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. Mary Rochie Besario (34), the subject of this proposal, was in the first group. She received a loan in April 2024 to buy sugarcane fertiliser and the loan was fully repaid within the one-year contract period. 

 

Mary Rochie is married to Joselito and they have a seven-year old son Charles Vincent. Joselito had wished to join his wife here today but he was hired to plough a neighbor’s farm. The Besario couple work as farm labourers and they earn a combined average income of 8,000 pesos ($140) a month.

A vital additional source of income for the family is their one-hectare sugarcane farm which the couple acquired through the government’s land reform program. Their last sugarcane harvest was in February and it was a good one. Mary Rochie and Joselito ended up with a net income of 50,000 pesos ($900) from the sale of their sugarcane to the mill. They were able to buy six sacks of rice with the proceeds and set aside money to pay for the expenses of their next cropping. 

 

Just recently, Mary Rochie was asked by her aunt if she would be interested in cultivating sugarcane on her one-hectare farm. The agreement would be attractive; Mary Rochie would  pay for all the expenses and the income would be shared in a 2:1 ratio in her favor. She is eager to accept her aunt’s offer and is therefore applying for a loan to enable her to meet the expenses she will be incuring. The loan will be used to buy 10,000 sugarcane points, 10 sacks of fertiliser and to pay five labourers who will help her and Joselito with weeding and planting. She hopes to harvest 70 tons of cane in ten months time which should give her a net income of 50,000 pesos, two-thirds of which (33,000 pesos) will be her share.

 

We in the PSHF are happy to be helping Mary Rochie with her sugarcane cultivation and we wish her and her family well.

 

 

Analyn T. Gallibot

PSHF Negros Oriental

May 2025