BAGUIO CITY — They call themselves the “18 Bs”.

When asked why they gave their group such name, Thelma Villanueva, the group’s leader, said with a sheepish grin, “Sabi kasi namin kami ang 18 Beauties (Because we told ourselves that we are the 18 Beauties)”, amid gales of laughter.

In the beginning, these women who make up 18Bs had very little in common, though they all lived in San Antonio Village here.

They only began working together after being provided a livelihood opportunity by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It was from that moment that they were able to find beauty in each other.

“Poor” 

Esmeralda Mallare could still recall that time when a woman visited her home and was informed that a survey on households was being conducted in San Antonio.

The visit perplexed Esmeralda at first especially when she was asked a few questions by her visitor, who also inspected her house.

It was only when the interview ended that the woman introduced herself as part of the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), now known as Listahanan, which identifies the poorest households in the country.

The Listahanan results would later reveal that 49 households in San Antonio are poor, based on the system’s criteria.

For the people in the area, the results were not surprising as most households relied on men, a lot of whom only had casual employment to earn for their families.

Esmeralda’s husband works as a house painter, and painting jobs came far and between. Other men did odd jobs, serving as porters, construction workers, and small-scale retailers and vendors, none of which provided them with stable sources of income.

In those rare instances when they were given work, they earned minimal wages, barely enough to support their families.

DSWD’s support

Their condition led to several families in San Antonio qualifying for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya), the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of government implemented by the DSWD.

With this program, families are able to get financial assistance, provided they comply with certain conditions imposed by Pantawid Pamilya, which include seeing to the health and education needs of their children.

Even with Pantawid Pamilya’s support, however, a lot of families still struggled to make both ends meet. Furthermore, the men’s lack of stable livelihood also remained a big problem.

It was when Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K), another DSWD program came to San Antonio that provided women the opportunity to rise, as they were the ones organized for it.

Delia Arboneta, member of the group, admitted she was puzzled about it.

“The women here only stay at home, yet we were the ones who were given this”, she said.

These women, who would later become the 18Bs, were able to loan PhP101,000 from the SEA-K program.

Women’s capacity

Although a lot of them were housewives who had no prior experience in establishing a business, the women persevered.

Their sari-sari store opened on July 30, 2013, with the construction of the building and the store stocks coming from the loan.

Knowing that most of their customers would also be Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries, 18Bs made sure their store did not carry alcohol and cigarettes, even as they ensured that it contained basic goods such as rice and canned goods.

These concerns, as well as their consideration for their own needs, also made 18Bs decide to allow goods and money earned from store profits to be borrowed without interest by both the customers and their members.

However, they were very strict with lending money. If a borrower was not able to pay it back within the appointed time, the person who issued the loan would be the one to foot the bill.

All store transactions, not just loans, were strictly monitored by 18Bs. Each sale needs to be logged in their record book, accompanied by the signature of the person who handles the transaction.

At the end of each day, they account their sales and their inventory. Should there be discrepancy in their records, the pair assigned to watch the store that day pays the balance. They also conduct monthly meetings, where Thelma presents their month’s performance to the other members for transparency.

As Thelma said, “People’s doubts will disappear if we are transparent”.

Establishing the business helped turn 18Bs into a tight-knit group because Thelma continually tells them to practice three values: honesty, trust, and respect.

The group now also serves as a support system for each other, giving each other advice if they encounter problems. They also learned to dream together, which included their hope that their store will someday become bigger to allow them to earn more.

Thelma also taught them to love the store because this will keep them afloat.

According to Delia, the reason why they worked hard in SEA-K was due to their involvement in Pantawid Pamilya. She said and for most members, Pantawid Pamilya served as their inspiration.

This was seconded by Rebecca Fernandez, 30, and the youngest member of 18Bs.

“We learned that it is not true women should just stay at home, especially if the husband cannot provide support. Both should earn for their family”, she said.

Plans for the future

The women know they have a long way to go to reach their shared dream of expanding their store.

Still, they remain optimistic, and have already come up with plans of scaling up their business into a cooperative system.

Thelma had this to say to DSWD about 18Bs’ shared beautiful dream: “You gave us a business so that we will not forever be part of Pantawid Pamilya, that we will not remain poor. We hope that with this program, we can provide a better life for our children.”

For the women of San Antonio, their business means more. The store now serves as an opportunity for them to improve their lives, a way to transform their families. #