Bridging the Gender Gap

Bridging

the Gender Gap Stories of Change in Women’s Lives in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

Editors

Pennie Azarcon Dela Cruz Rina Jimenez David Veronica Fenix Villavicencio

Produced with funding support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the project, “TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan” 2015

Bridging the Gender Gap Stories of Change in Women’s Lives in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

Editors

Pennie Azarcon Dela Cruz Rina Jimenez David Veronica Fenix Villavicencio

A product of a technical assistance project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and PILIPINA, Inc. “TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan” (November 2012 to December 2014)

Quezon City, Philippines 2015

T able o f

Conte nts

Abbreviations and Acronyms

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Acknowledgements

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Foreword: Rina Jimenez David, PILIPINA

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Introduction: Technical Assistance Project to Improve Gender Impacts of the Pantawid Program

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Inspiring Impacts and Insights: Stories of Change in the Lives of Pantawid Program Beneficiaries, Jurgette Honculada

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References

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Photo Credits

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Authors and Editors

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Project Team

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T able o f

Co n t en t s

Human Interest Stories Sta Maria, Isabela Project Area Profile Perla Malsi Malit Back to Santa Maria

Dominga Liaban Aberion Lighting a lamp in Santa Maria

Carles, Iloilo 16 20 24

Coron, Palawan Project Area Profile Alma Cabahug Montebon

Jerson and Violeta Andalajao

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Leonila Suelo Salvador

110 114

This ice cream maker licked life’s hurdles

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Dressmaker, cook, and coconut wine vendor

Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Norte 56 60

Project Area Profile Tima Bantilan Macanta

122 126

Breaking out of ethnic boundaries

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Mary Jean Comilang Jabanes

130

A bountiful harvest

An ordinary grantee with extraordinary challenges

Balete, Aklan

Kiblawan, Davao del Sur 68 73

Project Area Profile Marivic Labajo Palisan

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Rosalinda Igong-Igong Arabe

Nursing dashed dreams back to reality Cooking up a solid future

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A couple like, and in so many ways, unlike others

Project Area Profile Arlina Generale Suarez

Working hard for her dreams

May Cuarton Mongcal

Building a bridge to the future

44 48

Pilar, Sorsogon

Project Area Profile Ronilyn Dominguez Paganonong

96 100

Alegria, Surigao del Norte

Laughing off life’s many trials

Gilda Azul Mandane

91

In an island no more

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A quiet, confident voice

Project Area Profile Imelda Malle Marbella

Brenda Zacharias Vicente

Project Area Profile Aniceta Namoco Jamio

Legaspi City, Albay

Aida Matamora Maranan

Having his cake and baking it too

28 34

Like she does with seaweeds

Project Area Profile Teresa Bermas Cruel

82 86

Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental

A bountiful partnership despite lean times

Leah Orlina Aguido

Project Area Profile Benjie Andres Tanes

134 138

Going beyond the Four B’s She saves money and stores skills

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A bb r ev i at i ons a nd Acro n ym s ADB

Asian Development Bank

Brgy.

Barangay (Village)

BuB

Bottom-up Planning and Budgeting

CNA

Capacity Needs Assessment

CHED

Commission on Higher Education

DA

Department of Agriculture

DSWD

Department of Social Welfare and Development

GAD

Gender and Development

GAP

Gender Action Plan

GPB

Grassroots Participatory Budgeting

GST

Gender Sensitivity Training

NHTS-PR

National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction

Pantawid Program

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

PL

parent leader

Project

“TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan�

QRT

Quick Response Team

SLP

Sustainable Livelihood Program

Sta. Santa TA

Technical Assistance

TESDA

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

VAWC

Violence against Women and Children

Currency Equivalent: 1 US dollar = 44.7 Philippine pesos (as of 31 March 2015)

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Ack n o wl edg em en ts The Asian Development Bank (ADB) wishes to thank the following persons and their organizations for giving guidance, sharing information, and assisting the writers in their interviews and research for this publication.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program National Program Management Office Ma. Asuncion Basco, NPMO GAD Focal Point Coordinator Riza C. Torrado, NPMO GAD Focal Point Coordinator (2012-2014) Region 2 and Santa Maria, Isabela Macpaul Alariao, GAD Focal Person of Region 2 Carla Balauag, Provincial Link of Isabela Jackie Lou Garcia, Municipal Link of Santa Maria Region 4B and Coron, Palawan Psyche Mae Asencio, GAD Focal Person of Region 4B Sierra May F. Condestable, Paul L. Echague, and April Christy C. Fresnillo, Municipal Links of Coron Region 5, Legazpi, Albay and Pilar, Sorsogon Rosalie Mapa, GAD Focal Person of Region 5 Fenina Cantuba, Provincial Link of Albay Helen Francisco, Maricel Maquinana, and Margie Villareal, City Links of Legazpi City Cecille Gubot-Mapa, Provincial Link of Sorsogon Maribeth Buling, Fannie Pura, and Judith Relleta, Municipal Links of Pilar

Region 6, Balete, Aklan and Carles, Iloilo Katrina C. Fernandez, GAD Focal Person of Region 6 Cristina A. Tercena, Provincial Link of Aklan Benifer Alcain and Ry Vincent Almelia, Municipal Links of Balete Erlyn L. Garcia, Provincial Link of Iloilo Vienna Marie Garcia and Marvin Sedicol, Municipal Links of Carles Region 7 and Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental Nelani Sanico, GAD Focal Person of Region 7 Asela Bella C. Tse, Provincial Link of Negros Oriental Maria Elena O. Arnado, Myrna Batalan, Marichu T. Epe, and Jo-Ann M. Jabel, Municipal Links of Santa Catalina Region 9 and Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur Leonora A. Barahim, GAD Focal Person of Region 9 Evangelina A. Poquita, Provincial Link of Zamboanga del Sur Meldios B. Celeste, Annalyn P. Estrada, Sharon V. Mudai and Alona D. Ziga, Municipal Links of Dumalinao Region 11 and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur Ella Charise Morales Antepasado, GAD Focal Person of Region 11 Roque Maria Fernandez, Provincial Link of Davao del Sur Tarhata Alondres, Conception Apolinar, and Carla Arana, Municipal Links of Kiblawan

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Ac k no w l edg emen ts Region 13 and Alegria, Surigao del Norte Rhouella M. Quilacio, GAD Focal Person of Region 13 Sha Honey Sarvida, (former) GAD Focal Person, Region 13 Shalom Dapar, Provincial Link of Surigao del Norte Jamalia Pangcatan and Kathryn Pasilan-Abellanosa, Municipal Links of Alegria ADB also wishes to thank officials of the local government units for providing information and assistance in the course of the documentation and research for this publication: the Mayors of the municipalities and cities, the council members and heads of local line agencies, particularly of their respective Social Welfare and Development Offices; and especially, the Punong Barangay (Barangay Captains) and council members of the Project pilot areas.

ADB expresses appreciation to the parent leaders and members of the GAD Core Groups of the Project pilot barangays, who accompanied and tirelessly assisted the interviewers and writers of the stories.

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ADB wishes to acknowledge and sincerely thank the women and men who told their stories for this publication, including the following women–beneficiaries and parent leaders–of the Pantawid Program pilot areas, who were interviewed but whose stories were not published, namely: Miralin Abril, Maricel Abog, Lelin Paguia, and Nimfa Reyes of Coron, Palawan Engelene Repoldo Gregorio and Josephine Rebenito Mamay of Balete, Aklan Rolyn Duga Bensurto and Estela Narciso Marcelino of Carles, Iloilo Marilyn Ortiz Deposoy of Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental Rogen Redoble Escorial of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur Abegail Jamonil Alisoso and Mary Ann Tagarao Celeste of Alegria, Surigao del Norte.

F OREWORD

ri na j i men ez dav id PILIPINA

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hese are, by the algorithm of logic and significance, “small stories.” They are told by simple people, humble yet prominent perhaps in the scale of small neighborhood clusters. The achievements recounted are no great shakes. Sure, some families have increased their incomes, but they are not impressive tales of wealth creation. And while in most families communication between the spouses and among parents and children has been enhanced and enriched, none of the stories told would perhaps qualify for adaptation to a movie or even a television drama.

In short, they are stories about ordinary people undergoing life-changing transitions. And while the outsider might read the stories and wonder “what all the fuss is about,” for the people involved in these transitions, the stories tell the tale of lives transformed, relationships rekindled, children whose futures look brighter with the promise of education and a sense of security.

So for the women (and men) who tell their stories of transformation and renewal, these ARE big stories. Big in the sense of helping them build from the aftermath of disaster; big in the

sense of bringing relief from living with violence; big in the knowledge that they are worth more than their humble beginnings would indicate, or their lack of education would imply.

As national chairperson of the women’s organization, PILIPINA, I take particular pride in sharing these stories for these are the results of the work carried out by some of our members around the country (with funding support and direction from the Asian Development Bank and the Department of Social Welfare and Development) who took on the responsibilities of community development officers for the project.

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Over two full years, together with the local Pantawid Program workers, they met with the women in the pilot communities of the project. These women were oriented on feminist principles and on the rights of women and girls; helped to articulate their community’s needs and aspirations, especially for themselves and their children; and then trained in skills that enabled them to engage in trades to enhance their economic security. Indeed, the creative learning sessions and action plans implemented – and the sisterhood that grew strong from these – are an accomplishment to be proud of.

But as a journalist, too, I was impressed with the testimony of the Pantawid Program women, their husbands or partners, and their children. However low-key, the changes wrought in the women’s lives, in their thinking and self-image, in their relationships with family and community, are nonetheless

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worthy of public notice and recognition.

Individually, the stories may strike some as run-of-the-mill. But when taken collectively, they indicate the beginnings of an earth-shaking social transformation, a tectonic shift in the landscape of social norms and expectations of women.

True, the interventions are by way of a pilot program, still awaiting further validation and, it is hoped, expansion into a full-scale nationwide enhancement of the Pantawid Program. But for the women and their families whose lives have already been enriched by the Project, there is no turning back. Having taken their first steps towards economic independence and a greater sense of selfworth and social involvement, they can – and will – carry on. And not just for themselves, but for their communities as well. And for our nation badly in need of success stories, and tales of empowerment.

i n tro du c t ion

Te c hnica l As s istance Pr oject to I m p rov e G e n d e r I m pact s o f t h e Pa n taw i d P r o g r a m

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ow responsive is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Program) to gender needs and issues of poor Filipino women and their families? Can the Pantawid Program do better in this? The Asian Development Bank (ADB) hoped to explore these questions and support the Philippine government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), to be more gender-responsive and strengthen gender impacts in its flagship poverty reduction program.

A “Technical Assistance for the Strengthened Gender Impacts of Social Protection” (TA) was approved by ADB in September 2010 to increase the understanding and knowledge of the gender impact of the Pantawid Program, support actions to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment, and create knowledge products to institutionalize key gender elements and strategies in the Pantawid Program.

Making gender impacts better and stronger means, first of all, supporting women’s empowerment in the Pantawid Program through increasing their knowledge and skills on women’s

Food processing livelihood training in Legazpi City, Albay.

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photo below: GAD Core Group women of Alegria, Surigao del Norte, make a collage showing elements of a gender-fair society in a Gender Sensitivity Training.

rights and opportunities for personal growth. It also means providing avenues for women’s greater participation in community life so that they, with other women in their Pantawid Program community groups, can be prepared to address their own and their families’ and communities’ gender concerns. For Pantawid Program families, better gender impacts also strongly means opening doors for gaining skills and resources to increase family incomes, particularly for women to be able to contribute to their families’ livelihoods and savings. In all these, gender impacts for Pantawid Program beneficiaries means nurturing opportunities, respect and equality for women so that they can fulfill their hopes for themselves in their homes, work and communities.

Pantawid Program pilot areas santa maria, isabela coron, palawan legaspi city, albay pilar, sorsogon balete, aklan carles, iloilo santa catalina, negros oriental dumalinao, zamboanga del norte kiblawan, davao del sur alegria, surigao del norte

First Phase: Gender and Development Assessment In the first phase of the TA, DSWD began with a Gender and Development (GAD) Assessment in nine pilot municipalities and one city, spread out in eight administrative regions, from Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon to the CARAGA Region in Mindanao, wherein gender issues were likely to be more pronounced. In each of the ten pilot municipalities, at least three pilot barangays (villages) were selected, with Alegria, Surigao del Norte having four.

The pilot municipalities and villages were selected because they had a higher number of women-headed households compared to other Pantawid Program recipient towns, while an added consideration for some areas was that they had significant indigenous or tribal ethnic population. (See the map and list of pilot areas.)

The DSWD Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Point System from the national to the provincial levels was in place and conducted focused group discussions and interviews with Pantawid Program beneficiaries in the pilot areas.

The participants were from the Pantawid Program Set 3, which began receiving their conditional cash grants in 2010 to 2011 or just about a year or two before the GAD assessment was made. Ninety per cent (90%) of the Pantawid Program cash grant beneficiaries in these areas were women.1 Through the GAD assessment, the Pantawid Program women and some men revealed that their priority concern was how to sustain their children’s education so that they, in turn, can move out of poverty and become self-

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i n tro du c t ion Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Program) is a human development program of the Philippine national government that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly of children aged 0-18 years old. The program goals are: first, to provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate need (short-term poverty alleviation); and second, to break the intergenerational poverty cycle through investments in human capital.

The Pantawid Program provides cash grants to beneficiaries provided that they comply with the applicable set of co-responsibilities, which are: (a) pregnant women must avail of pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional; (b) parents must attend Family Development Sessions (FDS); (c) zero to five (0-5)-year-old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; (d) six to 14 year-old children must receive deworming pills twice a year; and (e) all child-beneficiaries (0-18 years old) must be enrolled in school and maintain a class attendance of at least 85% of school days in a month.

To help qualified child-beneficiaries continue to college education, a Students Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (SGP-PA) began in 2012, under the auspices of the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Labor and Employment. This program provides scholarship grants to the high school graduates who also qualify to study in state universities and colleges for degree programs, or in accredited training institutions for technical courses, which government has identified in its manpower development priorities.

As of 25 June 2014, the Pantawid Program has nearly 4.1 million registered household-beneficiaries and operates in 79 provinces covering 1,484 municipalities and 143 cities in all 17 regions of the country.

The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a community-based capacity building program that seeks to improve the socio-economic status of program participants. It is implemented with the CommunityDriven Enterprise Development (CDED) approach. Priority participants are the Pantawid Program beneficiaries, so that they can continue in the self-reliant path out of the cycle of poverty. The program has two tracks: (1) micro-enterprise development gives seed capital for a beneficiary to establish a micro-level business; and (2) employment facilitation provides a system for qualified beneficiaries to apply for regular jobs in public or private partner institutions.

Sources: Department of Social Welfare and Development. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (website); Department of Social Welfare and Development. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: Frequently Asked Questions. Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Sustainable Livelihood Program (website).

sufficient. This concern was reflected in two most recommended actions in their local Gender Action Plans drawn up by the Pantawid Program beneficiaries in the pilot barangays:2 first, that they be supported in livelihood and employment opportunities, including capital assistance for engaging in their own businesses and better skills and tie-ups for access to regular employment; and second, that the children who graduate from secondary education be provided with scholarships to continue to the tertiary level, either in college degree courses or shorter technical-vocational schooling. 3 (See Box: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.)

The GAD Assessment also highlighted the recommendations by the women and the DSWD GAD Focal Point persons to encourage and empower the Pantawid Program women. The Family Development Sessions (FDS) being held monthly for all Pantawid Program beneficiaries could include deeper discussions on topics of responsible parenting and child-rearing, women’s and children’s rights, and healthy equality in family gender relations. The FDS and other group interactions can be encouraged among the women, who need to develop more confidence in interacting with others and speaking out for themselves.

Second Phase: Gender Action Plan Implementation The second phase of the technical assistance aimed to design and implement activities that would answer the priority concerns raised in the GAD assessment. These activities, which comprise the localized Gender Action

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Plans (GAPs), would be implemented in the 31 pilot barangays of the nine municipalities and city. PILIPINA, Inc.,4 a non-government organization, was contracted by ADB for this phase to work closely with the DSWD GAD Focal Point System under the “TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan” (Project) from November 2012 to December 2014. PILIPINA was tasked to provide capacity-building and technical support and monitoring for the Pantawid Program beneficiaries in the 30 pilot barangays5 so that they can implement their local GAPs, which were first drafted in the GAD assessment phase. A PILIPINA team of six (6) Community Development Officers were fielded in one to two municipalities or city.

The Pantawid Program staff and GAD focal points at the regional, provincial and municipal levels, with the PILIPINA team, then planned and coordinated the capacity-building and GAP implementation activities.

A GAD Core Group was formed in each barangay comprising at least eight members–Pantawid Program parentleaders and a few active beneficiaries with leadership potential. The GAD Core Group members in each pilot barangay were to be the community mobilizers and motivators as well as learning conduits for their beneficiary groups. The GAD Core Group members would also be the frontline advocates and links with the local resource groups and stakeholders, especially the barangay and municipal government officials and heads of public service agencies.

PILIPINA started with the Pantawid Program beneficiary assemblies of each barangay to validate the Gender Action Plan and do a baseline Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA). These were accomplished in July to August 2013.

The first portion of the CNA looked into the level of gender awareness of the Pantawid Program beneficiaries. This was immediately followed by a short learning session to elucidate what gender biases are felt and experienced in their families and communities. The second part of the CNA drew out the livelihood and employment skills that beneficiaries have and the skills that they hope to acquire, which they identified from a list of common skills or trades which they perceived were needed in their communities or town centers and could possibly bring more income to their households.

To prepare the GAD Core Groups for these roles and also orient the local officials on the Project, the first activity was a “Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) and GAD Planning” held for each pilot municipality or city within October to December 2013. An average of 29 GAD Core Group members from the three pilot barangays attended and 10 from the barangay and municipal local government officials and staff. The GAD Core Group and local government participants learned the basic concepts of Gender and Development and the Philippines’ Magna Carta of Women, the landmark law that recognizes, protects and promotes the rights of Filipino women, especially those in the marginalized sector. This learning session helped the GAD Core Group assess its own gender-based capacities and revise its Gender Action Plan (GAP) for the barangay.

i n tro du c t ion The next three activities further established the capacities and linkages of the barangay GAD Core Groups, with supportive local government officers, to address the priority gender issues that surfaced in the GAD assessment and implement their GAP.

photo below: The GAD Core Group in Carles, Iloilo assesses the gender-based needs of their beneficiarymembers after Typhoon Yolanda.

First activity was a “Dialogue-Forum with Resource Groups and Stakeholders” held within March to April 2014.

The GAD Core Group members articulated to a wider group of stakeholders, the gender needs and aspirations of the women in their barangays. Resource persons who represented government and nongovernment programs and services responded with descriptions and requirements for such services to be availed by Pantawid Program grantees.

These primarily included livelihood and employment skills training being provided by government agencies like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), as well as the newly established Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP, See Box: Pantawid Program), a multiagency program being coordinated by the DSWD. The GAD Core Groups then planned for the set of livelihood and employment skills training for their Pantawid Program beneficiaries.

Second activity was the “MultiStakeholders Forum to Respond to Violence against Women and Children (VAWC)” within March to May 2014.

This provided a deeper orientation on the law called Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act, and communitybased approaches to respond to and eliminate VAWC, such as community watch and barangay Quick Response Teams. Action plans were made with the participation of representatives from the local government councils, police and social services teams.

Third activity was a forum on “Orientation and Agenda Building for Constructive Engagement in the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) or Bottom-up Planning and Budgeting (BuB) Process.” These fora were interspersed in November 2013 to September 2014 in time for the local GPB activities for the government’s budget formulation cycle. Three Pantawid Program parent leaders for each municipality or city who were to be chosen each year by their peers, had crucial tasks to be part of the joint local government and civil society teams and endorse the projects to be included in the government’s national budget. Thus, this orientation prepared the parent leaders to advocate inclusion of the Gender Action Plan implementation activities in the budgets of the national and local government agencies.

An intervening activity in January to February 2014 was the “Revalidation of Gender Action Plans in Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)-affected Areas” in three pilot municipalities, namely: Coron, Palawan; Balete, Aklan; and Carles, Iloilo. The

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processing. They also initiated steps in some areas to provide seed capital for Pantawid Program beneficiaries to establish or improve their microbusinesses or assisted the others who have employable skills to search for jobs. photo above: Dresssmaking livelihood trainees in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental.

1 Department of Social Welfare and Development. 2013. GAD Assessment: Beneficiary Level Report. Electronic document file dated 6 July 2013.

2 DSWD 2013.

3 In 2012, when the GAD Assessment was being written, the DSWD cash grants lasted only five years. It was most fortunate that by 2013, DSWD decided to extend the years of support to the children’s basic education until they graduate from secondary level schooling by 18 years old. Furthermore, the Pantawid Program also includes scholarships for tertiary level education for the Pantawid Program beneficiary children who qualify.

4 PILIPINA, Inc., founded in 1981, is a Filipino feminist organization pushing for gender equality and women’s rights. PILIPINA advocates mainstreaming of gender equality in all facets of social, political and economic life, especially in local communities. It provides capacitybuilding for local gender-responsive governance, and supports policy advocacy and political engagement of grassroots women.

5 The 30 barangays included in the Project had an average of 182 beneficiaries per barangay, with a low number of 42 beneficiaries in remote upland Brgy. Dapok, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur and a high of 610 beneficiaries in Brgy.

66 - Banquerohan, Legaspi City, Albay).

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activity served also as a post-disaster stress debriefing session for the Pantawid Program parent leaders and beneficiaries who were affected by Typhoon Haiyan’s onslaught on November 8, 2013.

The last set of GAP implementation activities were the “Livelihood and Employment Skills Trainings,” which were organized based on the earlier assessments and beneficiary qualification and registration for the feasible trainings. Livelihood skills trainings were conducted from September to December 2014 and included: haircutting and styling; massage; basic computer literacy and data encoding; meat & vegetable processing; small livestock (poultry and hogs) raising; and basic entrepreneurship.

Participants were given certificates by the government-accredited training agency or individual and could later use these as qualification for further training, for microcredit programs, and for employment.

Linkages for Livelihood The TA established linkages with other interventions in the area, such as the SLP. The SLP staffs were already on board and helped the regional and provincial GAD Focal Point persons in linking with accredited trainers. The SLP further supported the trainees to establish their own business by providing additional trainings on financial literacy/ basic accounting, business development and management, and loan application and

The TA also set up linkages with local government units and other nongovernmental and business organizations working in the area, which can continue to support the trainees in obtaining employment or running a business.

These supports can come in the forms of additional capital or common service facilities for the small businesses, like a kitchen with equipment for food processing or a small workshop with sewing machines for dressmaking. Also, through the TA and SLP, linkages with the businesses operating in the towns or nearby urban areas were established so that the Pantawid Program women with employable skills, who are ready and have adequate child care support back home, can find work, earn more and provide for their families’ needs sustainably.

A key output of the TA is the set of 20 human interest stories highlighting the gender and development challenges and the impact of the GAP activities on the women in the pilot communities.

This collection presents these stories, told by TA and GAP implementation participants, with a brief profile of their pilot municipality or city and barangays.

An introductory article, moreover, summarizes the immediate impacts of the GAP activities on them – the storytellers, their families and communities – and the insights gained and lessons learned from the stories, which may be useful for instituting women’s empowerment processes in the Pantawid Program.

i n tro du c t ion

Inspiring Im pacts and Insi g hts

S to r ies o f C h a n g e i n t h e L iv e s o f Pa n taw i d Program Beneficiaries Jurgette Honculada

Introduction he 20 human interest stories presented here is a collective narrative of 18 women, one man and a couple, who participated in the implementation of local Gender Action Plans as part of TA7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project: NGO to Implement Gender Plan (Project) from December 2012 to December 2014.

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The stories were gathered through conversations of the Project’s community development officers with the storytellers to document how the Project provided them concepts and capabilities on gender relations and rights, which they can use to transform and strengthen their personal and family circumstances. The stories were openly shared by the women and men so that the Pantawid Program and the government agencies supporting these can learn from their personal struggles and strategies.

The stories point to a number of initial positive changes that the storytellers experienced as a result of the Project activities, which were further reinforced by interactions with the Project community development officers and Pantawid Program GAD focal points.

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The stories have, moreover, brought to the fore the factors that continue to pull the women away from their path to self-fulfillment. These factors played out in their own gender relations within their families, and revealed the very thin gender awareness of their Pantawid Program group, their community and local government personnel.

This summary article endeavors to cull out common threads of themes and lessons from the stories and may hopefully add to the knowledge base of the Pantawid Program so that it can integrate more gender-sensitive and women-empowering interventions.

Profile of the Storytellers The storytellers are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Program–18 women, one man and one couple. All storytellers are married. Their ages range from 30 to 59 years: eleven (11) of them are in the 30-39 years age bracket and ten (10) are 40 to 59 years old, with the median age of 39.

The 30-39 year-old storytellers have an average of 4.6 children. Out of 51 children, the largest number (19 or 37%) is in the 6-12 age group; nearly a third (14 or 27%) are five years and below; more than one-fifth (11 or 22%) are in the 13-17 age range; while seven (7 or 14%) are 18 years old up to early 20’s.

The 40-59 year-old storytellers have an average of 5.3 children. Out of 48 children: the majority, with 17 (35%) each, are in the 13-17 age group and are 18 years old up to early 30’s. More than one-fifth (11 or 23%) are 6-12 years old, while only 3 are below five years old.

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Those of elementary school age and secondary school age are most likely in school; while some of those above 18 are studying in college and the others are working either outside the home or helping their parents with family-based livelihoods.

Two of the women storytellers, from Coron, Palawan and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur identify themselves as indigenous women, with clear ethnolinguistic and tribal lineage.

Most of the storytellers have finished elementary schooling; a few have graduated from secondary school, while two have college degrees.

Only one of the storytellers’ families lives in an urban informal settlement in Legazpi City; while the rest live in rural farming areas or coastal fishing communities.

Nearly all storytellers’ households were ranked within the lowest socioeconomic strata in their communities, when they were identified as Pantawid Program beneficiaries sometime in 2009 to 2010. Their household incomes are drawn largely from male spouses’ work in farming, fishing, vending, or seasonal contractual jobs in carpentry, driving, welding or small-scale mining. The women have sought to augment family incomes through selling of cooked food and snacks, poultry and piggery, and vegetable gardening. There are also family enterprises, which are a combined effort of husband and wife including: selling fresh or dried fish; cooking and selling

…many storytellers, the parent leaders especially, have “plumbed their inner resources” and bloomed. snack foods or refreshments; cultivating seaweeds; and for one, making and selling ice-cream.

Five (5) of the storytellers’ families survived and are still rebuilding their homes and livelihoods after the onslaught of super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November 2013: two in Coron, Palawan; two in Carles, Iloilo; and one in Balete, Aklan.

Nineteen (19) of the storytellers are parent leaders (PLs), including the two men, and also members of their respective Gender and Development (GAD) core groups. Three serve as team leaders of the PLs in their areas. Three (3) are members of the Barangay Quick Response Teams (QRTs) that were formed to address incidents of violence against women and children (VAWC) in their communities.

Immediate Impacts To the storytellers, the benefits they gained from the Project activities were significantly intertwined with the benefits of the Pantawid Program. They were already active parent leaders of their fellow beneficiaries in their communities and as such were more deeply aware of and concerned about the importance of promoting family and social values through the regular Family Development Sessions (FDS), and of following-up the

families’ progress, especially the women and children.

When the Project provided deeper training in gender sensitivity, and gender and development (GAD), the storytellers were already primed by the FDS and previous training sessions for parent leaders. It was evident in the stories that the Pantawid Program’s and the Project’s capacity-building activities were mutually reinforcing.

The immediate impacts and benefits for the storytellers are manifest on three levels: self, family and community.

A voice to be heard The most striking impact, attributed to both the Pantawid Program and the Project, is that beneficiaries have a renewed and stronger sense of self. This tougher inner core is reflected in their words as “learning to dream”; learning to stand on one’s own instead of being a “martyr”; the assertion that a wife is not a “(house) maid”; and “seeing one’s former self in women who remain trapped in their old selves, as battered women.” This deepened awareness comes hand-in-glove with learning new concepts and skills, and translating these into better abilities for managing the household and leading a group.

And so, many storytellers, the parent leaders especially, have “plumbed their inner resources” and bloomed. Some of them had already been community leaders in their own right–as barangay health or day care workers. Now they moved into more challenging roles: as members of the Project-initiated GAD core group, as active participants in the

9

teams doing local poverty reduction planning and budgeting, and for some, as member of the Barangay Council of Women, or as facilitator of a postdisaster gender-focused project. One has more decisively pushed her community projects as a barangay kagawad (an elected member of the village council).

In leading and organizing in their communities, they have learned to use the gender-sensitive lens and be better advocates of women’s and children’s rights.

While the Pantawid Program may have provided the opening for the women to re-examine their family and social roles, it is the Project’s more intensive gender sensitivity inputs that provided the rationale for women’s emotional independence.

A “foot in the door” for these women is their being consulted in decisionmaking for economic spending, which used to be done secretively when it came to small things such as buying snacks or goods without depending on a husband’s generosity. This “foot” is but a few steps away from the valuing of emotional independence. It may come as a gentle winning over of one’s husband to the concept of women’s and children’s rights that call to question such traditional ingrained notions of the “wife as support” and “children are seen but not heard.” Pursuing this path requires female emotional strength and integrity that must do battle with deeply ingrained male-dominant notions. It has also come in a more dramatic form in a wife’s defying a husband’s objection to her joining an out-of-town workshop on pain of a threat of separation. She returned

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from the workshop armed with reason and resolve that convinced her husband that she would not be deterred from fulfilling her multifarious responsibilities, including that of a parent leader.

With their self-confident assertion of equality between spouses in decisionmaking, the storytellers attest to greater openness between spouses (as Filipino males tend to be emotionally inarticulate) and sharing of learning from various seminars and forums with husbands and children. While the Pantawid Program may have opened the door to gender awareness, it is the Project sessions that scored the home runs, so to speak, driving close to home the importance to one’s personhood of gender equality, respect and mutuality in relationships, and the deleterious short and long-term effects of domestic violence.

All give value New wine will not fit into old wineskins and the dynamic of self-discovery and self-confidence invariably stimulates new household arrangements, most especially a sharing of housework with spouses and children. The Project training sessions in gender sensitivity planted an alternative view of family relations in the women’s minds. Husbands and sons learn to share in cooking and laundry chores, and in at least one case, there is a role reversal with the male spouse holding the domestic fort while the woman goes out daily to earn their keep. It cannot be otherwise because the role of Pantawid Program parent leader, and the multi-tasking it entails, becomes a dead end without a redefinition of household roles. Thus, the storytellers have affirmed and share with the other Pantawid Program women

that what women do (housework), men should do too; and what men do (paid or remunerative work), women can do, too.

For the individual but more so for the family, the Project’s second outstanding contribution is the livelihood skills component starting with training needs analysis and continuing on to skills training in such diverse occupations as meat and food processing, vegetable gardening, hair styling, cosmetology, dressmaking, poultry and piggery, and basic entrepreneurship.

netting out production and selling costs, than unshelled raw peanuts merely sold in sacks. Another example is venturing into raising native chickens which fetch higher prices or using available organic feeds for pigs, which can cut costs. By selling to a wider network of contacts, one spirited ice-cream maker has markedly increased production even off-season and employed two other neighbors, thus spreading the income outside the family.

…gender awareness and women’s rights training gave the women handles to sift through the emotional layers shrouding [family problems and marital conflicts].

As of the time the stories were told, not all beneficiaries had started their small businesses but those who did report clear benefits, in the first instance, to their families: food preparation and vending helps reduce the family’s food budget, as does haircutting and styling skills because the woman can cut her children’s hair and save. As well, in one case, the entrepreneurial spirit has infused the children who tend their own vegetable plots.

In the second instance, livelihood skills training has, for some of the families, led to increased and diversified production,which if sustained would lead to better incomes. Skills training in cooking and food processing has maximized earnings through “added value,” for instance, salted peanuts in sachets earns much more, even after

The basic entrepreneurship skills rekindled in a few their desire to pursue their business “dreams” like expanding the cooked food business or opening a bakery offering cakes for weddings and other special occasions. Some also point to linkages to other organizations like cooperatives and government or private entities, which provide credit or marketing support, as even more valuable for them to improve and sustain income generation.

Stepping outside the home The storytellers’ significant involvement in community affairs was spurred even more by their being parent leaders, some naturally fitting into this role because of their previous social service functions as health or day care workers, while others were more recently thrust into the responsibility of shepherding a group of 20 to 40 Pantawid Program beneficiaries.

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Whilst family problems and marital conflicts were not uncommon and kept to themselves, the Project’s gender awareness and women’s rights training gave the women handles to sift through the emotional layers shrouding these problems. It was important for most of the women to learn about “women’s rights as human rights” – that wife battering and child abuse should not be kept a secret within the domicile and that the victim deserves retribution and emotional healing. Now they could understand and muster their inner resources to assert their rights, and to help other women assert theirs.

It was important for most of the women to learn about “women’s rights as human rights”…

Some parent leaders have taken it upon themselves to act on cases that come to their attention of severe corporal punishment of children in the name of teaching discipline; they inform the erring parents that this was a wrong way of disciplining and that they would face legal action. One woman stressed the lesson that children who are severely punished are likely to carry this into adulthood, thus relating the cyclical nature of violence. Another beneficiary underscores the value of training in violence against women and children (VAWC) for husbands “so they will be partners in preventing violence rather than [be] perpetrators.”

The sharing of community-based responses to VAWC that came with the Project training has pushed the formation of Quick Response Teams (QRTs) in

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pilot barangays in Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental and Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur, with some parent leaders as members of the speedy and efficacious response mechanisms to VAWC. Gender-based needs have been articulated at the community level with the observation that male-dominated barangay councils “don’t consider women’s needs” and that it is “hard (for women) to access basic services.”

Thus, parent leaders seek municipal and barangay funding for expanding support for the health and education needs of children especially those in dire need or struggling through family members’ illnesses or recovering from a typhoon’s destruction of their homes and livelihoods.

As for livelihood benefits at the community level, it is too early to tell but one beneficiary speaks of a joint enterprise that will pool resources and energies of 34 women. And vegetable gardening in at least three communities is being pursued as a collective effort.

For these, the parent leaders seek greater livelihood supports, such as a production center with facilities that they cannot buy as individual families, like sewing machines and equipment for food processing and baking.

The challenge of gender and governance is sharply articulated in one parent leader’s proposal that men and women trade roles for a change: the former in housework and the latter as community leaders and barangay officials. She proudly cites that, while in the past, there were no women in the barangay council and the village security watch (barangay

tanod), now there are two women each in the barangay council and security watch.

That, she says, “is a good start.”

Insights The stories in this collection have also yielded incipient insights that may be food for thought for the Pantawid Program’s gender equality and women’s empowerment strategies.

Women are resilient in looking for ways to hurdle family problems and emergencies.

Women find ways to bring food to the table, tackle children’s illnesses and recover from disaster. Women with very young children naturally hesitate to be parent leaders, but they have found ways like urging their husbands to take on child care duties more often or seeking help from mothers or other extended family members. The Pantawid Program, like all other community-based initiatives, needs to consider alternative child-minding systems even if only during activities for parents, such as FDS and training seminars.

Emergencies wrought by illnesses or calamities inadvertently drain the families of any available cash. One parent, in fact, resorted to using the Pantawid Program cash withdrawal card as “collateral” for a quick loan to buy medicine for an ailing child. When disaster strikes in the form of typhoons (cited in at least half a dozen of the narratives), or when a beneficiary’s house burns down or a child is afflicted with a major ailment (like a congenital heart disease), beneficiaries are pressed to scrounge for resources to recover, often resorting to high-interest loans that cause financial dislocation. These occurrences

require not simply an intervention but perhaps a programmatic response on the part of the Pantawid Program and local governments to have a grant-soft loan fund for family emergencies.

Parent-leadership responsibilities are demanding but women tackle these with talent and determination.

Trainings, forums, field exposure and other activities have brought the parent leaders together and helped them learn from other women and trainers, nurture their talents and give them ideas and tools to better perform their leadership roles.

The parent leaders have come to realize that their leadership role extends to relaying the lessons gained from the trainings and forums, particularly on gender sensitivity and women’s rights, to the others in their Pantawid Program beneficiary cluster. Not a few use informal, humor-laden conversations to bring these lessons across, usually before or after the formal meetings or when they visit beneficiaries’ homes to relay schedules.

Husbands sooner or later come to terms with wives on the demands of their Pantawid Program involvement, especially in parent-leadership roles. It is likely that such sharp resistance or silent objection on the part of husbands is faced by many female group leaders. As the women in the stories point out–their husbands should also be given gender sensitivity training so that they can appreciate what the women do and why.

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As for creating a gender- supportive environment for beneficiaries’ empowerment on the part of the Pantawid and of local governments, mention has already been made of the need for child-minding support during forums and other activities.

The beneficiaries know how to spend wisely for longer-term benefits.

About half a dozen beneficiaries received a bonanza when a ban on election year spending held up the release of their subsidies for at least half a year. Trust the beneficiaries’ wisdom on how to handle the seeming windfall: after spending on their children’s health and education needs, they decided to put the extra money to good use.

One beneficiary converted her inferior roof into a sturdier galvanized iron sheet cover; another used the extra cash to add capital to her home-based food business; and yet a third built a water-sealed toilet in the face of a high incidence of waterborne parasitic disease, schistosomiasis, in their area. The top story is how a couple used a substantial amount of the accumulated first release of the cash grant to finance their daughter’s teaching licensure examination. The daughter, now an employed grade school teacher in another province, sends half of her monthly salary to finance the schooling and related needs of her younger siblings.

The women and men think of sustainability and act on this.

The beneficiaries who shared their stories dream of and are determined to pursue their livelihoods and income-earning

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enterprises until their children have completed their schooling and have stable livelihoods or employment. They know that the Pantawid Program cash grants are like start-up capital, which they should dutifully “invest” in their children’s education and health, so that they, in turn, can later earn more and have better lives of their own.

Four aspects of sustainability have helped these beneficiaries and should continue.

The first aspect is for the Pantawid Program and the local governments to help sustain the Project livelihood initiatives by providing additional financing, further skills training and other supports, most noteworthy of which is to link the beneficiaries with other entities engaged in livelihoodenhancing schemes. The parent leaders can more effectively use the Bottomup Budgeting (BuB) process to obtain budgetary allocations from local and national government agencies to gain these supports and, through these, be able to sustain these livelihoods, which eventually become their poverty-exit strategies.

The second aspect concerns tertiary level education that most of the Pantawid Program children need to complete for greater self-reliance. While this need is already being responded to through a college scholarship program for qualified children, under the auspices of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the others who do not qualify and wish to pursue technical non-degree courses can also be more systematically spotted and assisted by the Technical Education Skills Development

Authority (TESDA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), the latter for agriculture-based technical skills.

The third aspect pertains to marital relationship counseling. A couple of narratives mention marital infidelity (of husbands) as a cause of the nearbreakdown of marriage. Although they occurred during pre-Pantawid Program involvement of beneficiaries, they can also happen anytime, gender sensitivity training notwithstanding. Psychoemotional support programs are hard to come by even in the cities. Some nongovernmental organizations may be able to respond to these problems and can be considered by the Pantawid Program as potential resource partners. Quality assurance and care should be taken, however, that marital counseling practices are gender-sensitive.

And, for sustainability, the fourth and not-the-least-important aspect concerns security of housing and stability of the natural environment where they live.

As the narratives abundantly record, beneficiaries often have dwellings that need improvement or, for some, occupy lots that still need to be amortized and paid for. In an urban poor settlement, the parent leader is worried and seeks to understand the legality of a land claim on lots they have occupied since three decades ago, and on which they have built homes, wherein their children have been raised. Critically important, too, in a coastal town in one story, longterm commercial quarrying is steadily destroying food and livelihood sources of fisherfolk, not to mention wreaking possibly irreversible damage, on the environment.

Poverty, housing and land security, and environmental stability are all intertwined and impinge on the beneficiaries’ lives and livelihoods.

These social and environmental issues are not for the Pantawid Program alone, or even with the allied Sustainable Livelihood Program, to respond to.

Poverty, housing and land security, and environmental stability are all intertwined and impinge on the beneficiaries’ lives and livelihoods. The women feel these all too clearly and hope that they can be helped, and their barangay and municipal governments alerted and assisted to bring these issues to the fore and resolved. *** In both the short and long-term, the Project has clearly wrought changes in the lives of the women–and the men and children–touched by the interventions.

Long after the close of the Project, the life-altering realizations and lessons would hopefully accompany them all as they push ahead toward their families’ and communities’ aspirations.

The Project’s gender-focused interventions reinforcing the Pantawid Program has, as one story aptly put it: “awakened [the beneficiaries] to a new sense of self, a new way of being spouse and parent, a new way of serving the community.”

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Human interest stories

project area profile

pantawid program in

Santa maria i sa b e la

S

anta Maria is a municipality of 140 square kilometers in the interior northwestern corner of Isabela province, which is in the Cagayan valley region or Region 2 in the northeastern side of the island of Luzon.1 It is 65 kilometers from the provincial capital, Ilagan City, and is nearer to being just 30 kilometers from the regional center of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan Province.

Santa Maria has 20 barangays, 15 of which are located along the provincial road connecting Santa Maria to Enrile town of Cagayan. The other five barangays are more remote in the town’s interior.2

Santa Maria has a population of 22,939.3 Most of the Santa Maria populace belong to the Ibanag ethnolinguistic group, and therefore speak that language. Tagalog is also widely spoken and occasionally Ilocano4. The main economic activity in Santa Maria is agriculture, with rice, corn and sugarcane as primary crops. Many

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households in this town also engage in producing pottery, such as clay stoves and cooking and garden pots, which are quite popular in the northern Luzon regions. The locals also grow vegetables in their homelots as a source of food and intermittent income.

Santa Maria is a fourth income class5 rural municipality. It can be nondescript even with its new landmark, a triangular park in the town center. The main provincial roads are paved and wellmaintained; the interior roads are of dirt and gravel but passable to motorized vehicles. Transportation is varied, from motorized tricycles to the horse-drawn calesa (carriage) that costs P10 (US$0.22) per person for a ride.

The public market has two market days where locals sell their products along with goods from out of town. During the rice and corn planting season, men, women and children flock to the fields as kasuko

sa nta m a r i a i sa bela

photos above (l-r): Sta. Maria town is famous for its clay pottery; and Clay stoves are stacked by the rice fields, soon to be delivered.

(local term for temporary agricultural field worker). In the off season, some men dry the grains or work in the mills.

Sugarcane plantations also employ kasuko. Women, on the other hand, try to earn by doing laundry or selling barbecue and kakanin (sweet cakes) on the streets even on non-market days. 6 The current Santa Maria mayor and all members of the Sangguniang Pambayan (municipal legislative council) are male.

BARANGAY Bangad Calamagui North San Antonio Total

NUMBER OF PANTAWID PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES POPULATION MALE FEMALE TOTAL 2,386 7 165 172 1,192

3

99

102

1,327 4,905

4 14

70 334

74 348

Sources: Philippine Statistics Authority. Total Population by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay: as of May 1, 2010. 2010 Census of Population and Housing; Department of Social Welfare and Development. 2013. Annex B: Number of Beneficiaries in the Pilot Sites. GAD Assessment: Beneficiary Level Report.

In the previous years, 2010 to 2013 term, at the barangay level, there were two women barangay chairpersons out of 18; twenty-one women barangay council members out of 126, and 5 women Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) chairpersons out of 18.7 Pantawid Program in Santa Maria The three pilot barangays of Santa Maria for the Project – Bangad, Calamagui North, and San Antonio – have a total population of 4,905.8 As of December 2012, there were 1,248 family-beneficiaries of the Pantawid Program in the whole town, with the three pilot barangays having 348 beneficiaries. The following table gives the sex-disaggregated number of beneficiaries for the three barangays.

For the whole of Santa Maria, there are 2,791 children (1,423 females and 1,558 males) from zero to 14 years old in the

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santa maria is abela

photos above (l-r): Former Rural Health Unit hall used for the Project livelihood trainings; and A horse-drawn kalesa (carriage) delivering the future generation of Santa Maria to school. photo on the right page: Pantawid Program woman selling savory puto (rice cake) on market day.

households, which are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Program cash grants for education and health. Of this total, the greatest number are 1,601 (745 females and 856 males) in the six to 12 years age bracket.

For education facilities, the three barangays each have one day care center and an elementary school. There are no secondary schools in any of the barangays so the students go to the Santa Maria National High School Main Campus in Brgy. Poblacion 1 and its NaganacanVillabuena Annex. For health care needs, only Brgy. Bangad has a health center, while the other two barangays have to go to the nearest district health centers or the Santa Maria Rural Health Unit in the town center.

Students who wish to pursue tertiary or college education would go to Tuguegarao City, which hosts several

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private and state-run colleges and universities.

Local GAP Implementation Activities A Validation of the Gender Action Plan and Pantawid Beneficiaries’ Capacity Needs Assessment was held for the three pilot barangays of Santa Maria on 8-12 July 2013 with 332 (326 female and 6 male) or 95% of 348 total grantees attending.

The beneficiaries of the three barangays identified their priority gender issues as: • Physical abuse committed by husbands against their wives and children (VAWC); • No permanent source of income or lack of capital to start small businesses. This issue was emphasized because of the more recent laying off of workers from the Cagayan Sugar Company, a sugar mill in the town.

A Gender Sensitivity Training and GAD Planning was held on 8-10 October 2013

sa nta m a r i a i sa bela

in Tuguegarao City for 30 GAD Core Group members, all females and mostly parent leaders of the pilot barangays.

The training raised their awareness on manifestations of gender bias and oriented them on policies and laws on women.

1 Province of Isabela. http:// provinceofisabela.ph/index.php/ municipalities/2013-07-10-14-46 -43/ 2013-07-10-14-57-00 (accessed 19 December 2014).

2 Santa Maria, Isabela. http://www. isabela.ph/santa-maria/?about (accessed 19 December 2014).

3 Region II: Isabela Province.

Philippine Statistics Authority.

Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) Interactive.

4 Dominga Aberion, personal interview by Carol Dalligue, the writer, on 10 November 2014.

5 A fourth income class municipality has an average annual income of P25 million to P35 million.

Source: Income Classification for Provinces, Cities and Municipalities. Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Standard Geographic Code Interactive.

6 Perla Malit, personal interview by Carol Dalligue, the writer, on 11 November 2014 7 Santa Maria, Isabela. http://www. isabela.ph/santa-maria/?about (accessed 19 December 2014).

8 Unless specifically cited, the data in this section are from “Annex: Brief Profile of the Municipality of Santa Maria, Isabela.”

DSWD 2013. GAD Assessment: Beneficiary Level Report.

Electronic document file (July 2013).

An Orientation on Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) Process on 8 November 2013 was attended by Santa Maria parent leaders and other municipal and barangay officers. This informed them of the purposes and processes of GPB and how their selected civil society representatives to the Local Poverty Reduction Action Team could effectively work with their government counterparts.

A Multi-Stakeholders Dialogue Forum with Resource Groups was held on 15 April 2014 in Tuguegarao City, wherein various government agencies presented their programs and services and the 30 female parent leaders outlined their proposed livelihood skills training and other needs.

A Multi-Stakeholders Forum to Respond to Violence against Women and Children (VAWC) was conducted on 17 April 2014. Thirty female parent leaders learned about women’s rights; the nature, forms, cause, cycle and effects of violence against women; and the specific acts that constitute VAWC and penalties provided for by Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence against Women and Their Children Act.

Livelihood Skills Training The following livelihood skills trainings were held for Santa Maria Pantawid Program beneficiaries of the three pilot barangays.

Basic Haircutting and Styling was held for two batches: on 22-24 September and 13-15 November 2014 for a total of 54 female beneficiaries. The trainees learned, from a TESDA-accredited trainer, how to cut and do basic hair styles for women and men. They were also each given a haircutting kit that contained haircutting essentials like scissors, comb, clips, water sprayer and a plastic cape, which they brought home.

Doing Manicures and Pedicures was training given to 45 beneficiaries (44 females and 1 male) on 10-12 November 2014, who also brought home a manicure and pedicure kit.

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santa maria is abela

Perla Mal si Mal i t

bac k to san ta ma r i a

S

anta Maria, Isabela is about 12 hours from Manila by bus. It is by no means an easy journey but one that Perla Malsi Malit, 54, made 18 years ago to return to her hometown.

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© pilipina

Today, almost two decades after returning to Santa Maria from a sojourn that brought her to Manila and, further afield, even to Saudi Arabia, Perla is embarking on a different journey, but mainly one of self-discovery. The journey has seen her blossom from a quiet homemaker to a community leader, and, who knows, maybe even a budding local politician!

Timid and soft-spoken, Perla does not easily meet one’s expectations of a parent leader (PL) in her barangay, a post she assumed after her family and others in her village were chosen as qualified for the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Perla

admits that her soft voice had worked against her at times.

“Kadalasan nahihirapan ako lalo na sa mga meeting (dahil) sa mahinang boses ko tapos matitigas pa ang ulo ng mga members kung minsan. Sabi ko, paano ko ba gagawin ito. Lalo na nung una, kasi mahiyain pa ako (I usually have a hard time during meetings because of my soft voice, what with the members being stubborn at times. I asked myself if I could do this, especially since I felt very shy the first few times),” she recalls.

The Pantawid Program municipal link worker said that was precisely

sa nta m a r i a i sa bela

the reason the members appointed her PL. They felt her warmth and they needed someone they can approach and who, they felt, would take care of them.

Initially, Perla felt less than confident about being a leader. She asked herself: Wasn’t she too old and forgetful to handle meetings? But slowly, the training and meetings exposed her to organizing work and to different people whose concerns she had to bring forward. She had to overcome her shyness and ask help from the barangay officers even if she’d rather not.

I usually have a hard time during meetings because of my soft voice….

I asked myself if I could [be a good parent leader], especially since I felt very shy the first few times…

“Ang hirap lapitan ni Kapitan. Kailangan may appointment. Ang hirap hingan ng tulong. Ang sabi niya hindi daw niya sakop ang Pantawid, DSWD daw ang may hawak sa amin (It’s difficult to approach the barangay captain. You need an appointment.

And it’s hard to ask him for help. He’d say the Pantawid Program was not under his jurisdiction, but was under the DSWD),” says Perla. “If only our barangay captain were a woman like the one of Bangad, she’d be more approachable—unlike ours who even has guards. Well, he’s rich, what did we expect?”

photo on this page: Perla preparing her food specialty, kutsinta (glutinous rice pudding)

Talking with other parent leaders made Perla realize how having a woman in the barangay council could have made a difference. Dominated by men, the

© pilipina

council hardly considers women’s needs, which makes it harder for the women to readily gain access to basic services.

Add to this the red tape in government bureaucracy and the rudeness of some government personnel, which discourage women from pursuing their rights. In fact, notes Perla, given that it was so difficult to talk to the barangay captain, the women wonder how they could ask him about the five percent GAD budget and whether it was being used correctly.

In search of a better life Perla first left Santa Maria to attend college in Manila. Unfortunately, an accident that had her father hospitalized sucked dry the family funds and the second year Commerce student had to quit schooling. She got a job at a factory instead.

But Manila was not the farthest Perla got from Santa Maria. In 1987, a cousin helped her get a cleaning job at a clinic in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After a couple of years, she got promoted and started working in a hospital.

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santa maria is abela

opportunities any time soon and families like hers would continue to do seasonal farm work in rice or sugar lands owned by rich families. During off season, they would grow vegetables or make clay pots.

Leaving was out of the question.

© pilipina

It was in Jeddah that Perla met her husband, Edgar, 10 years into her stay in Jeddah. He was three years her junior, but easily the answer to her prayers because before him, other suitors set up by friends hadn’t worked out, and she was beginning to worry about finding a lifelong partner who would share her values and faith.

The couple got married and after a year had their first child in Jeddah. But filial piety led Perla back to Santa Maria, where she chose to stay and take care of her aging parents.

To her dismay, the town was exactly as she left it more than 10 years back: held back by unpaved roads, a slow economy, and farming families surviving hand-tomouth. Starting her own family meant going back to square one. She tried to stretch her savings while also putting some money into a small house that her father had started to build. Her husband’s remittances from Jeddah helped, but he too, came home for good two years later.

Soon enough, Perla started feeling the pinch. She and her husband realized that Santa Maria would not be spouting new

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Explains Edgar: “Hindi ko maisip na tumira sa ibang lugar kahit na sa Pampanga, taga-doon talaga ako eh. Pero dito na talaga yung masasabi naming tirahan namin. (I couldn’t think of living anywhere else–even in Pampanga which is my original hometown. This has become the place we call home.)”

Like their neighbors, the couple grew and sold vegetables for a living, with Edgar working the fields during the planting season.

“Ang mahirap nung una, nahihiya pa akong magtinda-tinda kasi alam ng lahat na galing akong Jeddah (At first, I was embarrassed to be selling vegetables because everybody knew I had worked in Jeddah),” Perla recounts. “Naririnig ko yung iba, bakit daw nagtitinda pa ako, eh galing na ako abroad. Pero kung mahihiya ako walang magandang mangyayari sa akin. (I heard people ask why I had to do this, when I had gone abroad for work.

But if I listen to such talk, I wouldn’t get anywhere.)”

Two years ago, Perla started selling snacks in the canteen of the Calamagui Elementary School. “We earn about P400 (US$9) a day, but we hardly get to save anything as the money goes to our everyday needs—rice, fare money for the kids, their school needs, and so on,” she says. “What we really need is livelihood.

sa nta m a r i a i sa bela

That’s what we’re hoping to get from the (Pantawid) Program.”

Four years ago when the Pantawid Program operated in Isabela, it was Perla’s father, then a widower, who qualified as a grantee. But when Perla took him to the municipal capitol for registration, the social worker said her father would have a hard time complying with the conditions of the grant. So the grant was put in Perla’s name instead.

Life-changing That marked the start of big changes in Perla’s life, especially after taking part in the Project that gave gender awareness training for the Pantawid Program beneficiaries. Through the Project, Perla learned much more about women’s rights and how she can be productive in her family, in her community, and within herself, for a start.

“Nagkaroon ako ng dagdag kaalaman sa mga nangyayari sa mga kababaihan… gaya ng pananakit, pati na rin mga bata na nagtatrabaho sa rancho para kumita at hindi na pumapasok. Mas natutulungan sila ngayon. (I have gained more knowledge on issues affecting women, like domestic violence and child labor, with children working instead of studying. They’re being better helped now.)”

She was also able to reflect, albeit in retrospect, on what she could have done to plan her family. She and her husband had agreed to raise only two children, a boy and a girl. But since they had gotten a lot older and thought

she would no longer get pregnant, she stopped taking contraceptive pills. When she got pregnant again and delivered her youngest by caesarean section her gynecologist recommended that she undergo tubal ligation because of her age.

Perla agreed, despite her belief that only God can “open and close” a woman’s womb. Now she thinks it would have been a big help had she known as much about reproductive health as she does now.

Still, financial difficulties continue to dog Perla’s family and her neighbors as well. It’s really difficult, sighs Perla, adding that the group is looking forward to a livelihood training program to supplement their family income. Her family earns only P400 (US$9) a day from the snacks sold in the school canteen, while in other families, children work as kasuko, seasonal farm workers for rich landowners in Santa Maria. The children are often hired together with a parent, who earns only P120 (US$2.70) a day and under very poor working conditions. Already, Perla has signed up for a scheduled training on baking. She’s hopeful and excited about it especially after learning that some women who have trained for other skills are already starting to earn a little more.

Buoyed by her faith, she remains upbeat about the future as a Pantawid Program grantee: “Kung ang mga ibon nga hindi niya pinapabayaan, tayo pa kaya na mga anak niya? (If God does not fail to care for the lowliest bird, how can we, His children, expect less?)

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p h oto c r edi t s

PILIPINA, Inc. Dalligue, Carol and Padilla, Angelita A. Flor, Celia Matea R. Honculada, Jurgette Pavillar-Castro, Marie June Perote, Digna and Salcedo, Luzminda B. Villavicencio, Veronica F. Yang, Elizabeth U. Department of Social Welfare and Development Condestable, Sierra May, Region 4B Itoh, Anichie, Region 4B Mapa, Rosalie, Region 5 Photos of themselves supplied by Jimenez David, Rina Suarez, Arlina Internet Sources Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Logo http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/4ps-logo.jpg (accessed 14 March 2015) Project Area Profile – Legazpi City, Albay http://wikimapia.org/18292300/The-Oriental-Legazpi-Hotel#/photo/3306569 (accessed 13 March 2015) Project Area Profile – Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental http://www.asiatraveltips123.com/2009/12/visiting-santa-sta-catalina-negros.html?m=0 (accessed 14 March 2015) Project Area Profile – Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur http://www.dumalinao.gov.ph/ (accessed on 15 March 2015) Project Area Profile – Kiblawan, Davao del Sur http://www.kiblawan.com.ph/ (accessed 15 March 2015)

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au tho rs an d edi to rs

authors

editors

Santa Maria, Isabela

Pennie Azarcon Dela Cruz

Carol Dalligue

Freelance writer and documenter Graduate student in the University of the Cordilleras

Angelita A. Padilla, ED.D. Board Chair of Igorota Foundation Chair of PILIPINA Baguio-Benguet Chapter

News Desk Editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Rina Jimenez David

Columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer Chair, PILIPINA National Council

Veronica Fenix Villavicencio Vice-Chair, PILIPINA National Council

Coron, Palawan

Veronica Fenix Villavicencio

Consultant and Facilitator on gender, environment and social development Vice-Chair of PILIPINA National Council

Elizabeth U. Yang

Consultant and trainer on gender and governance, and women’s political organizing; National Coordinator of PILIPINA Legazpi City, Albay and Pilar, Sorsogon

Ma. Christina J. Laban, MPA

Freelance writer and Legislative Writer, Province of Sorsogon

Evelyn M. Ubaldo

President, Sorsogon Women’s Network for Development (2010-2014) Member, Women’s Sectoral Council of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (2011-2014) Balete, Aklan and Carles, Iloilo

Marie June Pavillar Castro

Councilor, Sangguninang Bayan of Silay City (2004-2013) Trainer on gender issues and media advocacy Chair of PILIPINA Bacolod-Negros Occidental Chapter Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental and Alegria, Surigao del Norte

Jurgette Honculada

Organizer of women in labor, National Federation of Labor Writer on social, women, and peace issues, PILIPINA member Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur

Celia Matea R. Flor

Executive Director of DAWN (Development Through Active Women Networking) Foundation Councilor, Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City (1995-2004; 2007-2010), PILIPINA Bacolod Chapter member Kiblawan, Davao del Sur

Digna Barreza Perote

Program Coordinator of Luna Legal Resources Center for Women and Children, Inc., Davao City

Luzminda B. Salcedo

Executive Director of Mainland (Mindanao) Development Center Chair of PILIPINA Davao Chapter

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p r o j ec t t ea m

PILIPINA Project Team (from left) Melody Asia, Riza Torrado (Pantawid NPMO), Marijun Castro, Eve Ubaldo, Luchie Salcedo, Hazel Suba, Celia Flor (back), Beth Yang, Ve Villavicencio, and Louee Padilla.

ADB TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan Veronica Fenix Villavicencio National Project Coordinator Elizabeth U. Yang National Project Team Coordinator Community Development Officer Region 4B, Coron, Palawan Angelita A. Padilla Community Development Officer Region 2, Santa Maria, Isabela Evelyn M. Ubaldo Community Development Officer Region 5, Legazpi City, Albay and Pilar, Sorsogon Marie June Pavillar Castro Community Development Officer Region 6, Balete, Aklan and Carles, Iloilo

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Celia Matea R. Flor Community Development Officer Region 7, Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental and Region 9, Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur Luzminda B. Salcedo Community Development Officer Region 11, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur and Region 13, Alegria, Surigao del Norte Hazel Suba Project Administrative Assistant Jocelyn Dalino Project Financial Accountant

Note: This digital publication is still in draft and unofficial form.

It is a product of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) technical assistance project, “TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan,� with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and contracted with PILIPINA, Inc. from November 2012 to December 2014.

Design and layout by Ryan G. Palacol.

A product of a technical assistance project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and PILIPINA, Inc. “TA 7587 PHI: Social Protection Support Project - NGO1NGO to Implement Gender Plan” (November 2012 to December 2014)

Quezon City, Philippines 2015