Where can your P50 take you?

For the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya from Barangay San Isidro Sur, Binmaley, Pangasinan, their P50 brought them to their dream bangus business venture.  Binmaley is a first class municipality in the province of Pangasinan famous for its bangus (milkfish) aquaculture, due to the existence of numerous fishponds. The town is also known as the Fishbowl Capital of the North.

In January last year, 50 housewives formed the Maanos-Maseet Sustainable Livelihood Program Association in their barangay. They contributed P50 each to complete the needed P1,200 initial capital to start their bangus processing business.

The women decided to set up their business enterprise to have an additional source of income for their  families and not just rely on the cash assistance from Pantawid Pamilya.

Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 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).

Recognizing the potential of the association, the DSWD and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) provided the fish deboning kits while the local government unit of Binmaley extended additional logistics, and the Office of Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil donated a smoke drum.

More than a year later, the association now has a revolving capital amounting to P92,305 with P36,044 cash deposit.

Growing in such a short span of time, the association is now one of the most successful livelihood associations in the Ilocos Region.

Everybody has a role 

The group attributes its success to the active participation of the members.

Each member plays an important role in the business starting from the production, to bookkeeping, to marketing.

Thrice a week, from 7:00 to 10:00 am, there are assigned members who do the deboning in their production site,  a 5×4 meter room made from bamboo and scrap materials attached to the house of one of the group members’.

While some members are engaged in deboning, others are out getting orders and selling their products such as boneless bangus, smoked bangus, relyenong bangus, shanghai bangus, embutidong bangus, bangus sardines, bangus siomai, and tosinong bangus at their exhibit area in the barangay hall.

Members who render four hours of work deboning bangus are paid P50 each per day. In a week, more than 25 kilos of fresh bangus from the fishponds of the local government of Binmaley are deboned.

Ten percent of their total income is deposited to the Association’s bank account for additional capital, savings, and mobilization.

Changed lives 

The success of their business venture changed the life of each member of the association.

The members revealed that before their bangus processing enterprise, they used to gamble, play cards, and talk about each other’s lives as past time activities, or just stay at home to care for their children and spouses.

Today, as members of the association, they provide moral support to each other by sharing their problems with one another. They also actively participate in community projects, such as regular clean-up activities.

According to Rowena Tolentino, one of the members, “Ang aming samahan ay tuloy-tuloy na umuunlad sa pag-angat ng aming negosyo (Our association continues to grow with our flourishing business.)”

They are now happy and fulfilled, able to augment their husbands’ earnings.

Association President Gilda F. Belda is proud to say that she has already become self-sufficient.

Looking back at her family’s life before they became Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries, Gilda narrated that the program opened doors for her.

Through Pantawid Pamilya, she was able to avail of livelihood trainings provided by the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), such as bangus products processing.

“Malaking tulong sa akin na nagkaroon kami ng mga trainings dahil mas naging mahusay kami sa tamang proseso ng fish deboning at iba pang boneless na produkto. Mahigit-kumulang P3,600.00 ang kita ko buwan-buwan dahil palaging may nag-iimbita sakin para magpatraining sa ibang probinsya (Having the opportunity to avail of trainings was is a big help to me because I learned how to hone my skills in fish deboning and other boneless products. I earn as much as P3,600 every month since I am often invited to conduct trainings in other provinces),” Gilda enthused.

With her earnings in the association and her income as a trainer on bangus processing, Gilda can now help provide for her family.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman lauded the members of the association, emphasizing that beneficiaries of government programs can indeed achieve success through their own determination and hard work.