Helping the poor in Pangasinan

IT entrepreneur Dr. Cezar T. Quiambao has emerged in the forefront of equipping the poorest of the poor in Bayambang, Pangasinan, with tools to better their lot and with their self-worth intact, their imagination fired up and their lives turning for the better. 

Started three years ago, through the offer of scholarships initially to the families of the Pantawid Pamilya, the government cash-transfer program, the skills training courses, in conjunction with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), has already seen 7,000 graduates from the course offerings.

In one graduation ceremony three months ago at the Royal Mall in Bayambang, Pangasinan, some of the graduates, mostly on certificate courses related to tourism like housekeeping, already had ready employers hiring them on the spot. It turned out that there are two big hotels that were just completed and the tourism entities were just as eager to poach from the graduating batch.

Quiambao, a known philanthropist who has a ready heart in helping the poor and the downtrodden, said he thought of the program after several attempts at bettering the lot of the poor families in his municipality, failed. He realized later on that it is by teaching them new skills that they become employable and even emerge as entrepreneurs themselves.

The advocacy program is lodged with the Kasama Ka sa Barangay Foundation and in keeping with his IT involvement, one of the skills-training courses offered include personal computer assembly and dis assembly, networking, reformatting, installation and operating system and hands-on PC operating Excel, Word and Power Point presentations.

Those who finish the course later on have to pass the Tesda exams to have their certifications. These certifications are what the graduates present to their employers. The program includes the hiring of IT experts and personality development trainers that the foundation marshals for their skills.

Other courses offered by the training school of the KKBFI are Micro-Small, & Medium Entrepreneurship Training, Computer Hardware Servicing, Reflexology, Cosmetology, Ventosa, Swedish, Thai Massage, Hair cutting, Manicure/Pedicure, Hair and Scalp Treatment, Food Processing (buro and other products), RAC Servicing (DomRac), Electrical Installation and Maintenance, and Housekeeping.

It is Quiambao’s dream to see the graduates of the program become businessmen themselves and he takes pride in the fact that there are now a handful of the first graduates who now have their own hotel and resort facilities that they manage.

In fact, the training school has been attracting not just the poor; he told me that at one time, a 70-year old man enlisted to know the massage techniques. Quiambao said the man used his newfound skill on his ailing wife who had to undergo daily massage therapies. Now, he no longer had to pay a masseuse as he now can do what his wife needed.

Quiambao, dubbed the local boy who made good, has been dabbling in this kind of advocacy, the kind that ensures inclusive growth that is now the new buzzword all over the world. Inclusive growth means providing a platform for the poor to level up their lives by way of education.

The United Nations, India, the United States, and emerging countries have come up with their own versions of inclusive growth and by far what has emerged is that of making the poor learn new skills and even about finance so that they do not fall victim to pyramid scams and the like.

When the program was launched in partnership with the DSWD regional office, Quiambao, challenged the beneficiaries to find ways to improve their living by graduating from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program as this is not a permanent assistance from the government.

It was after the Memorandum of Agreement was signed between DSWD and his foundation that Quiambao mentioned that this public-private partnership contributes to the inclusive growth among the poor and marginalized individuals, giving them equal opportunities.

With the way the graduates of the program have been acing their interviews and getting their job offers, it is not far fetch to assume that similar programs could be replicated in other municipalities in Pangasinan.

Quiambao, who was one of those who returned to the province from their foreign business engagements during the Ramos administration, has been trying to come up with concepts on how to make the poor improve their lives. For him, it is in sharing that one’s life.