Many have said that the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program o 4Ps of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has made the beneficiaries very much dependent on the grants they receive. In fact, some say that beneficiaries were too lazy and just wanted an easy life while waiting for their scheduled payout bi-monthly. There are also those who say that the program itself is a DOLE-OUT – giving assistance without conditionalities.

But just like one of its millions of beneficiaries, Ms. Margie Castañares Maquiling, a 4Ps beneficiary in Barangay Bag-ong Lungsod, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, will prove all the negative commenters wrong. The family is not just reliant on the grant itself, rather, they work even harder to provide and sustain the needs of the family.

Forty-years old Margie Maquiling, married for 15 long years to her husband Ruel Calipis Maquiling, is blessed with six children – the eldest is 16 years old and the youngest is 5 months old. Margie works as a manicurist and pedicurist by day, home-service masseuse by night, while her husband is a tricycle driver. The couple tried their best to make ends meet and provide the needs of their children’s education.

In 2009, her husband flew to Mindoro to work as driver in Semirara Mining and Power Corporation. Since then, Ms. Margie was in-charge of raising her 4 daughters. Her husband never failed to send money for their daily consumption and other expenses.

MAJOR DOWNFALL

For years Margie and Ruel had a long distance relationship set-up with the work arrangement they had. During this time, Margie engaged herself into business, not something big but good enough to support her family’s basic needs. She did not depend on her husband’s income and the grant she received from the program for her children’s education. Rather, she also had her own way of earning money aside from her work as manicurist and masseuse. She started with just 10 bottles of 1 liter JMAC liquid dye wax and sold it in her neighbourhood.

No business is an overnight success, Margie went through major downfalls, and worst, her marriage also started to fall apart with the news of her husband finding another woman. It was during this time that she was preoccupied with her small business – less attention to her husband. This made their relationship cold. But despite this, Margie continued with her life together with her 4 children that time.

FORGIVING THE UNFORGIVABLE

This was a challenging time for Margie, but she continued to live with her children and continue to venture on her small business. She received a lot of good feedbacks from the clients who bought her product. This made her decide to invest more on dye wax following the increase of orders from her patrons.

 In 2013, her husband ended his contract with Semirara Mining and went home to Tandag. After his return, he immediately went to Margie to talk to her about what had happened. He showed that he was sorry for the mistakes he committed and asked for a second chance in their marriage. Just like any other individual, forgiveness is not easy for Mrs. Margie after the infidelity. But her longingness to have a complete family and for her daughters to have their father back, reconciliation was inevitable.

Since then, the couple made up for the time lost, filling the gap when they were away from each other. Ruel no longer looked for a job elsewhere, but decided to become business partners with his wife. Everything suddenly just went successful for Margie, her marriage and her business were stable, something she never imagined will happen.

 GROWING BUSINESS AMIDST PANDEMIC

In 2020, the wax business of the family was put to the test due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have difficulty continuing and expanding their business. But the couple looked for other ways to sell their products, as this is the only livelihood the family had. They ventured on online selling –facebook and shopee. Before going in to online selling, the couple earned at least Php2,000.00 per day, but after selling it online, they would at least profit more than Php5,000.00 per day. Their customers increased as well as the demand of their products.

With much earnings, Margie started her own outlet in Panabo, Davao del Norte. She also bought second hand white van which makes the deliveries of products became easier and faster. Other than that, they also purchased 1.6 hectares of farmland and plan to plant variety of fruits.

Despite all the successes that the Maquiling family now enjoys, Margie never forgets to look back where she started. She is proud that she survived all those challenges in life and that she’s able to surpass their life in poverty. Her learnings from their Family Development Sessions also had a great impact on her decision-making. Though she did not depend on their 4Ps grant for their daily needs, but she is grateful that the program helped her especially her children’s education.  ###(Social Marketing Section/DSWD Field Office Caraga).