Single and Ready to Mingle

After her husband left her for another woman, Marife Bardillas, 42, considers herself as “single and ready to mingle”. “Yes, I am a single parent and am ready to mingle all sorts of work to raise my children and continue sending them to school despite my current situation.”

“Life became harder when my husband left, especially in terms of finances because my children are still studying and I have no one else to rely on except myself,” she recalled.

Marife, a mother of seven is a Pantawid Pamilya grantee since 2008; she was among the first batch of beneficiaries in Cebu City.

Her enrollment in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a conditional cash transfer program of the Philippine government that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly of children aged 0 to 18 did not only helped her from sending the children to school but has also introduced her to Family Development Sessions (FDS), livelihood training and financing through the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

“The cash grants from Pantawid Pamilya have greatly helped me and the kids to survive especially during the trying times,” Marife shared.
She added that her regular attendance in the Family Development Sessions (FDS) have also helped her cope up with her present situation.

Marife attending a costumer inside her parlor which is just also inside her house in barangay Alaska-Mambaling, Cebu City.

FDS serves as a venue where topics on effective parenting, child development, laws affecting the Filipino family, gender and development and home management are discussed. Through the FDS, parents are also informed of their rights as individuals as well as the obligations that they need to fulfill not only as husband and wife but also as parents, and community members.

In 2011, Marife together with 19 other Pantawid Pamilya grantees of Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City were grouped together and became beneficiaries of SLP.

SLP is a program of DSWD that aims to build the capacity of identified beneficiaries to engage in micro-enterprise activities or to benefit to employment facilitation and enable them to earn additional income for their families.

Marife ventured into opening a beauty parlor and fashion accessories production in her own household with an initial fund of P7,000 as a seed capital from the SLP.

She decided to venture in the said businesses because she already learned cosmetology while in high school and used to work as a sample maker at Myrock Alcon Export, a fashion accessories exporter.

Given her skills, talent and hard work, Marife is doing well in her business and now earns P500 to P800 a day for her salon services. She does nail art, manicure, pedicure, make-up and hair rebonding. Her fashion accessories production could also earn P3, 000 to P5, 000 if there are bulk orders or when there are DSWD events where she together with other grantees are invited to display and sell their products.

However, Marife admitted that her current income is still not enough because the needs of her children are also increasing that is why she is doubling her efforts for them.

Aside from her children, Marife is taking care of her three other siblings after her father suffered mild stroke last year.

“I never lose hope that someday life will be better for us, and it will be,” she claimed.

Two of her children are currently enrolled in vocational courses with the aid of SLP. Another child is also enrolled at the University of the Visayas taking up Marine Engineering.

Carla, 14, Cindy, 12 and Clarence, 10 are all Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries.

Marife hopes that the program will continue because she still needs the grant to sustain their day to day life. (Phoebe Jen Indino, Pantawid Pamilya Information Officer)