In front of her fellow Pantawid Pamilya parent leaders in Quezon City, Cherry Cayubit, 41 years old, proudly shared how her eldest child Riza Ella, 16 years old and graduating in high school, was inspired to take bachelor’s degree in Social Work because of her.

During the roadshow of DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman in Quezon City on February 26, 2015, some 150 Parent Leaders from QC shared their stories of change gained by the families from the program, through the small group workshop.

Meanwhile, on the latter part of the program, eight (8) PLs shared their stories in the plenary session with Secretary Soliman, staff and their fellow parent leaders.

As representative of their group, among the subject of Cherry’s testimony is her child who was previously uncomfortable with her duty as parent leader of the program in their area.

“Dati ang sabi ng anak kong panganay, ‘Ma, ano ba naman ‘yang ginagawa mo?… lagi na lang may tao sa bahay naten… ang daming nagpupunta…’ di na tayo nawalan ng bisita.’ Pero ngayon, kapag wala ako at may nagpunta, ang sagot na niya ay ‘wala po si Mama eh, bakit po? Kailangan niyo po ba ng BUS o GRS form?’ at tinuturuan niya pa sa pagsagot ang mga members,” she shared.

Cherry confirmed that she was relieved when her eldest child finally accepted that she is really committed to be a Parent Leader.

“Laking tuwa ko ngayon na tanggap na ng anak ko yung klase ng responsibilidad ko… at may bonus pa, na-inspired daw siya sa ginagawa ko kaya ang sabi niya ay kukuha daw siya ng kursong social work sa kolehiyo,” Cherry narrated.

In 2014, Cayubit family received livelihood assistance under the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) of DSWD-NCR which Cherry used to put up a sari-sari store. This now serves as their major source of income in addition to the meager income of her husband, Danilo, a construction worker.

Cayubit family is among the 38, 721 Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries in Quezon City who are being monitored for compliance in the program conditionalities.###