She leaves every night to go to a bar in Pampanga where she worked as a singer while wearing not-so-decent clothes… her child who was four years old at that time is always being entrusted to security guards, one of the reasons why they chose to live outside a fast food chain.

Divine Grace Landingin, 27 years old shared to the participants of the recently-held Secretary’s Roadshow in Muntinlupa City, how the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) program of DSWD lifted her from indignity.

“Tumira kame sa Jollibee sa Alabang Junction pati sa Luna Street sa Maynila kasi sa security guard ko ihinahabilin si Daniela (her daughter) tuwing gabi sa pagpasok ko sa trabaho,” Divine narrated in front of 140 Parent Leaders who participated in the activity.

Her husband Danilo, who died in 2013 due to complications of diabetes, was the breadwinner of their family. He worked as seaman whose income can luxuriously provide Divine and Daniela’s needs.

“Nakapundar kame ng apartment, walong pinto… masaya ang pamumuhay namin noon… kaso hindi kame nakapag pakasal ng asawa ko kaya nung nawala siya, nawala rin sa amin ang lahat,” Divine continued.

Divine did not deny that she sow hatred to God during those times of troubles. “Pinaganda mo nga ang buhay namin, nung binagsak mo naman kame ay mas lalong lagapak!” she complained to God.

Came from a broken family in Cebu City, Divine was under the custody of her mother when she was a child. Upon her adulthood, her father brought him to Nueva Ecija who eventually entrusted her to his brother, Edgar who lives in Muntinlupa City.

Divine finished her secondary education through the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and to help the family who adopted her, after her graduation, she worked as singer in a bar in Pampanga where she met her husband.

“Nung nawala ang asawa ko, nahihiya akong bumalik sa pamilya ko dahil baka pag-usapan lang kame… ‘dun kame napilitang tumira sa kalsada ng anak ko at bumalik din ako sa dati kong trabaho,” Divine shared with teary eyes.

After a year of running away from the reach-out team of DSWD-NCR, Divine eventually coordinated with the DSWD in February 2014, and once again, she lifted everything to God. This bridges them to the MCCT-HSF program of the Department.

After attending the Family Development Session (FDS), she realized how irresponsible she was for leaving her daughter unattended on the street while she was at work. Since then, she promised to herself that she will never ever leave Daniela alone, whatever happens.

Now, they are living in an Alternative Family Home (AFH) being rented by DSWD in Cupang, Muntinlupa City. Aside from receiving cash grants for Daniela’s health and education, Divine was among the Parent Leaders who availed the Cash-for-Work project of DSWD wherein they were employed for 10 days, with a salary of P347.00 per day to manage the urban gardening at Elsie Gaches Village.

Divine is now a parent volunteer at EGV where she receives daily food pack. Aside from this, she also engages herself in “barking” for two (2) hours every night and accepting laundry works during weekends. She will be further assisted by DSWD-NCR to ensure that she will have a sustainable livelihood for her family.

“Bukod sa hindi ko na napapabayaan ang anak ko, marangal pa ang mga trabahong pinapasok ko ngayon… salamat talaga sa DSWD at naialis kame ng anak ko sa dati naming buhay… salamat at hindi kame pinabayaan ng Panginoon,” Divine emphasized.

Happily, she shared that Daniela, 6 years old in Grade 2 was recognized as top 3 in her class which inspires her to work harder, thus, together with MCCT-HSF program, her daughter’s health and education will be ensured.###