program. While they are regularly receiving cash grants, they are also taking the opportunity to work on their livelihood – hog raising and vegetable planting and selling – to save for the college education of her two other children.

In addition to their current sources of income, Jocelyn is also looking forward to another livelihood opportunity coming from one of DSWD programs, the Sustainable Livelihood Program. The said program provides technical trainings and Php10,000.00 capital seed assistance to help Pantawid beneficiaries start their own business or livelihood.

“Dito sa aming lugar, ang pagtatanim ng Ubi raw po ang magandang pagkakitaan. Naghihintay na kami ng patawag para sa training. Maganda po ito para may dagdag kita pa kami,” Jocelyn added.

 

Prospering, together with the community

Jocelyn also added that their barangay is very active in the farm to market road projects being implemented by two other DSWD programs, the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan –Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP). The programs already constructed two road projects in the area and are currently implementing for another two.

The Kalahi-CIDSS project amounted to PhP2.4 million while GPBP provided a total of Php495,000.00.

During all the project implementation, Jocelyn shared that their barangay greatly practiced bayanihan, helping and working with each other without expecting any monetary payment in return. One of their main reasons is that most of their children walk to school and they want to provide them with a safer road to travel on.

“Sa totoo lang, ang dami talagang nagawa ng mga programa ng DSWD sa aming lugar. Bukod sa mga tulong na natatanggap namin bilang indibidwal at para sa aming pamilya, natulungan din ang aming buong barangay. Simula nang dumating ang mga programa sa amin, ramdam ko ang kaginhawaan sa buhay ko pati ang nabuong matatag na samahan at pagkakaisa dito sa aming lugar,” Jocelyn proudly summed up.