DREAM HOUSE. From a simple house made of light materials, the Saac family from the southern town of Moalboal, Cebu, one of the beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), was able to build a two-storey concrete house. Remegia Saac, in a statement released by DSWD-7 on Tuesday (April 6, 2021), said she is grateful to 4Ps, which helped in their children’s health and education needs. (Photo courtesy of DSWD-7)
CEBU CITY – Despite not being able to finish education, Amancio Saac and his wife Remegia instilled in their children the value of education.
By toiling their farm in Barangay Lanao, an upland barangay in the southern Cebu town of Moalboal, which they planted with corn and coconut, the couple strived to make ends meet to sustain their growing family.
Remegia recalled that their life before was difficult because they did not have a regular income, but they persevered through farming and raising livestock.
When the family became a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a poverty alleviation program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Remegia was able to use the cash grant for the education and health of her young daughters -- Meriam, Margie and Mercy, all of whom she monitored under the program.
As an active community resident, her co-beneficiaries chose Remegia as one of 4Ps parent leaders in their barangay. Her task was to help the 4Ps Municipal Link disseminate relevant information to her co-program beneficiaries.
She cited the importance of the program’s Family Development Sessions (FDS) in enhancing her parental roles and responsibilities that she ably applied to her own family.
Community Leader
Considered as a reliable leader in the community, Remegia embarked on another important task as the Barangay Sub-Project Management Committee (BSPMC) chairperson under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS). Kalahi-CIDSS is another poverty alleviation program implemented by the DSWD.
Together with other community volunteers, they successfully implemented a road concreting sub-project in their barangay.
Convinced by other community members, she ran as barangay councilor, her husband as barangay captain. They both won in the 2018 barangay election.
Graduating from 4Ps
“I am grateful to Pantawid. It helped our family, especially in the children’s health and education needs,” Remegia said in Cebuano in a press statement on Tuesday.
The Saac couple’s three former 4Ps monitored children are now pursuing their college education while the other one works as a call center agent.
From living in a house made of light materials, the family now lives in a concrete, two-storey house out of their hard work and perseverance. (PNA)
