Nida Billones knows what it feels like to be looked down on. At 47, she has experienced being treated shabbily for being poor, for being seen as ignorant, and for simply being a member of the semi-nomadic Subanon indigenous tribe. She swore that she will not allow her children to go through the humiliation she had felt. Billones also knows that the only way to do this is to work hard so that she will be able to give her children education – her family’s only passport to upward mobility. And she’s on the right track, thanks to the socio-economic and community development programs and projects of a mining company that her tribe has partnered with to develop her mountain village of Canatuan in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.
TVIRD Canatuan Maintenance Manager Ely Valmores (second from left) turns over the check showing the funds for the company’s Microfinancing Program for Subanon women to SSWAI President Anabel Combi (second from right) and Treasurer Nenita Davi (third from right) as TVIRD CReDO’s Noelle Nazareno (far left), Thess Limpin (third from left) and Jose Dagala (far right) pose for posterity. This project is TVIRD's first microfinancing program for women. |
Billones is one of the members of the Siocon Subanon Women’s Association, Inc. (SSWAI) who are benefittng from the Microfinancing Program of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD). The company, which operates a copper-zinc facility in Canatuan, put up a P500,000 fund under the Program to enable qualified women in the community to avail themselves of loans at low interest rates in order to venture into small businesses.
TVIRD, through Ely Valmores, Canatuan Maintenance Department manager, recently turned over the fund to SSWAI officials led by Anabel Combi, president, in simple rites witnessed by TVIRD Community Relations and Development Office (CReDO) personnel Thess Limpin, manager, as well as staff members Noelle Nazareno and Jose Dagala. Valmores reminded the SSWAI “to manage the fund wisely, and to use it properly for the purpose it was intended.“
Nida Billones counting the goods she will sell at her variety store. “The company is preparing us to be on our own when the time comes that it will have to cease its operations in our homeland,“ says Nida. |
Nazareno shares that SSWAI members received P5,000 each from the Microfinancing Program, one of the Sustainable Livelihood initiatives under TVIRD’s Social Development and Management Plan for the Subanons of Canatuan.
“Not all of the P500,000 in the fund, however, is earmarked for borrowing.“ Nazareno explains. “Only P50,000 has been allocated for the Program. TVIRD put P450,000 in a time deposit account at the Rural Bank of Siocon. The interests on this account will all be added to the P50,000. So will the payments to be made by SSWAI members who have received loans from the fund.“
Billiones says she will use the money she borrowed from the fund as capital for her mini-canteen that sells halo-halo (a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and milk with various boiled sweet beans and fruits that is served cold in a tall glass or bowl) to school children in Canatuan Elementary School and students from Siocon National High School-Canatuan Annex. The profit she will get from this venture, she adds, will be a welcome addition to the income she gets from her small variety store.
Cita Tumangkis: “Now women in Canatuan are engaged in small businesses with capital loaned from TVIRD and their children are in school. Their future is now more secure.“ |
“Last year, the income from my vegetable garden helped me pay for the educational expenses of my two children, who are now both in high school,“ Billones says. “Now, I will embark on selling halo-halo, which will surely provide additional money for my children’s schooling.“
According to Nazareno, women can only avail themselves of low-interest loans if they are active members of SSWAI and if they have a good track record in paying debts. Their loans must be guaranteed by two SSWAI members. Borrowers are also required to submit a business proposal so that the SSWAI will know the feasibility of their projects. Payments are made every 15th day of the month, with 5% of the 10% interest rate going to the association.
“Making available a credit facility to the IPs empowers them to manage their own affairs without having to depend on the company,” Nazareno points out.
SSWAI members went through a series of training sessions before the Microfinancing Program was launched. The training included modules on how to save money, manage micro-enterprises, and choose the right business. They also underwent values formation seminars where they learned the importance of helping each other and of paying debts on time.
The microfinance program is designed to be sustainable. When the SSWAI members approached an existing microfinancing group in Siocon, they were told that they were not qualified because they did not have the experience in managing a business and their location is too far from the town proper. Thus, the company decided to assume the risk of raising the initial fund but designed it in a way that only the interest will be used for credit, not the capital.
Ely Tumangkis, another SSWAI member who received a loan, says that she plans to engage in fish vending. “People in Canatuan love to eat fish. I know I will be earning in this business since many of my customers will be employees of the company.“
Yet another member, Delia Guinjah, says “I am glad that I followed my instincts in allowing TVIRD to operate in our ancestral land. If I followed the advice of those who said that the company would only exploit us and the lands we inherited from our forefathers, maybe my son Rodel would not have been able to go to school and reach college.“
Delia Guinjah: “If I followed the advice of those who said that the company would only exploit us and the lands we inherited from our forefathers, maybe my son would not have been able to go to school and reach college.“
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“I fully appreciate what TVIRD has been doing for the Subanons of Canatuan,“ Fernando, Delia’s husband, adds. “The company is training us to be able to stand on our own, providing us the opportunity to have good education, and now lending us money as capital for the small business we planned to get into.“
Billones says she understands “…that the company is preparing us to be on our own when the time comes that it will have to cease its operations in our homeland. History bears witness that we were practically nothing when the company set foot in Canatuan. Now, most of our children are schooled. We will be learned when TVIRD leaves us.“
Cita Tumangkis, another member, agrees. She recalls the time when her husband Ting and his brothers were working as abanteros (laborers) in tunnels owned by illegal small-scale miners before TVIRD’s operations in Canatuan. “Many Subanon women, along with their children, worked in the tunnels, too,“ Cita says. “Some of them even carried sacks or rocks that were almost as heavy as their bodies. Now women are engaged in small businesses with capital loaned from the company and their children are in school. Their future is now more secure.“
Billones, like most other women of Canatuan, is no stranger to the travails of their kind in their struggle to gain respect while maintaining their identity as a tribe. While their struggle continues, these women are now better equipped and more confident, comforted by the thought that there are people who are committed to help guide them to the future they aspire for, one that is dignified and respectable. (Lullie Micabalo)
