Pantawid Bene’s Daughter: Stop at Nothing

While life never ceases to offer inevitable challenges, Ma. Casandra C. Acab, a daughter of a Pantawid partner-beneficiary, has also constantly kept an indomitable fighting chi to combat all these that have tried to hamper her way in sailing through her studies, fulfilling not just her dream but her mother’s too.

Casandra, the fourth child among the eight siblings in the family, hails from Manjuyod, Negros Oriental whose mother, Mary Ann, is a housewife and father, Rene, is an all-around worker who roughly earns Php 200 every day.

Eager to help in sustaining their family needs and be able to buy school supplies, the young Casandra, together with her other siblings used to scavenge for tin cans and would trade them for Php 15 per kilo every weekend.

Despite the circumstances of sometimes having to skip classes as she had to take over her mother in looking after her younger siblings every time Mary Ann gets sick or had to ran other important errands, Casandra still managed to cope up with her absences and has graduated as 2nd Honorable Mention in her elementary years in school.

“There was even a time when I had to attend a school competition but was asked by my mother to stay in the house and baby sit my younger siblings instead, as she was feeling under the weather again. Not wanting to skip the competition, what I did was, I woke up early and prepared everything for my younger siblings and for my mother. Then, I immediately rushed to the testing site and notwithstanding my late entrance, I was glad to have finished fourth still,” Casandra amusingly narrated.

Anchored on the belief that education opens door to limitless opportunities and not wanting to live a struggling life forever, she worked as a help of her former teacher’s sister-in-law for a year to be able to continue pursuing her studies and eventually graduated as the class Valedictorian at Manjuyod National High School.

“Before our family became a Pantawid beneficiary, I could hardly comply with the school projects because we didn’t have extra money. If wala pa mi naapil sa Pantawid, pareha ra siguro gihapon mi pag elementary nako nga dili makapalit og sapatos ug papel, (If we had not been in Pantawid, we would still have the same hitches when I was in elementary, incapable of buying shoes and school supplies),” said Casandra.

Despite the criticism she heard from other people on how incompetent they see her to enroll in prestigious schools like Silliman University, as they thought that she only fits in public universities or colleges, she enrolled in Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental and pursued Bachelor in Secondary Education Major in English.

Graduating as valedictorian, she was granted with the Portal Scholarship in Silliman which covers 75% of her tuition fee given that she will work 200 hours per semester with wage and maintain an average grade of 2.8 equivalent to 88% every academic year. The Portal Scholarship however was not enough to cover her entire school fees, so instead of settling with an average of 2.8 every semester, she strived to successfully maintain a 3.25 average equivalent to 93% and enjoy the Academic Grant for honor students covering her remaining tuition fee.

Attending her classes as early as 7:00 in the morning up to 10:00 am and reporting to her assigned department to work from 12 noon to 9:00 in the evening have drained Casandra physically and mentally for a lot of times, bringing her almost on the brink of giving up.

Casandra’s parent’s nevertheless, especially her mother, who has dreamt of finishing college but has failed to do so, have been a very good support system to her and have been her inspiration to always keep going and stop at nothing.

“Naay mga times nga kanang gikapoy nako, pero akong gihunahuna nga kung gikapoy ko mas gikapoy siguro ang nagpa-eskuwela nako. Dili sad ko ganahan nga pirme lang mi ingon ani nga naglisud, mao nga naningkamot gyud ko (For a lot of times that I felt tired I always thought that the people who are supporting my studies probably feel more tired than me too. I also do not want to live like this forever, struggling. That is why I really worked hard),” she emotionally expressed.

Casandra worked beyond the required hours (200 hrs) of her scholarship to withdraw extra wages that has covered her daily allowance but has managed to still maintain a 3.25 academic average. She was also grateful of the support of her elder sister who is already working especially when she worked on her thesis.

On March 2018, Cassandra graduated as a Cum Laude, bringing pride to her family and proving to the people that everything is possible with full tenacity and vibrant aspiration to succeed and that she is capable of fitting in wherever.

“Education for me is a life’s trophy. A lot of opportunities will be opened or are open for you if you have a diploma. Others may see this educational achievement as a minor thing, but this for me is already a significant milestone. Success doesn’t have to be big to be called one. I have done all my best on this and I am more than happy to fulfill not just my dream, but my mother’s too,” Casandra gleefully said

She was overjoyed as she watched her parents get emotional when they come up on stage to proudly hang her academic medal around her neck which she considers as one of the beautiful highlights of her life. With all the learnings she acquired in life, it is not the ones she got from school that she values the most but, the lesson she got while she went into overdrive, which is to never look at challenges negatively, but to look at the beauty of negative things that would help a person go all-out to transform them into positive ones.

When asked what message she has for other youth who are struggling but has the burning desire to also succeed, she said “Ilahang prayer ug paningkamot dapat mag-uban gyud. Ang paningkamot dili igo kung wala kay pag-ampo, Siguro kung wala sad nako hugti akong pag-ampo dili ko maka-graduate (Their prayer and effort should always go together. Effort is not enough without prayer. Had I not prayed hard, I think I would not be able to graduate).”

Now, apart from helping her parents establish a small business and sending her other siblings in school, one of her plans also is to connect with other people, touch more lives and inspire them through her chosen profession as she is to start a new career at Saint Mary’s Academy in San Nicolas, Cebu City.