A decade ago, she was a nobody in their community.

“Ang mga anak ko lang ang focus ko. Ang mahalaga sa akin ay magkaroon ng pera para may makain ang lima naming anak,” shared Angeles Rañola, 45, a resident of Brgy. Zone 3 in Dasmariñas City.

Angeles would do laundry for a living and would sometimes sell dried fish in the market in order to augment her husband’s income as an on-call welder during that time.

However, despite the jobs here and there, their whole family struggled and a lot of things had to be sacrificed.

A decade later, Angeles is grateful that they did not lose hope and that she opened her doors to the community.

Dreams and sacrifices

Luis, 20, Angeles’ second youngest child, shares that their education was always the first thing that was sacrificed whenever there were financial difficulties.

“Nag-uusap-usap kaming magkakapatid kung sino muna ang papasok para sa araw na ‘to. Kung sino muna ‘yung may exam o ‘yung kelangang ipasang project, s’ya muna ang papasok,” he shared.

Angeles cannot hide her tears recalling instances such as this. She narrated how they prefer their child’s absences in school rather than them going to school with an empty stomach and with no money to pay for the tricycle fare, much more buy even a simple snack at the middle of the day.

“Lagi naming sinasabi sa kanila na mag-aral nang mabuti para makaahon kami sa hirap, pero naiisip ko lagi na paano sila makakapagtapos kung hindi namin sila kayang papasukin araw-araw,” she shared.

Luis, the second to the youngest child in the family, shares that he and his other brothers would often go with their parents to their workplace. During these occasions, they would help them in whatever way they can either to make the job easier for their parents, earn additional income or simply get to know their parents’ work.

“Naranasan po naming sumama kay Mama sa paglalabada. Tapos e-extra kami sa amo ni Mama, maglilinis ng bahay o magsisibak ng kahoy,” shared Luis, who added that they’ll earn extra money doing this, which would be enough to help purchase a meal for the day.

In 2012, their becoming a beneficiary of the national government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program was a big game changer in their life. As Angeles puts it, the program opened a lot of opportunities for them to bring them closer to their dream of a better life.

Opportunities for the family

In the last 10 years as a family-beneficiary of the program, the family chased every opportunity. 

“Nung dumating ‘yung 4Ps, elementary pa lang ako noon, sobrang nag-iba ‘yung pamumuhay namin. Nakakapasok na kami araw-araw, may bago na kaming uniform, may allowance kami at may pambayad kami sa tricycle. Parang mas lalo kaming ginanahan na pumasok araw-araw,” shared Luis, who is now in first year college taking BS Psychology.

Angeles, who was selected as a parent leader of the group of beneficiaries in their barangay, started being involved in the community. From being a mother whose only focus was her children and family, she became ‘somebody’ in their community, especially when she was entrusted to become a barangay health worker.

“Habang tinutulungan kami ng programa, hindi lang sa pinansyal kundi sa mga aral at mga oportunidad katulad ng training at livelihood, tinulungan din namin ang aming sarili,” she shared.

Both Angeles and Rodel continued to work hard. Their involvement in the community also gave them peace of mind that there are a lot of ways to earn, a lot of organizations and people that they can go to in times of need and that they themselves can be of help to other people, even though they are struggling financially.

Their children, on the other hand, helped them through obtaining scholarships and getting jobs while studying.

Today, their family has come a long way.

“Dati pangarap lang. Ngayon, unti-unti na naming nabibigyan ng linaw,” shared Angeles with pride.

Two of her children already finished college while the rest are still in college. Rodel is now a construction subcontractor who is also able to provide jobs to other Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries in their community. Angeles continues to work as a health worker and has various sidelines such as providing therapeutic massage and selling beauty products.

“Tagumpay na tagumpay po sa amin ang programa. Hindi nasayang ‘yung benepisyo at oportunidad na binigay ninyo sa amin. Hindi nasayang ‘yung pondo ng gobyerno at oras na inilaan ng mga empleyado at ng partners ninyo,” shared Angeles gratefully as their family graduates as a beneficiary of the program.

Though she has mixed emotions about their graduation, she cannot hide her pride.
“Ipagpapatuloy po namin ang aming nasimulan, hindi lang sa pagpapabuti ng aming pamilya kundi ng aming buong komunidad,” Angeles shared.***