Filtered By: Lifestyle
Lifestyle

Ex-jueteng 'kubrador’ now enjoys dignity


Critics have invariably knocked off the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as a scheme that has made no positive impact on the poor. They say it promotes nothing but wrong values, particularly dependence on government dole-outs.
 
But don’t tell that to Alona Mangaldinan, a 45-year-old mother of four. Aling Alona claims she’s now a “changed person” after years of living off an illegal occupation.
 

Aling Alona leads CCT's family development session. Fernando dela Cruz
For 14 years, this Alicia, Isabela native worked as a “jueteng” bet collector. She knew that “jueteng” was an illegal numbers game and had to constantly look behind her shoulder.
 
One would never know when authorities would suddenly appear to apprehend her.
 
“I was willing to try any kind of job. My husband’s earnings as a tricycle driver were simply not enough to keep our bodies and souls together,” Aling Alona said in the vernacular.
 
The 4Ps is nothing new, actually. Other developing countries have implemented similar schemes before.
 
It is conditional cash transfer scheme, which means beneficiaries can avail of cash grants as long as they comply with certain conditions set by the program. This way, parents will take
the extra effort to improve the health and education of children from very poor
families, otherwise….
 
On September 24 last year, she gave up the job after becoming a 4Ps beneficiary. The program prohibits its beneficiaries to engage in vices such as gambling and drinking.
 
Aling Alona, thus, became one of the 3.9 million beneficiaries of 4Ps as of June 26, 2013 who each receives a cash grant of as much as P1,400 a month for the education and health needs of
three qualified children.
 
“I was sad and worried about where to get money to meet my family’s needs,” she said. “But at the same time, I was happy to be a part of this program that will help me meet my children’s
education and health needs.”
 
When she was elected as a parent-leader of the community, she had the strong urge to back out. Thankfully, she didn’t.
 
Aling Alona diligently attended meetings and regular Family Development Sessions (FDSs). Her commitment grew as time went on.
 
“I learned a lot from these meetings.

"Eventually, I decided to embrace my position wholeheartedly. Then, our lives started to change,” she said.
 
She remembered how overjoyed she was when she received her first 4Ps cash grant. She immediately bought school supplies for her children.
 
Yes, Aling Alona still goes around the neighborhood every day, but no longer to collect jueteng bets. That illegal activity is way behind her now. Instead, she monitors the daily progress of her
fellow beneficiaries.
 
From being a “kubrador,” she now sells beauty and kitchen products as a direct dealer. With her earnings and the cash grants combined, the worries she had when she first got involved with the 4Ps have gone away.
 
More importantly, Aling Alona has been enjoying something she had never felt for 14 years--dignity. — Fernando dela Cruz /LBG, GMA News
LOADING CONTENT