BETTER LIVES. Eduardo Vildosola is seen in this photo driving his tricycle with his wife, Annabelle, after attending to their fish trading business in Malabuyoc, Cebu. The Vildosola family is among the 336 beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who shared how the national government aid program helps their children finish college. (Photo courtesy of DSWD-7)
CEBU CITY – Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) on Thursday shared how they overcame hardships through the national government aid program that has helped them send their children to college and uplift their standard of living.
Annabelle Vildosola, a 4Ps partner-beneficiary from Malabuyoc, a town in southern Cebu, took pride in her five children who are all now college graduates through their perseverance and with the help of the program.
“Nabag-o ang among kinabuhi sa dihang naapil na kami sa 4Ps kay aduna na kami kaabag sa among pagpaeskwela sa among mga bata. Kining edukasyon lamang among mahatag kanila (Our life has changed when we became part of 4Ps since it supported us send our children to school. Education is what we can only give to our children),” Vildosola said in a statement.
She expressed her gratitude as she and her husband felt the success in rearing their children and helping them get a college diploma.
“Imposible na kaayo nga miingun kami nga dili pa gihapon kami makabarog, kay sa tanang tabang nga nahatag sa programa sa among pamilya. Sakto na nga kami makabarong ug pinaagi pod sa among pagtinabangay og paningkamot sa pamilya (It is impossible to say that we cannot still stand on our own after all the help our family got from the government. They are all enough for our family to stand on its own through the help of the program as well as the cooperation and persistence of our family),” she added.
Lorna Cordova, a 4Ps partner-beneficiary from Bantayan, an island town north of Cebu province, said the national aid program gave her family hope, as their children were able to go to school.
Cordova recalled that the first time she received her cash grant from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Central Visayas (DSWD-7), she could not help but utter to herself “goodbye kahirapan” (goodbye poverty) as she considered it the start of their family's road to progress.
She said her family is now in a much better situation than before, adding that she is proud of her children who have become engineers, a teacher and a finance graduate. There is still a remaining child in college.
“Makabarog na kami. Kining grasya sa 4Ps ipasa napod kini sa lain nga labing nanginahanglan (We can stand on our own. It is time that we pass the blessing we received from 4Ps to those people who needed it most),” she said.
From living in a small house which she described as like a chicken coop, the Cordova family is now building their own home.
Vildosola and Cordova are among the 336 partner-beneficiaries of 4Ps in Cebu who took part in a ceremonial graduation and partnership summit organized by the DSWD-7 in Mandaue City on Nov. 29.
Leah Quintana, DSWD-7 information officer, told the Philippine News Agency that unlike any other graduation ceremonies, the rites attended by the 4Ps partner-beneficiaries manifest their families’ improved standard of living after years of getting support from the government through the program.
She said some of the families expressed their gratitude and acceptance as they gladly graduated from the program to pave the way for new families who, like them before, have been struggling to put food on the table and send their children to school.
Some of the 4Ps graduates now have their own vehicles, stores, businesses, as well as house and lot.
Quintana said some of them have gone into public service such as by becoming barangay officials, barangay health workers, local government unit employees, and community volunteers in the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS).
The batch of 4Ps graduate-families produced 242 college graduates some of whom earned Latin honors, she also said.
They were able to produce teachers, engineers, seafarers, hospital workers, medical technologists, overseas Filipino workers, Certified Public Accountants and other professionals. (PNA)
