VILLAVICIOSA, Abra -- Jensen Afos, 32, used to receive a fixed salary as family driver in Baguio City but when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, his family decided to avail of the Balik Probinsiya (Back to the province) program of government.
Afos said their application was approved in 2020, making them a part of the first batch of returnees.
He shared his "journey" with the media at the sidelines of a partnership forum organized recently by the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development-Cordillera Kalahi CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay) at his residence here.
According to Afos, he and his wife used the assistance from the Balik Probinsiya program to start hog-raising.
"I started with 10 piglets and was able to sell them after several months. From the proceeds, I bought 11 piglets, which I also sold upon their maturity. Now I am having a new set of piglets for the third batch," he said in Ilocano.
Afos added that the money from sales of the piglets was not just used for the repurchase of the animals but also for their daily needs and a tricycle.
"I think we are in a better condition now and I can probably make my wife (a migrant worker abroad) come home for good when she returns for a vacation here because we can already survive with the assistance that we received from the government," he said as he pointed to the pigs inside their pen.
The Afos family is composed of three children, one of them in daycare and the older ones are in Grade1 and Grade 2 whom Jensen cares for alone while his wife works overseas.
The family is among the four Balik Probinsiya beneficiaries in this town.
Evelyn Vergara, municipal social welfare and development officer of Villaviciosa, in a separate interview, said the other beneficiaries opted to have other livelihood activities like goat-raising and running a sari-sari (variety) store business.
A total of 222 families from the Cordillera opted to return to the province with the help of the government to make them start a new life outside the cities.
Aside from Jensen and his family, Fernando and Cecil Micua, married for 22 years and now permanent residents of Danglas, Abra, said, "Hindi na namin alam ang dates kasi wala na kaming hinihintay na darating na sahod ng akinse at katapusan, pero wala na rin kaming inaabangan na date sa pagbabayad ng renta ng bahay at tubig (I don't even know the dates anymore because we are not looking forward to the15th and 30th of the month but we are not also waiting for those dates to pay the rent and for basic services)."
Cecil, a native of Agusan del Sur who married Fernando, a former security officer in Metro Manila, said, "Kahit pa malaki ang sahod noon, 'pag lumabas ka nang bahay, wala ng sukli ang pera mo (No matter how big your income is, upon going out of the house, you are left with nothing)."
She also said at specific dates of the month, they have to prepare P4,000 for house rent; an average of P1,400 for water; and P1,300 for electricity, leaving them empty-handed and without a centavo of savings despite the regular monthly wage.
When the pandemic came, according to Cecil, their lives in the city became a gamble for survival.
Taking a chance with the Balik Probinsiya program and being promised assistance that they were not sure they would receive, the couple hopped on the bus and traveled to Abra, tagging along their only son who was 11 years old.
The Balik Probinsiya team sent off the family from the Quirino Grandstand on Roxas Boulevard in Manila.
Upon arrival of the bus at Bangued, the capital town of the province, the family was fetched by the local government of Danglas that initially gave them a financial assistance of P35,000 as a transitory support package from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for their basic needs.
Fernando and Cecil used a fraction of the money to buy a lot for a house.
Another P50,000 was handed by the DSWD as a livelihood fund, which the couple used to buy piglets that they raised and later sold.
The Department of Agriculture also assisted in providing two mature pigs and feeds, which gave them a total of 12 heads.
The family was also given relocation assistance and transitory housing assistance.
Cecil also shared that they butchered one of the grown pigs and served half of it for her birthday, and slowly consumed the other half for food.
She said they are waiting for permanent housing support with their family staying in Abra for good.
Cecil added that the more important reason behind their decision to avail of the Balik Probinsiya program is the welfare of their son.
"I was starting to lose control of my son, which worried us and by moving to the province, we knew we would be a better place to raise our son," she said.
Christopher Daoayen, social work officer of the DSWD in the Cordillera region who is in charge of the program, said more than 200 individuals had decided to go back home as of Oct. 14, 2022. – Dexter See
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