Fire accidents can be a scary thing. It has the ability to take lives, destroy homes, ruin the environment, and bring an emotional toll on people. Many people have been derailed in life due to this kind of incident. But luckily, there are also some who were able to recover and build a life again.

In Bislig City, Surigao del Sur, two individuals and their families experienced a terrible fire in their respective homes and lost everything they’ve worked hard for. Yes despite the terrible accident, they were able to find the strength to pick up what was left of the fire, move on, and carry on with their lives.

The story of Arcy Marcha and Peter Bardoquillo is living and inspiring proof that there is still life after the fire.

Starting from scratch

Arcy Marcha is a resident of Barangay Tabon, Bislig City. She is a hardworking mother and loving wife to Wenceslao Marcha. Arcy used to work as a barangay health worker (BHW) at their local barangay health center in Tabon. Despite being hired under a job order position only, Arcy’s income as a BHW help her a lot in providing for the needs of her family.

Sadly, due to her employment status, Arcy was one of the staff who got laid off from her post. Instead of getting disheartened because of what happened, Arcy found another way to continue supporting her family and resorted to selling banana cue.

All was well with Arcy and her family until a big fire happened in their barangay on the morning of February 21, 2019. Everything happened so fast. The fire razed many houses affecting a total of 115 families, including the family of Arcy and Wenceslao.

Arcy was devastated. After the fire, all Arcy could do was to look at the ruins of the fire and cry in silence.

For many days and nights, Arcy kept thinking about how she and her husband will be able to recover from the fire. They just did not have the slightest idea where or how to start their life again.

One day, Arcy’s worries were replaced with gratitude and happiness when she learned that her family was identified as one of the eligible beneficiaries to receive livelihood assistance from the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) a year after the fire incident. Through the program, Arcy received an amount of PHP 20,000 as a seed capital fund to finance a livelihood project of their choice.

Using the grant, Arcy and Wenceslao put up a small sari-sari store. This helped them to restart their lives. With the small income from their store, Arcy and her family were able to gradually recover from their terrible experience.

Even if her store only earns a little for now, Arcy is still grateful for the opportunity and assistance extended to them.

“Sa una wala pay sunog, di pa ing-ani akong puwesto. Pero sukad tong gisulti nga adunay assistance nga PHP 20,000 gikan sa DSWD-SLP, mao ning nakapalit mi para sa among tindahan. Nagpasalamat gyud kog dako sa atong gobyerno ug labi na sa DSWD-SLP (Before the fire happened, my store was still different. But through the PHP 20,000 assistance from DSWD-SLP, we were able to buy supplies for our storie. I am very thankful to our government, especially to the DSWD-SLP),” Arcy shared.

Starting from scratch may be scary and hard, but for Arcy, she doesn’t mind it at all because what matters for her is that she and her family were given a second chance to start and live again.

Taking second chances

Peter Bardoquillo’s mini sari-sari store in Barangay Mangagoy, Bislig City was flourishing until a fire took it away on June 23, 2019. Peter was brokenhearted. He had saved up for that store for a long time. He worked hard as a Buko Salad vendor at the market just to establish his dream sari-sari store. But all of that was gone because of the fire.

But deep in his heart, Peter knew that a second chance was coming his way.

Truly, the chance he hoped for came when he was informed by the City Social Welfare and Development Office of Bislig City that he was deemed eligible to receive livelihood assistance from the DSWD-SLP.

Peter jumped for joy as his hopes became a reality. On February 19, 2021, Peter and other fire victims received PHP 20,000 to fund their existing livelihood or start a new livelihood of their choice.

Without ado, Peter bought supplies for his store right away. He said that setting up his business this time was much more exciting compared to before because he knows that his mini sari-sari store will boom even more.

At present, Peter’s store which he named “Petra’s Store”, earns PHP 2,000-PHP 6,000 on a daily basis. Using his income, he is able to buy for his needs, settle his bills, and save for the rainy days. Aside from saving for the rainy days, Peter is also motivated to set aside a reserve fund because he plans on expanding his business in the future.

“Niabot ang time nga ang DSWD nagtabang pud sa amo ug nadungagan akong capital. Katong kwarta nga ilang gihatag sa amo, ako jud tong gigamit og maayo (Then DSWD came and extended help to us by providing cash assistance as capital for our livelihood. I made sure that I properly utilized the money they gave to us)”, Peter shared.

When asked how he feels now that he was able to have a second chance to set up his store again, Peter elatedly shared that he’s beyond grateful. “Dako gyud kaayo akong pasalamat sa DSWD-SLP ug sa LGU namo sa Bislig City (I am immensely thankful to the DSWD-SLP and LGU Bislig City).”

Peter is just grateful that he was granted the second chance he asked for. He believes that in life, one has to boldly take chances to win in life – just like he did.