Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental -- Marissa O. Gomez, 23, is a resident of Barangay Bagumbang, Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental. When Marissa was young, her parents obligated her to work with them in rice fields due to their poverty. Marissa stopped schooling after finishing grade 1 and worked full time as a child farmer. Deprived of basic education, she was timid, insecure, and reluctant to talk with other people.

 
The National Statistics Office (NSO) in coordination with the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) and the Department of Education (DepEd) of the Philippines conducted a national survey called Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey or FLEMMS (Salcedo, 2007). This survey measures the status of the population’s basic and functional literacy in 2003.  Results of the 2003 FLEMMS show 92% of 69 million Filipinos have not reached college (Salcedo, 2007). Poverty and inaccessibility of reading and writing materials have been cited as few of the major factors affecting the growing number of uneducated in the country.

The case of Marissa revealed the close relationship between poverty and illiteracy. “Poverty breeds illiteracy, while illiteracy reinforces poverty” (Adiseshiah, 1990). In her case, it was poverty that forced her to drop out of school and work at an early age. Without education, opportunities for a decent job and a better life are limited and almost inaccessible. Sadly for most poor and uneducated people like Marissa, living in poverty is the only choice they have.

Now, Marissa has a family of her own. She has two children, aged five and four. She and her husband support their family by making and selling nipa. Even if their income does not suffice for all their necessities, she still tries her best to give her children what poverty had deprived her, education. Her eldest is in pre-school while her youngest is in daycare.

Marissa, being uneducated, experiences daily humiliation and mockery from discriminating neighbors. She also has to be accompanied by her husband when marketing because she doesn’t know how to count money. Despite these limitations, Marissa still proudly claims, that even if she doesn’t know a lot, she knows better how important education is for her children.

Marissa, along with 3119 beneficiaries in Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental became a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) on November 2008. 4Ps is a government program which provides conditional cash grants to poorest households in the country to improve their health, nutrition and education. It aims to end the inter-generational poverty cycle through investments on human capital.

Beneficiaries were selected through a Proxy-Means Test -- a test which determines the socio-economic category of families by looking at certain proxy variables such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to water and sanitation facilities, among others.

Marissa receives P1,100 per month from 4Ps for health and education of her children. When Marissa was asked how the program has been helping her, she replied, “Mas bentaha jud karon kay luoy jud ang mga bata kung wala’y 4Ps. Pag makadawat ko, ipalit dayon nako diretso ug gatas ug mga gamit sa eskwelahan (Our situation is much better now. How unfortunate it is for the children, if there is no 4Ps. As soon as I receive the cash grant, I immediately buy milk and school supplies).”

Marissa is one of the mothers waiting patiently outside the preschool of Ignacio Tan Memorial Integrated School every afternoon.  Her fellow mothers expressed amazement in Marissa’s attitude and disposition saying, “Dili lage siya pareho ka-maayo sa uban nga naka-eskwela nga mama, pero mas kabalo pa siya mudala sa iyang mga anak labaw na pud sa kwarta nga gakadawat niya sa 4Ps (She may not be as intelligent as those educated mothers but she knows better how to take care of her children and the money she receives from 4Ps).” They also noticed that she is no longer shy when sharing about her children. Marissa’s neighbors also shared that the family could now afford to buy snacks for her son Jurry. They are happy to know that the boy has his own snacks and comes to school satiated.

Poverty may have robbed Marissa of education, but she wouldn’t let her children be victims of the same circumstance. She expressed that “kung kaya mahuman, ipahuman gyud nako akong mga anak labaw na karon nga naa mi’y kaabag sa 4Ps. Kung unsa akong kaya mahatag ug matudlo gikan sa akong kaagi, igahin gyud nako sa ila (My children will finish their schooling because 4Ps is helping us. Whatever I have to give, I will give to them).” ### (4Ps Social Marketing Unit)