PIA Biliran
For 62-year-old Jose Mandras, every peso he earns from pedaling his sikad-sikad (pedicab) is already spoken for.
A typical day brings him about P300. On better days, he may take home P350, and occasionally, nearly P400. But at his age, Mandras said he can no longer pedal for as long as he used to. His eyesight is also no longer as good as before.
At home, seven mouths depend on whatever he earns: himself, his wife, and their five children.
Rice alone consumes a large part of the family’s daily budget.
Mandras said his family goes through roughly 4 to 4.5 kilos of rice a day, costing close to P250. That does not yet include viand, transportation, and school expenses for his three children.
One of his children attends Biliran Province State University and spends about P80 a day for transportation. Another high school student also needs about P80 in daily fare. Altogether, Mandras estimates that he spends about P240 a day for his children’s transportation.
When he was told by a barangay official that he was among those included in the government’s Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food and Transportation (UPLIFT), the assistance meant more than just cash.
It meant rice on the table. It meant transportation support for his children. And for a family living on an uncertain daily income, it meant a little breathing room.
Mandras has already received P2,000 twice, or P4,000 in total.
“Dako na ni nga tabang sa akong pamilya” (That is already a big help to my family), he said.
For him, the money will go where it is most urgently needed: food and his children’s transportation.
His story is echoed by another resident, Gilda Versosa, 65, of Barangay Sto. Niño.
Rather than immediately spending the assistance on daily consumption, Versosa chose to put the money back into the small store that has helped sustain her family for the past two years.
She said she received P4,000 and added it to the store’s capital, allowing her to replenish goods and keep the small business running.
The store has become the family’s source of income for their everyday need, including food, electricity, and water. Her husband has also undergone an appendicitis operation, making additional income even more important for the household.
For Versosa, the assistance is therefore not simply money to be spent. It is capital that can be used to earn again.
She plans to use future assistance to add more goods to the store so that it can continue generating income.
“Dako kaayo ug tabang ang UPLIFT” (UPLIFT really helps us a lot), she said.
Assistance amid rising costs
Mandras and Versosa were among the more than 800 Biliranons who are beneficiaries of Bucket 2 of the UPLIFT program and received their cash assistance during the conduct of the Handog ng Pangulo in the province on September 14.
UPLIFT is a government assistance program under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., and is being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help households cope with the effects of higher fuel and commodity prices.
During the September 8 episode of the Philippine Information Agency Biliran radio program Impormasyon, Aksyon ug Solusyon, lawyer Jonalyndie B. Chua, head of the Legal Unit and spokesperson of DSWD Field Office 8, explained that UPLIFT has three beneficiary groups or buckets.
Bucket 1 covers Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households and Walang Gutom Program beneficiaries.
Chua said 4Ps and Walang Gutom Program beneficiaries received a one-time P2,000 assistance.
Bucket 2 covers poor and near-poor households identified through the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS). Qualified households receive P2,000 monthly for six months.
Meanwhile, Bucket 3 covers low-income households identified through the Social Security System (SSS) database, particularly those whose recorded monthly income does not exceed P20,000.
The assistance is being implemented from July through December, based on the agency’s budget.
Chua said the program is intended to help households cope with the effects of increased fuel prices and the resulting rise in transportation costs and prices of basic commodities.
In Biliran, the figures show the scale of the rollout.
As of September 4, DSWD-8 data showed an endorsed target of 3,959 beneficiaries, 3,650 of whom were on the clean list. The target amount was P7.3 million. Of these figures, 3,433 beneficiaries had been paid a total of P6.866 million, equivalent to 94.05 percent of the target.
For Bucket 2 alone, as of September 17, Biliran had a target of 865 beneficiaries, with an allocation of P1.73 million. A total of 804 beneficiaries had been paid P1.608 million, or 92.95 percent of the target.
Across Eastern Visayas, Bucket 2 had a target of 16,698 beneficiaries, with a total allocation of P33.396 million. As of the same date, 16,530 beneficiaries had been paid a total of P31.06 million.
More than a cash grant
For families like the Mandrases, however, the significance of the program cannot be captured by percentages alone.
It can be measured in kilos of rice.
It can be counted in the P80 fare that allows a student to get to school.
It can be seen in the small store of an elderly couple that continues to operate because its capital has been replenished.
For Mandras, whose livelihood depends on the strength of his legs and the number of passengers he can carry each day, assistance can mean the difference between stretching a day’s earnings further or going without something the family needs.
He hopes more people in similar circumstances will also receive help.
As he approaches his 62nd birthday in October, Mandras knows that pedaling his sikad-sikad will not become easier.
But for now, he keeps going—one passenger, one day’s income and one pedal at a time.
And when the day’s earnings fall short, the assistance provides something he values just as much as the money itself: a chance to keep his family fed and his children in school.
For a family counting every peso, sometimes that little help goes a long way. (RSV/PIA Biliran)
