On the 27th of March, a PSHF team comprised of me (Analyn), Phady and Richard took the bus from Dumaguete for the 3 hour ride to the coastal town of Bayawan. At the terminal, we were fortunate to discover that the aircon bus to far-away Bacolod city was about to leave so we boarded it and we were dropped off an hour later at the “Ka Tarsing” corner road that leads to Sto. Niño, our ultimate destination. Within a few minutes, three motorcyclists appeared to take us to Sto. Niño and half an hour later, we arrived at our field worker Helma’s home.

 

We were warmly greeted on arrival by Helma and the dozen or so applicants and their children. Shortly afterwards, to the great intrigue of the children, I opened my bag to reveal two “calamay” - Bohol’s famous delicacy made up of sticky rice, coconut milk and brown sugar packaged in an empty coconut shell. I asked each of them to fetch a spoon and scoop up a spoonful of the calamay; this resulted in big smiles all round and a chorus of “lami!” meaning delicious.

 

While the children enjoyed their treat, I decided how we should proceed; I would interview the re-loan applicants and Richard would interview the first-time loan applicants with Phady as his interpreter. Prior to this, she would conduct an orientation for the first timers.

 

I had 13 repeat loan applicants to interview and I decided to split them into two groups. Aldren Villarta (27), the subject of this proposal, was in the second group. He received a loan in April 2024 to buy sugarcane fertiliser and the loan was fully repaid within the one-year contract period. 

 

Aldren is married to Maria and they have two children; two-year old Amerose and one-year old Alchen. Aldren works as a construction and farm labourer; he earns a combined income of 5,000 pesos ($85) a month.

A vital additional source of income for the family is their 1.5 hectare sugarcane farm. The last sugarcane harvest was in March and it gave the couple a net income of 35,000 pesos ($640) after deducting their expenses as well as their PSHF loan repayment. This income was lower than expected as there had been an infestation of wireworms prior to the harvest. Aldren and Maria however are still thankful for the income they did obtain as it enabled them to pay for the medical expenses when Alchen underwent a palatoplasty (cleft palate surgery); the operation was free but they had to buy the medicines. It was a big joy for the couple to see Alchen now eating food and intaking liquid without leaking out of his nose. The couple bought 5 sacks of rice with what was left of their harvest proceeds.

 

Aldren is applying for a loan to enable him to buy 18 sacks of fertiliser and to pay the five labourers who will help him with weeding and planting. To deal with the risk of another infestation of wireworms, Aldren is treating the soil with lime which has the additional benefit of reducing its acidity. He is optimistic that his farming will be successful this time and he hopes to harvest 90 tons of cane in ten months time; this should give him a net profit of 80,000 pesos ($1,400) at prevailing prices.

 

We in the PSHF are happy to be helping Aldren with his sugarcane cultivation and we wish him and his family well.

 

 

Analyn T. Gallibot

PSHF Negros Oriental

June 2025