Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries share blessings to frontliners

What’s the best way to show appreciation to the frontliners who ensure everyone’s safety during these times?

For 332 beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of Luisiana town in Laguna province, it is best to fill their handmade ‘bayong’ with goods and deliver these personally to the frontliners manning the checkpoints in various parts of their town.

Ronalyn Caballes, 38, a parent leader of the Pantawid Pamilya in the said town shared how they initially thought of the idea.

“Naisip ko po na p’wede kaming mag-ambagan para makatulong kami kahit sa simpleng paraan. Gusto naming may maiambag sa aming lugar at nang hindi puro negatibo na lang ang tingin ng mga tao sa aming mga benepisyaryo ng programa,” shared Ronalyn.

Upon consulting their Municipal Link, Ronalyn immediately shared the idea to other beneficiaries of the program.

“Natuwa po ako at lahat po ng kapwa ko benepisyaryo ay sumang-ayon kaagad. Alam po namin na hindi biro ang ginagawa ng mga frontliners na nagbabantay sa checkpoint para maging ligtas kami,” she said.

Goods for the frontliners

The beneficiaries collected more than PhP30,000 as each of the 332 beneficiaries tipped in PhP100 after receiving their financial assistance under the Social Amelioration Program.

“Napag-alaman po namin na ang mga frontliners na nagbabantay sa mga checkpoints ay doon na mismo nagluluto ng kanilang makakakain. Kaya binilhan namin sila ng magagamit sa pagluluto tulad ng toyo, suka, patis. Meron ding manok, itlog, tinapay at kape sa bayong na hinanda namin para sa kanila,” said Ronalyn.

With the help of their local government unit, they were able to distribute the goods to frontliners of 27 checkpoints in the town. The beneficiaries of their initiative were staff of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, police, barangay health workers, barangay tanods and other volunteers in the checkpoints.

“Ang nasa isip ko po noong panahon na ‘yon ay kahit po paano, sa kaunting halaga ay makatulong at makapagshare kami kahit sa mga frontliners na nagpapakahirap para kami ay maging ligtas,” shared Marilou Abustan, another parent leader in Luisiana.

Glad to be a leader

Even Ronalyn herself cannot believe how she is able to lead activities like this as this is too far from how she was before.

“Murang edad ako nakapag-asawa kaya hindi ako madalas makisalamuha sa iba. Dati rati, sa pamilya ko lang talaga ako may pakialam,” shared Ronalyn.

She said that she and her husband, Kenneth, focused mainly on supporting the needs of their children. Kenneth works as a farmer while she works as an on-call helper for catering services.

“Noong naging benepisyaryo kami ng Pantawid Pamilya, malaki ang naitulong nito sa amin. Hindi lamang sa pinansyal kami natulungan kundi maging sa aking sarili, lalong lalo na sa pakikisalamuha sa iba,” said Ronalyn.

She added that through her monthly attendance in Family Development Sessions (FDS) of the Pantawid Pamilya, she gained her confidence and started building relationships with co-beneficiaries.

Today, she is glad that she stood up and expanded her network as she is able to influence her co-beneficiaries as well as other people in the community just like what she accomplished in their recent initiative.

“Nalulungkot po kami kapag naririnig po namin yung sinasabi ng iba na nag-aabang lang kami ng biyaya pero hindi na lang po namin sila pinapansin, dahil alam naman po namin sa sarili namin na patuloy ang aming pagsisikap at kaya rin naming maglingkod sa iba,” she expressed.#